Dee McDonell is the only female Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance paramedic in the Macedon Ranges.
Her recent 25-year milestone of working as a paramedic coincided with Ambulance Victoria’s recognition of 30 Years of Women In Ambulance.
July 27, marked 30 years since women were able to become paramedics.
And while women now make up almost half of Ambulance Victoria’s frontline, when Ms McDonell started, female officers were still uncommon.
She said she had seen a definite change in the industry during her 25 years.
Ms McDonell said while there were few women on the job when she started, it didn’t personally affect her career.
“The guys where I worked on the north west were more than happy to accept us for who we were and what we did,” she said.
“We didn’t look upon ourselves as females we were paramedics who happened to be female.”
The Riddells Creek resident has been working out of the Gisborne Ambulance station for the past seven years.
“One of the things I really enjoy about working in Gisborne is the community aspect of it,” Ms McDonell said.
She said it meant she was able to follow up with patients and stay connected with them.
Ms McDonell said there wasn’t the same opportunity to make connections with people in metropolitan areas because the workload was so great.
“We get time to actually treat our patients, and most patients get transported to Melbourne so we spend time in the ambulance together.”
Overall, Ms McDonell said being a paramedic had been “a great career”.
She said “being a part of something bigger” and being accepted into homes by patients was “very humbling”.
