Episode Two: Thrown in the Deep End (EHO Knows)
Filling the Void
Made as a companion to Episode Two of the EHO Knows podcast. Listen today:
When a disaster strikes, there’s rarely a perfect person waiting to step up and take control but In times of disaster, leadership doesn’t always wear a uniform or arrive with flashing lights. Sometimes, it turns up in work boots, armed with a clipboard and a lifetime of local knowledge.
That’s exactly the role Cameron Smith stepped into during the Lismore floods. In Episode Two of EHO Knows, Cameron shares his experience and how it felt as everything unfolded. But looking back, what broader lessons can we take from one of Australia’s most devastating natural disasters—an event that is likely to become more common as the climate continues to change?
More Than Inspectors
Environmental Health Officers are often seen through the narrow lens of food safety and sanitation. But especially in emergencies, this scope expands rapidly. They understand the critical needs of human survival clean water, disease prevention, shelter, waste management, and safe food handling.
Cameron’s story is a perfect example of how these core skills translate into crisis response. Faced with hundreds of evacuees, collapsing infrastructure, and no immediate support from official disaster response agencies (whose offices were underwater), he applied years of expertise to manage everything from hygiene protocols to mental health risks, from coordinating medication access to mitigating disease transmission.
Backing your Self
One of the episode’s strongest lessons is that EHOs often underestimate the value of their own knowledge base. Cameron wasn’t a flood specialist. He wasn’t a disaster relief coordinator. But he understood the people, systems, and public health of his community. He had spent decades building relationships with local providers, understanding council logistics, and interpreting risk in the real world. That made him invaluable when structure failed.
In some ways being an EHO is about filling the voids of community leadership when health and safety is at risk and an important part of that is backing yourself and your abilities and recognising when to ask for help because often the real skill wasn’t in knowing every answer, but in knowing where to begin, who to call, and how to keep people safe while adapting to an evolving emergency.
Cashing in Trust
As an EHO community trust plays a massive role in effective disaster response. Lismore’s evacuees were more likely to trust council staff people they’d seen in their day-to-day lives than unfamiliar state officials flown in days later. EHOs, often deeply embedded in their communities, hold a unique advantage in this respect. Cameron wasn’t just managing logistics; he was a familiar face in the crowd, offering reassurance simply by showing up.
But trust isn’t built in a moment it’s earned long before the crisis. And it’s preserved through honesty. This at times means being direct with the public. Don’t try to sugar-coat reality or offer hollow reassurances. people will almost always pick up on this, and nothing erodes trust faster than being told “everything’s fine” when it clearly isn’t. If you have answers or solutions, give them. If you don’t, say so and then tell people what you are doing to find out more. Cameron saw firsthand how local people responded far better to that kind of honesty than to the polished, polite platitudes of political figures who swept through for photo ops.
The Role of EHOs
What should councils and EHOs take from this story? That leadership in emergencies is scheduled but it is always needed. Whether it’s a once-in-a-lifetime flood or a fast-moving outbreak, EHOs are often more uniquely equipped to take charge or help than they realise, long before formal emergency systems can even mobilize.
But on that same token, preparation matters. EHOs should seize every opportunity to participate in simulations, trainings, and multi-agency drills. Learn the players. Know the processes. Understand how systems interact when things fall apart. Because one day, it might be your phone that rings first.
Episode 2: Thrown in the Deep End
In this episode, Shane sits down with EHO Cameron Smith to discuss the unexpected challenge of the Lismore floods disaster.
Cameron shares his first-hand experience of waking up to find an entire city submerged, with thousands of people stranded and in desperate need of food, shelter, and medical care. As an EHO, Cameron was suddenly responsible for coordinating emergency evacuation centres, ensuring access to clean water, handling sanitation concerns, and preventing disease outbreaks.
