After 50 years of exceptional service, professionalism and care, Stephen Pollard completed his final shift last week alongside his son and fellow paramedic, Ian. In his time working as a paramedic throughout NSW, including in Bowral, Wollongong, Kiama and Young, Stephen has remained a pillar of strength and medical care, showing up for the community in some of the hardest moments of their lives. Although Stephen may have officially started his career in paramedicine on in April 1976, his first real foray into the life of ambulatory service occurred before even registering for training. As Stephen tells it, one evening as he was leaving work at the Bowral Bowling club, his mate who worked as a local paramedic, sped past in an ambulance. Stephen followed the ambulance to the scene of a car and motorcycle collision. He stepped in to assist his friend administer first aid by holding the patient’s drip bag and helping to splint the patient’s leg. After witnessing close-up the incredible impact of the profession, Stephen was keen to be a part of it, and applied to be a paramedic that year. Initially, Stephen saw his time in paramedicine as temporary, a stop-over until something better came along. It wasn’t long before he realised that “nothing better was going to come along and that being a paramedic was a great occupation. I was completely hooked”. The training that Stephen underwent to become a fully certified paramedic was very different to standards today. In 1976, paramedicine training involved an advanced 4-week first aid course conducted by NSW Ambulance. Nowadays, aspiring ambulance workers must acquire a university degree in paramedicine before even applying for the job. Throughout his career, Stephen explored various opportunities to enhance his skill set and knowledge base. This included completing his Intensive Care Paramedic (ICP) training in 1980, and during his time spent working in Wollongong, he spent three summers as a medical crewman for Surf Helicopters operations and four years with the National Safety Council Helicopter operations, administering critical first aid on air retrieval on missions all across southern NSW. For the last 30 years, Stephen has served the community of Young in several roles. For 15 years, his role as Duty Operations Manager (DOM) involved overseeing staff and rosters for 11 ambulance stations including Young, attending major incidents as supervisor and also leading post-trauma incident staff debriefs. In 2022, he stepped down from the full-time DOM role to resume work in-ambulance in a part-time capacity. “It’s incredibly rewarding looking after the needs of people,” Stephen explained. “I have always gotten tremendous satisfaction out of it.” To honour his exemplary service over the years, Stephen has received several medals. These include a NSW Service & Conduct medal, a Pandemic Service medal, the National Service Medal and the National Emergency medal. Fifty years ago, Stephen had no idea how his life would be so intrinsically shaped by his career in paramedicine. At the time, it was simply just something that happened. His advice for upcoming paramedics is to see the job for what it is; “a marvellous occupation that helps people every single day”. After years spent raising a family alongside his outstanding relief work, Stephen is looking forward to retirement. No longer being attached to a roster gives him the freedom to finally capitalise on all his travel plans, of which there are many. After years upholding the community, saving countless lives, as well as mentoring generations of paramedics along the way, Stephen can rest easy knowing that he leaves behind a brilliant and highly skilled generation of paramedics to take his place.
