Born and bred city-sider Dan Pacchiarotta has swapped the streets of Sydney for a year in the bush as a trainee paramedic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 26-year-old completed a Bachelor of Paramedicine in September 2018 and a year later, he undertook a five-week induction at the Ambulance Education Centre in Roselle.
Mr Pacchiarotta said about 600 graduated and competed for only 250 places. He was one of the lucky ones, securing a place at the Gunnedah Ambulance Station and starting last week.
He said he was drawn to paramedicine "quite young".
"I liked the medical field but I didn't think working indoors would suit me, so I thought paramedicine would be the way to go," he said.
Read also:
The trainee is in the right place to learn because there the crew there have about 130 years of experience between them.
"We've got a good crew and really good clinical experience here," station manager Scott Clarke said.
While trainees assigned to metropolitan attend more call-outs, Mr Clarke said trainees at regional stations had the advantage of variety and more time with patients.
Mr Clarke said the station had been "identified as a good training ground" and for the best part of five years, a trainee paramedic had been working there.
Mr Pacchiarotta is the second trainee to join the station this year - Maddi Lisle joined in January and will head off to another station in January 2020.
The Sydney-sider always has a mentor with him and said he had "already learnt a heap".
"I like meeting new people. I like the complexity of the job ... and the changing dynamic of it," he said.
