Oundle School pupil, Rebecca Siddall’s (15) iMEDIVAC project entry for the Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls has won 
first prize in the 15-16 age category. Rebecca’s creation of iMEDIVAC was inspired by an image of infected Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey being airlifted from Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital. Rebecca commented, “With life-saving treatment, courageous medics, and an isolation care ward ready in London, saving Pauline was a triumph of infrastructure and training. During her recent relapses she has twice been pulled back from the brink of death by rapid intervention – proving the extraordinary power of modern medical intervention for even the most lethal diseases.” Rebecca asked herself the question: ‘Don’t all victims of such infection and contagion deserve the same level of care? The same speed of response? Emergency first aid that makes all the difference? ‘ Rebecca added, “I was deeply touched that Pauline did not contract Ebola randomly, but because she put herself in harm’s way: volunteering her nursing skills to help the very Ebola victims who inadvertently infected her. Medics themselves – particularly the first responders to an outbreak of contagion or an infectious emergency – need an immediate, effective way to isolate those they are trying to treat?” No matter how geographically remote or poorly served, local communities and the medics helping them deserve an effective, low-cost solution to all these questions.
