Queensland Ambulance Service manager explains why she wants to go back to being a paramedic

An award-winning Queensland Ambulance Service leader has decided to drop her supervisor position to go back “on the floor”, after she was awarded a special medal for her work. Here’s why.

Erin Saltmarsh, an awardee QAS manager has shared what made her move to Airlie Beach and go back to working on the field. Picture: Contributed

An award-winning Queensland Ambulance Service leader has decided to drop her supervisor position to go back “on the floor”, after she was awarded a special medal for her work.

Erin Saltmarsh, 41, has just been awarded an Ambulance Service Medal as part of the Australia Day Honours List.

Though the dedicated worker and proud mum said it was time to take a step back and give her son Zac, 14, priority to pursue his passion for go-karting.

The ex-Senior Operations Supervisor in Longreach said her position had meant long work hours and working on the weekend, while driving to go-karting lessons in Emerald, which was five hours away, when they were not going all the way to Townsville.

Erin Saltmarsh, an awardee QAS manager has shared what made her move to Airlie Beach and go back to working on the field. Picture: Contributed

“I thought, well, he’s put up with me and my career for so long with my long hours, my weekend work that it was time to give back to him,” Ms Saltmarsh said.

“He’s at an age now, if we don’t give everything with go karting, he’ll fall out or miss out completely.

“My parents did it for me when I was younger with horse riding.”

Ms Saltmarsh started her career in the ambulance service in Tasmania close to 20 years ago, and she is hoping going back to work as a paramedic would help her “remember the passion that (she) had for the job back then”.

“The adrenaline rush you have after going to a job and helping someone, whether it’s just an elderly person, lifting them up off the floor or something, just that feeling is undescribable really, and that’s what I want to get back to feeling again,” she said.

Erin Saltmarsh, an awardee QAS manager has shared what made her move to Airlie Beach and go back to working on the field. Picture: Contributed

Erin Saltmarsh, an awardee QAS manager has shared what made her move to Airlie Beach and go back to working on the field. Picture: Contributed

In her day-to-day SOS role, Ms Saltmarsh provided leadership and oversight to nine remote Queensland Health hospital-based ambulances and to a Queensland Health multipurpose health centre.

“Out here you can feel quite isolated and lonely at times, especially if you haven’t come out here with your family, or you’re working long hours, you may not get a great deal of engagement with people outside work and you can fall into a bit of a hole,” she said, adding it would be “very hard” to get used to working less in her new position.

Now based in Airlie Beach for the next six months, Ms Saltmarsh says her mission is to better understand on the ground issues for the ambulance crews.

“Sometimes as managers we can forget what it’s like to be on the floor and the issues in real time,” she said.

Erin Saltmarsh, an awardee QAS manager has shared what made her move to Airlie Beach and go back to working on the field. Picture: Contributed

“So to go back and actually work with them and listen and hear what their issues and problems and concerns are, I hope to be able to advocate for them.

“To be honest, I’m quite nervous, to go back on the floor.

“The youngest that are coming through, they’re so intelligent and they’ve got university degrees behind them and they’re just really clued up.

“It’s actually a little bit intimidating, but I like that.”

A career with higher responsibilities is still on the cards for the 41-year-old mum, who would ultimately aim to work for the Emergency Management Unit.

“They’re the ones that are deployed when there are cyclones and they’re the ones that bring the equipment to the big events like Big Red Bash.”

In the meantime, in between work hours, go karting practice and races, Erin is looking forward to hitting the trails in the Whitsunday region and see its waterfalls.