Through the Eyes of a Dinosaur: Wayne Flint reflects on his time as a Paramedic as as an advocate with APA (NSW

THROUGH THE EYES OF A DINOSAUR

WAYNE FLINT FORMER APA (NSW) SECRETARY AND LIFE MEMBER

I was once referred to as a Paramedic but long before that, I was called a number of things. The most important being called an Ambo. On the other side of the scale I also got called a Zambuck, Stretcher Bearer and even a Meat Wagon Driver. So, you can see from that introduction that I became a serving member of the NSW Ambulance Service before many of today’s Ambulance stock were even born, hence the reference to dinosaurs. To be precise it was November 1981! Education was different then. I estimated that in my first 10 years in the job I had actually spent a cumulative one year at Rozelle and other Training Centres. Level 1, Level 2, Rescue, Advanced Roping, Intermediate Life Support, Advanced Life Support and so on. I guess I didn’t do too bad for a guy who failed his First Aid Course at school back in the '60s in Campbelltown. At my first Level 2 me and my other probie mates, we were called Blue Boys (and if you know the reasoning for that you have been in the job a long time). We were interspersed with an equal number of Ambos who I then classified as dinosaurs. My buddies and I of course were the newbies on the block with heaps of intelligence and street cred. I was lucky I was around 26 years of age which made me mature. In age only, I was later to find out! So in amongst this group of Ambos we asked the question, “how come some of these guys are in the job? They don’t seem that smart." After all, from what we had learned at our Level 1 seven months prior we seemed to know more about anatomy and physiology than they did, and we obviously had our heads so far up our arses we could just about see out of our mouths. So where am I going with this? I sat down one day with an old guy from Ulladulla called John. I didn’t know it, but he was a legend back

in Ulladulla, despite the tag I had labelled them all with. It was only after sitting down over a few beers with John and listening to some of his experiences that I realised how much he and many of these other guys knew. It wasn’t their knowledge of physiology; their anatomy was pretty good. But physiology was as new to them as it had been to me when I started my Level 1. What I realised very quickly was that these guys had a survival instinct, and in most cases that meant good outcomes for their

"They equipped me with a box of band aids, splints, bandages and Entonox. Yep that was it."

patients despite the lack of training available back then and the knowledge we were equipped with. The greatest asset I could see that these guys had was the ability to improvise and work as single officers under exceptionally trying conditions. As I said, they saved most but also lost some

through either lack of training or equipment. I don’t think that’s changed much, given my intimate knowledge of the number of individuals trotted before the boss for stuffing up. It’s just different errors now. As my time in the service passed, I didn’t just witness history in the making, I was a part of it. Back to my Level 1, I left there equipped with more knowledge than I ever thought I had the capacity to absorb. I was working in Central District Ambulance as it was then known (Metro) in Area 8 (Liverpool), and they equipped me with a box of band aids, splints, bandages and Entonox. Yep that was it. The old guys used to talk about the good old days with Tryline (Dry Cleaning Fluid) as an analgesic. I even saw some of the old gear and felt lucky to be well equipped and working two to a car. Things have changed dramatically, some for the good and some not so. I recall being able to work all over NSW and the Government paid for it, including all the school clothes for my kids, but that got traded off didn’t it! So too did my right to be paid a Call Out (4 hours at OT) if I was called to shift early, even if it was only a couple of minutes before start time. Again, traded off in the Second Tier Pay Rise of '88! Didn’t seem to be a pay rise to me, I lost money! It was great to be able to go on strike and march on the McKell Building at Central in '82 which was Ambulance Administration Headquarters, but the State took those rights away as well. I think the bad things outweigh the good despite the introduction of the best vehicles we ever had, drugs, monitors (we raised most of the money for the first Ladel Heartstarts despite a great donation by the late Kerry Packer) and various equipment. It was good to have my increased skills recognised and this also came with a pay rise. I seem to be back to the bad things again, in the days of us dinosaurs we were expected to go out and

raise money from the public to gain such things, today it appears the service will pay for the product but they don’t pay for the upgrade in your skill set. Are they just bean counters paying homage to their own bosses at the expense of their workers, I ask you? My years are full of stories that not many of the new brigade will even contemplate as truthful, like a barbie on downtime watching the footy on Saturday afternoon. Surprised I lasted the distance! After 28 years of on call, supposed to be a maximum of 14 per month on a 28 day roster (straight 8) which usually turned into about 20 per month, then a 4 x 5 followed by a 4 x 4 with no meal breaks and still doing more on call than required, a telephone is the most hated thing on the planet by me. I have a landline into my house for NBN, but no phone attached I don’t even know the house number. The anxiety of the phone going off in the middle of the night is a remnant and stark reminder of the PTSD symptoms that once haunted me but are now long gone. One thing which is very clear, and it seems to continue, is the dedication to the job. Your most important person is your next patient! I look back and I don’t miss the job, I miss my mates and my working environment. I don’t miss managers trying to balance the books at the expense of me or my mates. But when asked if there is anything else I would have preferred to do, the answer is NO! I wouldn’t change too much. So you might be looking at this and thinking silly old bastard with his war stories and memories which may even be distorted with time, a bit like the fish that got away, but just think if you go the distance, you too might become a dinosaur like me. Bear in mind the old guy you might have to work with next shift has also done the hard yards as well and there is a lot to be learnt from them if you try.

"...just think if you go the distance, you too might become a dinosaur like me"