But what she found, amid the destruction, was "such impressive resilience" among those whose lives had been turned upside down.

Three years later, Ms Sutton has received national recognition for her role as part of the disaster response team.

Ms Sutton, who is the senior lecturer and discipline leader in paramedicine in the Charles Sturt School of Biomedical Sciences in Bathurst, was deployed to Proserpine in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Debbie.

She was with Team Rubicon Australia, which is now known as Disaster Relief Australia.

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Her deployment was as a civilian with first responder experience and not in a paramedic capacity, as Team Rubicon does not have any domestic medical response capacity.

But Ms Sutton said her previous work in paramedics had prepared her well for some of the challenges the teams faced in North Queensland.

"This deployment did not require me to use any of my paramedic clinical skills, but my experience as a first responder proved invaluable for so many of the tasks," Ms Sutton said.

"We were deployed as part of a strike team to undertake a variety of work across the disaster zone depending on the greatest need and, as this was the first time I had experienced working in a disaster zone, I was unsure what to expect."

Ms Sutton said the team was warmly embraced by the communities they were helping.

"Tasks involved conducting health and welfare checks on residents affected by the cyclone, conducting damage assessments on properties, and co-ordinating the supply of essential food and water to those displaced from their homes, as well as providing first-aid cover to the teams," she said.

"Despite the significant devastation to the surrounding environment and to their personal property, the communities in which we were working were welcoming and showed such impressive resilience.

"Our focus was on empowering those communities to get back on their feet and start rebuilding their lives."

Three years later, Disaster Relief Australia nominated the disaster response team for the National Emergency Medal and the nomination was approved by the Governor-General of Australia.

"It seems quite out of the blue given the length of time that's passed since that event, but this deployment was the inspiration for my choice of PhD topic, which has finally progressed to the recruitment stage, so the timing is perfect," Ms Sutton said.

The National Emergency Medal is awarded to people who rendered sustained service in response to nationally significant emergencies within Australia, or to people who rendered significant service in response to such emergencies.

Ms Sutton said she would highly recommend this type of volunteering for student paramedics to help them develop key transferable skills, such as teamwork, communication and leadership, to better prepare them for the workplace.

"I found the interactions with the local community and the other Team Rubicon volunteers hugely impactful," she said.

Ms Sutton's PhD thesis is 'Investigating the impact of volunteering on the development of resilience in student paramedics', and the first phase of data collection is underway.

Participation in her research is open to all paramedicine students who have fully completed the first year, full-time study equivalent of an Australian undergraduate paramedic degree.

They are invited to participate if they have engaged in volunteering activities within the last five years.

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