Ambulance Australia: A Queensland paramedic shares his most unforgettable moments on the job

From assaults to traumatic scenes and touching moments of gratitude, Brisbane paramedic and Ambulance Australia newcomer Achille Wood has opened up about the cases that stay with him.

After being a paramedic in Queensland for 11 years, it’s curious the moments that have stayed with Achille Wood.

Starting the job at 21 and moving from Mount Isa to Rockhampton, Townsville and now Brisbane, Wood, 32, in the six or seven jobs he does in an average shift, has been assaulted, exposed to traumatic scenes, and saved lives.

But when asked for the first case that comes to mind, it goes back to a simple moment in his first years on the job, having been called out to a five-year-old girl who had spilt her grandmother’s pot of hot tea on her chest in a Rockhampton food court.

“She was quite upset,” Wood, of Deception Bay, said. “I remember when we got to the hospital and I asked her to move from one bed to the other she leapt out of the stretcher and jumped onto me, gave me a big cuddle and she said ‘thank you’ and I think I’ll just always remember that.”

Brisbane paramedic Achille Wood appears on Ambulance Australia season four on Channel 10. Photo: Supplied/ Channel 10

“The things that stand out the most, is every time you ease discomfort. It’s gratifying, you feel good about it, especially when you can ease discomfort in kids, and when you see the relief on the child, it’s something you can never describe in words.”

He knows he would react to that scene differently now as a father of two daughters, aged four and two, and that he says is the challenge of being a career paramedic.

“If it happened to me it would affect me differently because it’s so relatable. And that’s the challenge, the things that affect you change as you grow older,” he said.

The traumatic incidents stay with him too – common accidents such as gruesome broken bones but particularly a case involving a burns victim.

“Things like that it’s not just visual. There’s things you hear and things you smell that you remember. Just talking about it now, I can smell things I don’t want to smell,” he said.

“Paramedics, we are trained but we are still human and there are confronting things we come across.”

Wood is a new cast member of season four of Channel 10 series Ambulance Australia, in which camera crews filmed paramedics on the job in Brisbane, and he believes it’s valuable to give audiences an accurate insight into their daily lives.

It shows how paramedics use the few minutes they have racing to a scene to discuss the job they’ve been given, informed of the specifics by the emergency operator, and mentally prepare themselves for what they are about to walk into.

Wood and his colleague Andrew Roberts appear on Ambulance Australia season four on Channel 10. Photo: Supplied/ Channel 10

“That really helps us a lot in getting the job done in a highly stressful situation,” he said. “You get to discuss what you might see and what you might need to do.”

That is particularly the case for code five, approach with caution, which they do routinely but particularly when the operator suspects aggression might be involved and often they will be told to wait for police.

But aggression isn’t always predictable and Wood, like many Queensland ambulance officers, has been assaulted on the job.

He recalled approaching a woman who appeared unconscious in a parking lot and leaning in to check her breathing.

“I got down close and she turned around and spat in my face and had a swing,” he said.

“I withdrew from the scene and the police came and assisted us. That’s just one incident, they happen. It’s not many, that’s just my story.

“We just have to get on and do the job.”

“But one time is too many.”

The QAS has a peer support system and external counsellors and psychologists and Wood has used all of those resources through his 11 years.

But when asked what keeps him motivated to do the job, he replies “I’m addicted to gratitude”.

“People are always grateful and it’s just incredibly rewarding and satisfying when you do make a difference and when you do ease someone’s suffering,” he said.

“That’s what drives me, knowing I can make a difference and I can help, knowing I’m helping someone who is probably having the worst day of their life. That’s what will keep me turning up for a long time I think.”

Ambulance Australia airs Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 or on demand on 10 Play.