After almost eight years in the position of head honcho at Maleny Ambulance Station, Officer in Charge (OIC) Adam Russell is downgrading his duties and moving off the range as part of his transition to retirement. The veteran paramedic has over 40 years industry experience under his belt, which includes serving as Officer in Charge at four locations across the State. He said looking back over his career he credits the unwavering support of his wife Jennifer, along with the long-standing support of his family for allowing him to serve his community to the best of his capacity.
President of the Maleny Local Ambulance Committee, Ken Nipperess said Adam would be greatly missed; as not only was he an excellent station leader and senior paramedic with a great sense of humour; he was equally a well-known and regarded member of the Maleny community.
He said Adam’s extensive rural experience had provided him with the tools to work compassionately and effectively in smaller communities, often bringing humour and a uniquely personal touch which embedded him well within the local community – qualities not often realised at bigger metropolitan stations.
“Adam has developed a close affiliation with Maleny, and we acknowledge and greatly appreciate his service. We thank him for all that he has achieved over the years, and we look forward to the new OIC having the same stature and standards as Adam, as these will be big boots to fill!” said Ken.
Adam said he stared his career as a junior ambulance officer in Toowoomba in 1981 for what was then known as QATB (Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade) before moving to a position at Southport. In 1990 he was amongst the first group of ambulance officers in Queensland to be trained in Helicopter Operations, and then in 1992 he took up his first OIC position at Beaudesert which gave him his first foray into working with community representation and local and district disaster management.
He and his family then relocated to the isolated Cape York community of Bamaga where Adam served five separate communities, before moving to the Sunshine Coast in 1999 to work on the road in critical care capacity. 2006 saw Adam and his family move out to the central Queensland town of Aramac where he worked as OIC. In 2015 the opportunity to take up the position of OIC at Maleny arose, and Adam said he and his wife had been previously familiar with the beauty and greenery of Maleny, and so were excited to come onboard.
Adam said he felt it took a special breed of person to work in emergency healthcare, as the role required a high degree of compassion and a big heart. He said having worked in the profession for 41 years, in his opinion he said he felt it was a honourable job that although challenging at times, provided an incredible amount of personal satisfaction.
“You know when you do your job you’ve done your very best for someone supporting them on their very worst day. To know that you’ve made a difference to someone when they’ve needed help the most, that is an incredibly rewarding feeling,” said Adam.
Adam said he would be now downgrading his registrations and clinical scope and moving out of management roles to take up a patient transport position based out Birtinya station, with his last official day at Maleny Station on Friday April 14. He said in every OIC position he had taken on over the years he had made a personal commitment to leave each station in a better state than when he started. He said he was leaving Maleny with a high degree of satisfaction he had achieved that personal goal and after four decades he was looking forward to no more night shifts!