“I grew up in Woronora in Sydney’s south. I left the shire in my 30’s but I’ve been a butcher and I’ve been a Policeman. I did 7 years with the Police force mostly in the Rescue Squad. I left there in 1990 and joined the Ambulance service in 1995. I started at Rozelle and did my first 12 months in Sydney at Engadine headquarters in Drummoyne and then I was posted to a town called Baradine in 1996 where I stayed for 3 1/2 years. While I was there I worked as far away as Lightning Ridge, Cobar and moved around on relief duties. I then went to a town called Murrurundi which is between Scone and Tamworth. After a while I went over to Gilgandra, left there and lobbed here in the Northern Rivers 14 years ago. I did 13 years in Lismore and I’ve just moved to Kyogle. I still live in Lismore but work in Kyogle permanently now.
I love the job though it has it’s moments. The only jobs that really upset me are jobs involving little kids. Most Ambo’s want the big jobs, the cardiac arrests, Ive been there and done all that but now I get a bigger buzz out of helping the nannas. Some nannas have never been in an ambulance and some have never been to hospital. Their anxiety levels go through the roof and you calm them down. That makes it a good job. Sometimes you get a nanna who is so nervous but basically there’s not much wrong with her and she might just need to hold your hand for the hour long trip to hospital so you do that. As long as her anxiety level comes down that has a knock on effect of her blood pressure, her heart rate slows, her breathing is better. You need that compassionate side of the job. You have to always reflect on every job and think, could we have done it better? I would say 99% of the time we do get it right.
There’s always risk involved. I had a mental health patient try and stab me. I lived 3 doors down from this person and he decided he didn’t like me so produced a carving knife one day. The Ambulance service, to their credit moved me for mine and my families safety. I have 2 children from my marriage and 4 stepchildren. Their mum and I aren’t together but I love all the kids. They are scattered in Cairns, Darwin and all over the place. I have 4 grandsons under 4 and we all still get on really well.
When I came to Lismore I joined the Fire Brigade as a Firefighter so I was doing both for a while. There’s been lots of jobs where you know you’ve made a difference. We don’t have the horrific car accidents like we used to back in the 80’s. Cars didn’t have airbags or crumple zones. In saying that we still go to terrible fatal accidents. Back then we never wore gloves. We used to be covered in blood. Now we are all into infection control. We used to treat people with 4 or 5 drugs and now we have about 20.
There’s a lot of Ice in the Northern Rivers as there is everywhere. We’ve seen a little bit of the drug Flakka which is the Zombie drug. That’s an insidious drug but Ice is so prevalent and cheap. It’s everywhere and the way it affects people is full on. We have to be very aware that someone can change in less than a second from being nice to wanting to bash the hell out of you. I’m not condoning cannabis use but they are so much easier to deal with as they are happy to sit and veg out whereas these other mugs want to bite your face off in a heartbeat. I’ve had parents bash me when we were trying to help their teenage son. They think we are doing it wrong and we’re trying to get them out the door. They’re alcohol or drug affected and you say ‘Fine, we will leave’ and then they hit you again. It’s phenomenal the amount of physical and verbal abuse that Paramedics cop now when all you want to do is save the person. At any given time in Lismore you only have four Ambulance officers on duty for a town of 45,000 people. There’s delays, we can’t help it.
I do have PTSD. I have treatment for it. It depends on your outlook and how you deal with things. You also need a support network. I have found that people with a partner seem to cope better than the single males or females. If you have a supportive partner you cope much better. I have my kids so they are my support network. Back in the early days we used to go to the pub after a tough one and get pissed but you can’t do that now. I knew one Paramedic and her first year in the job she went to five fatal accidents. Three of those were on her way to work on her own. Others have never seen a fatal in five years. That’s the unpredictability of the job.
There’s T-shirts in America that say ‘We race the reaper’ It’s a global thing. It is what we do in this job.
We have some great ambo’s in Lismore, girls and guys and they all do an amazing job.
I plan to stay for another 10 years. I still enjoy going to work every day. You never know what the day will bring. It might just be a couple of hospital transfers, maybe a trauma job, a snakebite job or just comforting a Nanna. I have a wicked back tattoo that shows all 3 of the services I have worked in. It’s better than my face.
Graeme Davis is the Deacon of the Catholic church. He’s our support officer. I’m not a religious man but he is absolutely brilliant. He looks after the Ambos in town. He’s a Vietnam vet so he knows what it’s like. He was in the battle of Long Tan. I’m tied up with the Veterans Motorcycle club NSW club as their Medic. I’ve been with them for 20 years so you see the difference between Vietnam vets and Afghanistan or Iraq vets. They all have PTSD but varying levels because some have been doing it for 40 odd years. Graeme is really good..well, for a Catholic padre. I’ve been in the church and he says, ‘Can you get this person out quick?’ I’ve said, Are you worried it’s gonna fall down and he says, with you in the place, Yes! It’s a standing joke.
There was an old street person in Sydney who was a pain in the arse for the Coppers but anyway he had his will. His dying wish was that he would be cremated and his ashes scattered outside Penfolds wines on the Princes Hwy, Tempe. We said, Why there? He said, well that’s where my problem started drinking Penfolds Brown Musket and that way my spirit will keep moving down the highway. The government actually paid for him to be cremated because he was a street person and the local minister went and scattered his ashes there. How good is that!“