MELBOURNE, VIC. — Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedic Colin Carty is marking 40 years with Victoria’s ambulance service, including almost three decades providing care to critically injured and unwell patients aboard air ambulance helicopters and planes.
Working aboard Air Ambulance Victoria’s specialised fleet requires teams of highly skilled paramedics and air crew with advanced clinical and technical knowledge. For Colin, this dynamic environment was where he found he belonged.
He qualified as a MICA flight paramedic in 1998 and worked across the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and fixed-wing plane fleet until a few years ago, when he began transitioning to retirement.
“We got to do some amazing things that you couldn’t do anywhere else. And I worked with a great bunch of very highly skilled, talented people who were a lot of fun to work with,” Colin said.
“When I started in ambulance, I had no thought of working on helicopters. But I found my niche and something I enjoyed.”
Colin spent most of his career based at Essendon Airport but worked across the state at regional air ambulance bases at different times.
He also supported police work on helicopters jointly crewed by ambulance and police members for much of his career.
Across the years, there are several cases that stick in his mind.
“I was involved in a lot of complex cases, some that went for hours in the high country. I responded to the shooting at Monash University in the early 2000s. Delivering babies was always a good thing, as well as hearing one of your patients had walked out of hospital,” Colin said.
“But the highlight was the people I worked alongside. The ambulance officers and paramedics, police officers, helicopter and fixed wing crews, other emergency service crews and volunteers. Working as a team was the highlight for me, when we all came together to get a good outcome for someone. Those are the best memories.”
It wasn’t just helicopter work that a younger Colin hadn’t seen in his future. Growing up, he never considered a career in ambulance or health care.
He fell into it after taking a job as an orderly at a hospital where a friend was working and getting to see firsthand the work of some of Melbourne’s ambulance officers.
Once he landed a job in the ambulance service, Colin began working on-road as a student and then a qualified ambulance officer in Melbourne.
“When I first started, I just wanted to not muck up and do a good job. But as I grew into the role, I wanted to learn more and get more skills and be able to do more for patients. So applying for MICA seemed like a natural progression,” he said.
Colin worked as a MICA paramedic in Melbourne for several years, including stepping up as a Clinical Support Officer, a highly qualified and respected role tasked with providing expert in-field clinical leadership, support and education. He then applied to become a MICA flight paramedic.
Over four decades, Colin said the biggest change has been the overall level of skill and treatments paramedics can provide.
“Now, Victorian paramedics are leaders in the world in many ways. From Advanced Life Support paramedics to MICA to the air ambulances, what we can do for people is amazing – surgical techniques, anaesthetics, a whole range of medical interventions,” he said.
“The management of stroke and heart attacks are two great examples. In the past, people were lucky to survive but now many of our patients recover and live a full, functional life.”
Reflecting on his career, he said it’s been a privilege to serve the Victorian community.
“I always enjoyed working for the public. Working in an uncontrolled environment and using the knowledge and skills I had to control it and provide someone with the care they needed. It gave me a lot of fulfilment,” Colin said.
“I also found in this work, I saw a lot of goodness in people. So many go out of their way to help people they don’t know.
“Even some of the tragedies, like Bourke St, when something horrendous happens, most people’s first thought is to help. I’ve enjoyed seeing that in the community and being part of that.”
