Ambulance service bids farewell to John after 24 years

Wednesday 27 March 2019

Senior Officer John Le Noury is retiring at the end of this week after 24 years with the St John Emergency Ambulance Service.

Mr Le Noury joined the service in 1994 at 35-years-old after leaving his previous career in horticulture.

He initially joined the non-emergency Patient Transport Service and has been part of SJEAS ever since.

"At the time it was increasingly difficult to make a living from growing, so I needed to find another job and joined PTS as a stop gap, while I decided what I really wanted to do," said Mr Le Noury. "PTS was a brilliant grounding and I really enjoyed the work. I didn't know what it was going to involve, so when I started working for the ambulance service I thought I should start watching Casualty on the television!

"I didn't expect to be here more than 20 years later."

Pictured: Mr Le Noury spent 22 of his 24 years on the road doing shift work.

After just over a year with PTS, Mr Le Noury trained as an Emergency Medical Technician and later qualified as a Paramedic, attending the ambulance training college in Chippenham.

"There've been lots of good jobs and lots of not-so-good traumatic jobs. I suppose one [highlight] is the only time I was completely on my own delivering a baby," he added. "My crew mate had gone out to get equipment and the baby was literally born into my arms. That was memorable."

During his career with the ambulance service Mr Le Noury was a member of the Inshore Rescue Boat team and was involved in a number of rescues including an incident at Soldiers Bay for which he received a Recognition of Performance award from the Chief Officer.

He was also recognised for the pastoral work he did supporting colleagues after a number of tragedies which occurred in a short space of time.

In 2015, Mr Le Noury became a Deputy Team Leader and also took on the role of Bronze Commander at a number of major incidents. The following year he was promoted to Senior Officer with responsibility for Clinical Governance and was given the Acting Deputy Chief Officer role in 2017, supporting the new Chief Officer Ali Marquis.

Pictured: Chief Officer Ali Marquis.

Ms Marquis said: "John has been a big part of the Emergency Ambulance Service for more than 20 years. He has not only assisted many patients and their relatives but also many staff members in his previous role as the operational staff's Union representative. John's clinical and management skills as well as his sense of humour will be missed by us all."

Mr Le Noury is looking forward to spending more time with his family, doing gardening and running more marathons.