The life of a C is challenging, varied and amazing – just ask Louise Allford.
The 27-year-old Altona paramedic has been with Ambulance Victoria for four and a half years, mostly at the Brimbank station in Delahey.
“Being a paramedic is the crux of health care,” she said. “You see a range of cases and it’s a great opportunity to get out and about and meet different people in a job that changes and is challenging every day.”
Brimbank paramedics work four days on, four days off, with two 10-hour day shifts and two 14-hour night shifts consecutively.
Ms Allford says her unit answers many cardiac and drug and alcohol-related call-outs.
“We do a lot of the sporting injury-type trauma, but the stereotypical major car accidents and such we don’t see so much of, which is a good thing,” she said. “In a typical day we’d probably do around six cases. Most of them are around the Brimbank area and western suburbs, but we never know where we’ll end up.
“I like meeting older people. They have such amazing stories … sometimes they need a hand with only the simplest of things.
“When someone calls an ambulance, it’s not a good time for them . . . so when you feel you’ve made some sort of difference, that’s one of the best feelings you can have.”
