Fast forward to today and Mrs Taylor dons the blue overalls of Ambulance NSW serving her community as a paramedic in Port Macquarie.

“I had been doing that for 14 years and decided I was done in that career. I wanted to try something new,” she said. 

“I Googled different career options and have always been interested in the medical side of things.

“I stumbled across paramedics and thought ‘this is definitely my type of work’. Just being there, right in that crucial moment, when someone needs you the most and has no one else, is very rewarding.”

Making the leap was hard. Uprooting her family from their established lives down south was difficult, but there are no regrets despite the hard work.

“You go from knowing everything there is to know about a certain career or profession, to going back to knowing nothing,” she said.

“So far I’ve handled it well. I’ve gone through the bachelor degree pathway at university.

“It allowed me to work around family life for a little while, doing it by distance while working full time. I relied a lot on my family then. I had a lot of support. 

“I liked my kids watching me do that. It was nice for them to see mum go back and commit to something, which is what they will have to do.”

Mrs Taylor has already endured difficult jobs, including a few nasty car crashes, some heart attacks and a cardiac arrest on the roof of a school.

“That was my hardest one so far (but) we have a lot of support here at the station. Everyone is quick to check on you,” she said.

“Your training officer checks on you, we have peer support people who will call … there are a lot of avenues in place when we go to the harder jobs, especially for someone new like myself who isn’t as conditioned to it.”

Mrs Taylor said blood and gore is something the everyday person thinks of when they imagine being a paramedic, but that is the easier part.

“Some of the more challenging ones is upset family members, kids, seeing situations that you might relate personally to. That affects me more than the blood and gore side of things,” she said.

“Dealing with family members affected by suicide is tough, especially when they didn’t see it coming. It is so devastating.

“They would have wanted to help had they seen a sign, but they didn’t. It’s those jobs where I will go home and ask questions of my family and pay close attention.”

Despite the hard slog, long hours studying in between working and raising a family, Mrs Taylor has content in her choice to change careers for the betterment of herself, her family and whichever community she may serve.

“It is such a rewarding profession. Every moment has been worth the three years of university, putting my family through the move and relocating to town. My husband has settled in, my kids love it,” she said.

“When they told me I was coming to Port Macquarie I was very happy. I have found it’s such an inclusive and friendly town. 

“We had never been here before but I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be put to.”

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