PE O PLE
PE OPLE
on station with
Crookwell
The tourist
brochure says:
Crookwell is a picturesque country
town situated amid farmland in the
Southern Tablelands, 240 km southwest of Sydney and a 90-minute drive
north of Canberra. From its elevated
position atop the Great Dividing Range,
900 metres above sea level, Crookwell
governs green rolling hills and features
pretty tree-lined streets, beautiful
gardens and plenty of streams for
trout fishing.
Staff at Crookwell say:
Crookwell is an awesome place to
work. Remote enough for a quiet, small
country town lifestyle, but close enough
to major centres to stay in touch with
the rest of the world! One of the most
noticeable differences from working
rurally to working in metropolitan areas
is the appreciation and generosity of the
community. We regularly receive small
gifts, thank you letters and cards from
patients and their families. We also don’t
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face the abuse that our city brothers
and sisters encounter, and we are very
thankful for it!
Most common jobs?
Trauma makes up a large, and very
interesting, portion of our work. We’re
surrounded by agriculture, therefore
farming accidents are regular events;
from machinery to livestock to vehicle
accidents, we get them all. Within our
response area, we also have lakes and
rivers used for waterskiing and other
activities, as well as motorbike farms.
The roads within the area are also muchloved by motorcyclists so we regularly
attend to motorbike collisions. Due to
our distance from a major trauma centre,
we regularly require assistance from
AMRS for retrieval.
How many staff?
We’ve just been enhanced to five staff;
the arrival of Jessica brings our staff
to four qualified paramedics and one
paramedic intern.
Geographical
challenges
What do you enjoy most
about your area?
Our response area covers 7102 km2
– around four times the size of the
Sydney urban area. Large sections of
our response area are only accessible
by 4WD year-round, whilst other areas
become inaccessible (to all but 4WDs)
after wet weather and snow.
One of the best things about working in
the area is the autonomy that comes with
working in rural locations. It brings about
the challenge to trust your abilities and
knowledge. The community is another
standout reason that makes working in
the area so enjoyable. The support is
outstanding and we are made to feel very
much a part of the community.
Remote areas also bring about
challenges for our communications
and we commonly find that a satellite
phone – which can also be hit-andmiss at times – is our only line of
communication. The Crookwell area
takes in lakes, rivers, canyons and
caves; it’s prone to very high winds
and, at times, we’ve become isolated
due to flooding. There’s also the
ever-constant threat of bushfire.
Significantly, our nearest ICPs are
located 42 km south in Goulburn. At
the furthest reaches of our area, we can
be nearly 150 km from ICP back-up, if
they’re available.
Most memorable jobs
Paramedics were called to a farm where
an elderly lady was sitting on a timber
pallet on the back of a ute. The patient
had been rushed by a cow and fell,
fracturing her NOF (neck of femur) on the
gate. Puzzled, the crew asked where the
incident had taken place. The husband
then piped up and said it was about
one kilometre across the paddock. Still
puzzled, the crew asked exactly how the
patient came to be where she was. They
were then told that after his wife was
injured, the husband raced back across
the paddock on foot to get the ute. He
drove back to the scene only to realise
he couldn’t get the patient into the car.
So he went back to the house on foot
again, this time to get the tractor –
with the forklift tines attached of course –
and a pallet. He drove back to the patient
on the tractor, then rolled her onto the
pallet and lifted her onto the back of the
ute before driving back to the house to
phone Triple Zero (000).
she should have been around the corner
playing bridge with her friends. Staff then
diligently knocked on the neighbour’s
door. When the door opened, there
were roars of laughter from within. The
‘patient’ then very gingerly identified
herself and admitted that when her
friends had asked how far from home her
alarm would work, she pressed it and
said it was too far and wouldn’t work!
The best part of the story though was
when one of the paramedics jokingly
asked if the ute had a tipper on it so
they could just slide the patient onto
the stretcher. The husband very
seriously replied, “Yeah hang on mate,
I’ll start it up!”.
On another occasion, paramedics
responded to a vital call alarm with no
voice contact. Upon arrival, the house
was locked up and there was no sign of
the resident. The family arrived and said
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