OpCen Report QAS’s Emergency Medical Dispatcher James Rolleston and Paramedic Paul Spinks recently made news around the state. The pair were key players in a dramatic and successful rescue of grandmother Karryn Dolan from her Wolverton Station in remote Cape York Peninsular. Karryn had been out hunting with visiting family friend Emma on 30 December 2021, when she suddenly collapsed, suffering a “widow maker” heart attack. Emma managed to get her onto her quadbike and back to the homestead to call for help and where luckily there was a recently installed defibrillator.
■ OpCen Supervisor Jaala Papworth
Working very much behind the scenes in a support role were OpCen Supervisor Jaala Papworth and Despatcher Chloe Page providing support, guidance and a lot of quick thinking to give EMD James Rolleston and the medical team the best chance of success.
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Jaala has been working in the Operations Centre for 21 years, seven of them as Supervisor and in her words, she describes the role she played to support the team.
■ Karryn was 700km from the nearest hospital when she suffered a heart attack. Image source: The Courier Mail.
Autumn 2022
