A RESCUE helicopter paramedic received an Ambulance Services Medal for his 27 years of service in the Australia Day 2020 Honours List.
Chris Oakes, of Two Rocks, said he felt honoured and privileged to receive the medal for his work with St John Ambulance WA, which has included being a critical care paramedic for more than a decade.
“There are so many other deserving people as well; to be selected amongst my peers is quite privileged,” he said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“The people that I work with, my colleagues, make it a job that you want to keep going to every morning.”
Mr Oakes said his peers shared the same ethos, to make people’s worst days better through the emergency care they provide.
“We are there to try and alleviate some of the stress and pain for them,” he said.
He said support from his wife Nicole, family and colleagues had helped motivate him to do the work, which often involves attending WA’s worst crashes with rescue helicopter teams based in Jandakot and Bunbury.
Mr Oakes said one of the more memorable incidents he’s attended was while working in Bunbury last November.
“We did two winch rescues of people within 24 hours off Stirling Ranges on Bluff Knoll,” he said.
There are also jobs with bad outcomes, and the paramedic said crew members debriefed together to ensure they were all ok.
“Unfortunately with helicopter, they send you to the worst jobs,” he said.
“Mostly the jobs we go to on the helicopter are going to be road traffic accidents in country WA.”
Mr Oakes joined St John as a paramedic in 1993 and has taken on a range of roles including station manager, industrial ambulance paramedic, industrial response and pre-hospital care trainer.
He is a long term member of WA’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Service team where he started as a critical care paramedic.
He was nominated for the medal for being a supportive and encouraging mentor, and being involved with perilous rescue operations when he has sometimes put the welfare of others before his own to see them to safety.
He was described as an ambassador for the paramedic profession, and being instrumental in developing the profession as a skilled and recognised workforce.
Operations manger receives Ambulance Service Medal
ST John Ambulance state operations centre operations manager Austin Whiteside received an ambulance service medal recognising his long career of service.
The Mullaloo resident joined St John in WA in 1998 as a career paramedic, working in several metropolitan depots, and was promoted to station manager in 2002.
He has since held leadership positions in the State Operations Centre, and was involved in planning its relocation in 2006 when he was the first person to hold the state ambulance operations manager position.
In 2011, he was promoted to operations manager and tasked with managing and leading transformation projects such as the introduction and implementation of the medical priority dispatch system, an ambulance secondary triage system via Health Direct; and establishing a back-up State Operations Centre with training facilities at the Wangara hub.
He received the medal for being an invaluable part of the organisation, role model to his peers and demonstrating persistent determination to ensure the centre outperformed expectations.
Australia Day honours for Free the Bears founder
