Pride Australia 2014: Paramedic risked his life to help trapped woman

THE first instinct of paramedic Josef Pichler was to relieve his patient’s pain. It didn’t matter that she was under a bus, or that the bus hadn’t been secured.

THE first instinct of paramedic Josef Pichler was to relieve his patient’s pain.

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It didn’t matter that she was under a bus, or that the bus hadn’t been secured, or that the undercarriage was dark and stiflingly hot.

“I just managed to crawl under the bus,” he said.

“I could hardly lift my head because it was so narrow. I had my torch in my mouth shining onto her arm, I got a line and administered morphine.

“You could feel it in her voice that all of a sudden she was more comfortable.”

It was January 30 and Christine Mulholland, 51, was hit by a bus while crossing Clarence Street in the city. Josef, a motorcycle paramedic, was first on the scene.

Nominee Joseph Pichler is a mounted Ambulance driver who talked to dying woman under a bus for an hour and a half with no thought of risk to himself.

The wreck was so bad he thought no-one could have survived. But then he heard the voice, crying: “I am in pain, I am in pain, get me out of here.”

While specialist services worked to move the bus, Josef lay with Christine for an hour and a half.

Josef did one of the hardest things he is ever required to do: warn Christine that she might not make it.

“It’s just so important, they might have something really important to say — and she did.”

Christine was sedated before the bus was moved and never regained consciousness.

Josef, a paramedic for 10 years, who has saved many lives in many perilous situations, has been honoured for his bravery with a Pride of Australia nomination for the Heroism Medal.