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AFTER 42 years of dedicated service, Port Macquarie-based NSW Ambulance Inspector Steve Towle has had his last shift.
Based in the town for the past 30 years, Steve will take with him a sense of pride at the many patients he has treated and assisted along the way.
“I will miss the interaction with patients, making them feel better and reassuring them,” he said.
Steve signed up in November 1975 at age 18, inspired by his father Fred who had been an Honourary (volunteer paramedic) for about 10 years.
“I started out working in a bank, which didn’t inspire me that much. So I had a think about what I liked to do,” Steve said.
“I had spent a reasonable amount of time growing up around ambulances and ambulance stations because my father was a Honourary – at Yass then Tamworth. It was just something I thought I would like to do. Plus I already had my first aid certificate.”
His training involved a four-week probationers’ course in Sydney, followed by postings to a series of ambulance stations over the next 12 years including Dungog, Dubbo, Bathurst and Goulburn. In 1987 he was appointed Deputy Superintendent (under the old ranking structure) and assigned to Port Macquarie, where he remains to this day.
With three decade’s experience serving the needs of the Port community, Steven can personally relate to the highs – and traumatic lows – of the region
Steve said the assisted delivery of five healthy babies over the years is a highlight; so too is the camaraderie with colleagues and ability to help patients.
A father of two and grandfather of four (with a fifth due on Saturday, May 20) Steve said he would spend his retirement with family, travelling Australia and overseas, and continuing his charity work with Rotary and the Wauchope Baptist Church.