General News
3 December, 2024
Ian Rogers calls time on six decades of service
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who has been as committed and integral to local ambulance services over the last serveral decades as Ian Rogers.
After 66 years of involvement, including over half a century dedicated to the local auxiliary and nearly three decades as a volunteer driver, Mr Rogers has called for the final siren on his service.
Extended time in the emergency department was never the plan for Mr Rogers, as he originally aspired to become an architect.
However, Mr Rogers said a drive back to Maryborough became the catalyst for wanting to volunteer.
“We were coming home from a fishing trip on the Murray and out near Serpentine there was an accident that happened before we got there,” he said.
“We pulled up and there were a few other people there walking around the smashed-up Holden ute, the patient was lying on the ground and no one seemed to take any notice of them.
“I remember reading somewhere you keep them warm for shock, so I went to the back of the ute and put an old rug over them.
“Just after that, they started running a first aid class in Maryborough, my wife and I were doing the class and the permanent ambulance officer here asked if I would like to help.”
Within a couple of weeks, Mr Rogers was already in an ambulance by himself, driving one of the two ambulances in Maryborough whenever he was called.
“It’s an interesting and challenging job, you never know what you are going to get and what you will come across,” Mr Rogers said.
“I was a bricklayer and builder with my father and the police used to pull up out the front of the job site and I would put the trowel down and go out in my working overalls.
“At times you felt a bit of satisfaction, at times you felt bloody horrible after accidents or medicals where the person would be deceased.
“You get everything from nearly delivering babies to smashes, overdoses, electrocutions, the whole spectrum.”
Despite being thrown into the deep end, Mr Rogers stayed on board and joined the Maryborough Ambulance Auxiliary in 1973.
He became president in 1981 and played a key role in establishing a new ambulance station and accommodation across three decades.
His achievements were recognised in 2015 when he received the Ambulance Services Medal.
Having joined when the local auxiliary was men only, Mr Rogers said a lot in the ambulance service has changed.
“The training and equipment is much better than what we had — when you went out to Bung Bong on the way to Avoca, the radios used to cut out so anything after that you couldn’t contact anyone,” he said.
“You had one man with an ambulance and that’s it, whether you had one patient or five.
“We only had one little red dome light in the car which now you have blue and red and flashing lights.
“Now they have got two people in one ambulance, they have radios that work and can call in and they are all computerised in the cabin, it’s a big difference.”
Mr Rogers will officially conclude his service on December 13, coinciding with his 90th birthday.
While Mr Rogers said he believes the time is right to move away, he plans to keep himself active in the community.
“I’m getting older, I’m 90 in a couple of weeks and I think it’s time to step away,” he said.
“I’ve met some lovely people, both staff and patients, even now a lot of patients in town relate to me.
“I just tried to help the public to the best of my ability.
“I’m in Probus and I’m in the garden committee so I will still be busy.
“I’ll go visit the kids and the grandkids and keep myself out of mischief by doing housework and gardening.”