About Us
Emergency Departments in Australia are under severe pressure impacting patient satisfaction and causing staff overload.
Seeing an opportunity to help, Tres Karras and Deanne Chapman established the ED Angels volunteer program. In April 2025, we launched the first group of ED Angels in the Emergency Department of St Vincent’s Darlinghurst.
Specially trained ED Angels work in the emergency department every day of the week offering a friendly smile, a sympathetic touch and a listening ear, while also performing many other non-clinical tasks.
ED Angels operates independently while working in partnership with the hospital. We follow hospital policies, privacy standards and safeguarding requirements.
Every member of the ED Angels team is a volunteer.
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To enhance the ability of the ED doctors and nurses to focus on patient health management in a compassionate environment, by providing warmth and empathy to patients and their visitors and easing the pressure on medical staff by undertaking time-consuming non-clinical tasks.
Our Values
Compassion
Respect
Dignity
Confidentiality
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The integration of volunteers into the high pressure and emotional space of a hospital emergency department was an initiative of Dr Russ Kino, Medical Director of Emergency Services Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, California in 2001 to address rising dissatisfaction amongst emergency patients. Known as Angels of the ER, the nationally acclaimed program has been running continuously at St John’s to this day.
Tres Karras and Deanne Chapman travelled to St John’s to learn from their 25 plus years of experience. With support from Dr Kino and the valuable contribution of emergency department clinicians at St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst they founded ED Angels in Sydney in 2024. The first group of ED Angels commenced in the Emergency Department of St Vincent’s Darlinghurst in April 2025.
The ED Angels program has become a valuable part of patient care in the ED. For 12 hours a day, Monday to Friday in addition to many weekend hours, the ED Angels do whatever they can to help make the ED experience better for everyone.
