Forty-two years in the one industry is an impressive stint for anyone, and for local man John Harpley over four decades as a paramedic has finally come to an end.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
John’s journey began in Forbes in 1973 when as a 22-year-old he took on the responsibility of an Honorary Ambulance Officer.
“We did all the things the regular fellas did but you just didn’t get paid for it,” he said.
“It gave me an insight into what the job was all about.
“It’s a fairly interesting job sometimes and doesn’t suit everybody, so being an Honorary gave me a great insight into what it actually entailed.
“You go to car accidents and see unpleasant things, and then you make your mind up whether you can do it.”
For John the decision was simple and he joined the service permanently at Leeton in August 1975.
John eventually transferred to Bowral where he recalled his first day on the job that involved four high speed head on collisions, something he said was your average day at Bowral.
But it was here John said possibly the most significant change of the industry occurred – the introduction of an intensive care paramedic system. He was selected into the new system which took him to Wollongong in 1978 and remained his base for the next 20 years.
“We can do so much more for patients now [than back then],” he said. “The technical nature of the job has increased so much since then.
“We can now give medications that can help reverse some heart attacks - those things were undreamed of when I first joined the job.
“Our treatment was very basic as an ambulance officer - you quickly treated things and got patients off to hospital; it was a quantum leap in what we could do for patients.
“Only doctors at hospital could do that and suddenly I could do that in my own ambulance.”
During this time he was also involved in rescue helicopters – a job which has now progressed to full-time service.
“It was great to participate in that – it was very, very dangerous work,” he said.
“We were developing systems for rescue.
“We’d go out to sea and land on ships, go into the bush and rescue people 100 feet up or down cliffs, and take people from road accidents or sick people from hospital transfers to Sydney or Canberra.”
In 1998 John decided to move back to the bush.
He became station officer at Yass in his first move back to rural NSW.
He then transferred to Young two years later in October 2000.
The rest is history for the very popular Young paramedic who has been at the scene to rescue and save hundreds of locals since his move to the cherry capital.
Reflecting on his four decades in the service John said the most rewarding part of his career is knowing he has made a difference.
“It may not be the saving of a life, it may be in just helping,” he said of his lifetime service to the industry which is most often rated the most trustworthy of professions.
“We look after people who are sick and injured and we do it often at a time of great confusion, panic, fear and anger with the people involved in a sudden death or accident.
“When you can sit back at the end of a job and think how’d that all go, sometimes it didn’t go how you’d hoped, but it’s being able to sit back and think, ‘I made a difference here’,” John said last week.
Whilst retiring John has no intentions of the leaving the town.
John and his wife Maree will now turn their focus to a different scene, that of building a house on their Murringo Road property to retire in.
“It’s funny retiring – I have a sense of loss of family after doing this for so long,” he said.
“It’s a fabulous job, I consider myself so fortunate to be able to do something I love doing for so long, I shall miss it very much.”
Inspector Stephen Pollard said he and the paramedics at Young will miss John very much.
“He has been a part of our lives for the past 16 years,” he said. “We have all shared some good times and also some difficult times.
“We wish him and Maree a long and happy retirement.”
