Shell Cove paramedic who refused to stop learning honoured for 23-year career

"I just wanted to be a paramedic," said the man who is now Associate Director, Clinical Practice, meaning he's responsible for the delivery of high quality and patient-centric clinical care to the people of NSW.

Since joining NSW Ambulance in mid-2000, Mr Nichols' career has morphed as quickly as the job has changed.

From his days as a regional NSW paramedic, the Shell Cove resident has worked as an intensive care paramedic, then in rescue and special operations and as a critical care helicopter paramedic.

Five years were spent as a critical care paramedic educator before he was appointed to a clinical leadership role during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He believes, it is for his work during the pandemic that he was awarded the Ambulance Service Medal in this year's January 26 honours.

"I've spent that 10 years in para-medicine as I was lucky enough to have an insight into where the profession was headed."

That insight came not just through years of operational work, but also a lifelong thirst for education.

Over his 23-year career, Mr Nichols hasn't stopped learning, completing three bachelor degrees (including nursing and law), three graduate certificates and two masters.

"I've done a lot over my career and feel fortunate that I have done almost everything you can do as a paramedic with the range of roles that I have held," he said.

"Working as a specialist paramedic in multiple areas of practice gave me a breadth of experience, that when combined with the depth of knowledge I had gained through my desire to keep studying, put me in a position to work with the clinical systems team during the pandemic."

But the memories from his days in the field will always loom large. Like the cliff-side rescue which needed night vision googles to locate the patient, for instance.

The weather was too gnarly to winch a rescuer directly to the patient, so the helicopter landed at the top of the escarpment and Mr Nichols abseiled down.

He secured the patient to the side of the cliff to prevent him falling further, administered treatment, and once the patient was stable he was hauled up the cliff and flown to hospital.

"This was a job when I had to put all my training into practice, working as part of a team, using my austere access skillset on top of the specialist clinical capabilities that I possessed," he said.

The challenges mat not be quite so physically confronting but still Mr Nichols is making his mark.

"I'm really grateful that in my current position I can make a lot of difference to the way NSW Ambulance cares for our community."