Our profile this month is of an in-house lawyer performing in exceptional circumstances. In checking in with all of our Christchurch members in the aftermath of last month's earthquake, we spoke with Greg Brogden, Senior Corporate Solicitor with Canterbury District Health Board.

In his usual day job, he has a small team of three staff and for the past ten years has assessed the legal risk faced by the DHB and provided pragmatic advice. On the day we spoke to Greg he was in the middle of the biggest natural disaster ever to hit New Zealand and had been drafted into the CDHB Emergency Response Team.

Once Greg had established that his wife and children were safe and their home was undamaged, he wanted to help where he could at the Princess Margaret hospital where he is based. "The immediate focus was to keep our hospitals up and running and get healthcare in the wider Canterbury region functioning. The Princess Margaret was damaged but operational although with no running water or sewerage systems. We also had significant aftershocks in those first few days with things flying off desks."

Greg's initial role was helping to co-ordinate the hundreds of volunteers from other parts of the country and says it is humbling how many people were prepared to drop everything and come and help. His role then evolved into helping with port-a-loos and water distribution especially to aged care and other health care facilities. The DHB used the Airforce to transport some patients and resthome residents to other parts of the country and Greg says they received great support from the armed forces. "It was a great thing to be doing. My ordinary legal job didn't feel relevant. No-one cares about contracts in a crisis. There was a great team spirit which brought people together who wouldn't normally work together. It was almost like an over-the-top team building exercise."

In terms of preparedness, Greg says their systems were developed from pandemic planning from swine flu and SARS but none of the systems had been tested so they had to make things up as they went. He says it is still not business as usual and is still spending 50% of his time in emergency response. He is not sure when he will get away for a break but notes the pressure is catching up on people. The huge response across the CDHB was on a voluntary basis and people worked long hours for days upon end.

Talking about the personal impact of 22 February, Greg says "There was no point of reference. Communications were down so we didn't know how bad it was. We started getting injury reports from Christchurch hospital but it was only driving home later that I realised how bad this was. It was a horrible feeling especially as I hadn't yet spoken to my wife who was in the central city." Thankfully his wife and children were safe and his house wasn't damaged but he says "the people who gutsed it out at CDHB who had lost loved ones or had destroyed homes but still worked so hard on the emergency response are the ones who really deserve the credit".

Reflecting on the tragedy Greg says "People really do pull together in a crisis and it brings out the best in people. There was a great spirit in the emergency operation team. You get a real buzz knowing you are making a difference". Looking forward he says he is enjoying getting back into his legal role. There are numerous issues around the earthquake such as property and rebuilding, staffing and unwinding legal contracts.

Greg - CLANZ salutes you, all the team at CDHB and all of our Christchurch members who were involved making a real difference to their community.