Inaugural International Paramedic Day this Friday

Thursday 07 July 2022

A local paramedic is to be featured in an international campaign marking the first ever Paramedics Day on Friday 8 July.

Paramedic team leader, Steve Torode, will appear in a video recorded on board the St John marine ambulance, talking about his time in the role.

The St John Emergency Ambulance Service is also featuring a number of other local paramedics on its own social media pages this week. 

International Paramedics Day has been organised by The College of Paramedics to recognise and celebrate the work of staff. The event will be held every year on the 8th July which marks the anniversary of the birth of Dominique-Jean Larrey - the man often referred to as the 'father of modern-day ambulance services'.

Mr Torode has served for nearly two decades in various roles at St John. He transitioned from maintenance and engineering to become an Emergency Medical Technician and then a Paramedic and has recently completed a degree in paramedic science. 

Pictured: The campaign is the first of its kind.

Trainee Paramedic Jen Lindfield will also explain her career. She enrolled with St John Cadets before joining the Patient Transfer Service and then qualified as an Emergency Medical Technician. 

Paramedic and Quality Improvement Lead, Ross Senior, also started out as a Cadet and soon became the youngest member of staff in the history of the service. Mr Senior says he’s proud to be a paramedic because he can provide patient centred care and medical treatment to our community.

Kelly Marquis, a paramedic who is currently on a two year secondment to Health & Social Care as a Frailty Practitioner, is also set to feature in the campaign.

Chief Ambulance Officer Mark Mapp said he was proud that so many staff would feature in the frontline campaign.

“The role of a paramedic is constantly developing and has changed considerably since I first qualified. Although a lot of my work is now about leadership and operating at a strategic level, I still get a great deal of job satisfaction working in a clinical role and consider myself first and foremost a paramedic.” 

Pictured (top): Steve Torode.