From saving young children’s lives to rescuing people from car crashes, Greg Cameron has seen his fair of share of action over the past 37 years.
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The NSW Ambulance paramedic, who has dedicated almost four decades to helping people, called it a day on February 8.
He joined the ambulance service in Liverpool in 1982, after hearing stories about the job from a friend.
“He said what a good job it was and I thought I’d like to do the same thing,” he said.
“I really enjoyed it straight away.”
Nine years ago he moved to the Kiama branch, and said he liked the “country town feel” of the community.
“The great thing is you get to look after people who you know,” he said.
“That can sometimes be difficult, but there’s always been such a respect from the locals toward us paramedics.”
While Mr Cameron said it wasn’t easy arriving on scene to find someone you know, he said Kiama’s paramedics were some of the best in the business.
“They are such special people, they have to be to do that sort of work,” he said.
Mr Cameron said there’s been so many highlights in his career that it was hard to point out just one.
“There are those times where you save a child’s life, or someone from a car accident and it’s just exceptional,” he said.
“Every time you head out on a job you’re making a difference.”
To celebrate the end of his final shift, Mr Cameron’s colleague’s, both past and present, took him for coffee in Kiama.
“It was really nice, very special,” he said.
“There were even some retired paramedics that showed up, I was very surprised.”
Now that he’s retired- Mr Cameron said he’d be spending time with family and friends, while also doing a fair amount of relaxing.
“This kind of work greatly affects your family, you miss functions here and there so it’s a real sacrifice for them too,” he said.
“I’ll be spending more time with them now.”
Mr Cameron’s wife Deborah is set to retire in about two years time, and they plan on travelling around Australia in their caravan and jetting off overseas for an international holiday.
He said he didn’t think it’d be hard to adjust to the retired lifestyle, but did say he’d miss the ambulance service greatly.
“I’ll really miss the camaraderie,” he said.
“Caring for people has become a bit of a way of life for me and not doing that anymore will be a bit sad.”