Farewell Russell

As Commissioner Russell Bowles enjoyed his final week at QAS before his pre‑retirement break, Russell chatted about his career, rising through the ranks to be the first paramedic to lead the Service…

Why did you choose a career in the Ambulance Service?

(Laughs) Mum wouldn’t let me leave school unless I had a job – that’s probably the reality! But I actually always had an interest in the ambulance and it was a traineeship – that’s what most people did – you didn’t leave school and go to uni in those days, you went into a traineeship and that was a good traineeship, so I applied.

Tell us about your younger years?

I grew up in Rockhampton with one brother and three sisters and Dad was a pay clerk and Mum was a mum – she looked after five kids and we were all angels so that made it easy! In my early years in the ambulance, I worked in three different buildings in Rocky – the first was a beautiful old building but it had cracks in the walls you could put your hand through, so they knocked it down in ’82 and we were moved into some temporary accommodation in the main street, East Street and we returned there in ’83 to a brand new station. Most days there would have been about 25 people working.

What did you start off doing when you were learning on the job?

We went through a structured cadetship where you started off with placements like nursing, and placements in the hospital in different wards and the learning and experience just accumulated during the three-year period. Later, at the end of the three years when they thought you were ready, you were made a qualified ambulance officer.

In the early days, what was your favourite part of being on the job?

I just loved the learning. It was all fun, something different and not always something I’d done before. Obviously, my favourite part was being out on the road, getting out and about. It was a pretty free sort of role in those days. We didn’t do a lot treatment wise – our role was more an attend and transport role compared to what it is these days where we treat patients on the scene.

Where have you worked?

After Rockhampton (1981-83) I served at Ipswich (1983-87), the Gold Coast (1987-89), Mount Isa (1989-92), Bundaberg (1992-97) Sunshine Coast (1998-2002), Rockhampton again (2002-2007) before moving to Brisbane.

I met my wife Wendy when I was working in Ipswich and we married in 1987. She was a nurse at Ipswich Hospital, but we didn’t meet through work though. Thankfully Wendy’s career was also quite portable too. In those days the hospitals weren’t linked but you could apply for a job wherever you were going.

What have been some of your career highlights?

Working all around the state, Queensland’s got some really beautiful places and everywhere we went, we took advantage of it.

Take Mount Isa for example – while it might appear to be a pretty quiet place, it was pretty social, and you’d get out and about on weekends or days off camping up in the Gulf. Everywhere we’ve gone we’ve tried to take advantage of what’s there and get out and about.

The communities I worked in were all very different. Mount Isa was the most social place I’ve ever worked, and the Gold Coast was very different to Mount Isa, but still a great place to work. Ipswich was a bit of a wild west back then – a bit different to what it is today. You just enjoy the communities and the different people you meet and the things you can see.

Looking back on your career, its moves and some of the harder times you’ve experienced as part of your work, what is your secret to ensuring it doesn’t affect your partner or family?

I’ve always been able to keep a fair separation between work and home – I think you’ve got to – it’s important. It makes you a little bit more protective of your family I suppose because of what you see and what can happen to people. But in the main, I’ve always been able to just maintain a fairly good separation between work and home. I think this is one of the things you need to do to have a long career. This tougher work, it can immerse you and it’s easy to get quite involved as you spend as much time with the people you work with on the road as what you do with your loved ones, so you have to get your mind strong in that space and be disciplined about it.

Have you ever been tempted to leave?

It has its days like any other job – some days are better than others and it’s not normally the patients causing the problem – it’s the other challenges you have to deal with! I’ve always been appreciative of the Service. It’s done so much for me and my family and it’s provided a lot of opportunity you just wouldn’t get anywhere else.

Tell us about some of the opportunities you’ve had working in the Service?

I went to Canada in 2006 with my family for six months on exchange. A Canadian colleague came here so I worked in his role and he took my role in Rockhampton as Assistant Commissioner.

As a family we got to travel around Canada both for work and for personal travel. It was a great experience for my two boys with the snow and the skiing and the different way of life, but in saying that – it was a very similar way of life.

Canadians are very similar to Australians in many ways. We were based out of Calgary and they were a little bit cowboyish and definitely a little bit proud of that too. It’s a lovely town – based around the Canadian Rockies and Banff’s about an hour away and there’s always a lot to see and do. From a work point of view, it was a very good experience. If it wasn’t for their accents, if you closed your eyes in a meeting, you’d think you were in Australia as their issues were all very similar to ours. The industrial framework was very different over there and I think we have a much more democratic workplace here and we’re paid very well. While the Canadians aren’t paid badly, no one there gets the leave like our frontline staff do.

But as far as the profession goes, I think at the time I went over there, we were a much more free-range workforce here in Australia – a very unsupervised workplace which definitely had its advantages and now especially being in a health system. I was also able to do my MBA while I was working and tried to stay current with training until recent years. I’ve been lucky to be able to have all sorts of different learnings and access to training with many courses and conferences over a career where there’s just been so much change in the 40 years I’ve been around.

So on that, what are some examples of the change you’ve seen during your time?

When I first began working with the Service, I’d have got into trouble carrying a stethoscope around and now looking at what a modern-day paramedic does – it’s just unbelievable. There have been some significant milestones in my time anyway. Firstly, I’d say the joining up of the 96 individual ambulance services in 1991 to make one ambulance service, to professionalise us was a great thing. I think the Machinery of Government changes – moving us from Emergency Services into Health – was a very good thing for the Ambulance Service and one which we supported during the 2013 Keelty Review (Police and Community Safety Review). The registration of paramedics was another great change and Queensland owns the legislation for that, so not only can we call ourselves “health professionals” these days, we can walk the talk.

To me, those three events are probably the most significant.

We’ve also had some challenges. We’ve had a number of reviews over the years although we haven’t had one for eight years which is what led us to go into the Health system. Prior to that we had a major audit in 2007 with more than 100 recommendations. Out of that came one of the most strategic choices by Government – to appoint a QPS Assistant Commissioner, David Melville, somewhat controversially into the role of Ambulance Commissioner. (I was his deputy for the three years he was Commissioner.)

This appointment gave us breathing space and David set us on to a trajectory to where we are today, so I think it was a sensible decision. He put a framework around us, kept the wolves away and allowed us to get on with business and I think his appointment was one of the cornerstones of the modern Ambulance Service. Not everyone liked it, but I saw it as a good thing, and I learnt so much from him on how to manage a large and complex system.

And what does QAS’s future look like?

The role of all paramedics, and all of our staff, has changed so much over the years. Now we’re such an integral part of health care continuum. Paramedics’ roles into the future will be about distribution into the health services, so rather than taking everyone into an ED, they’ll go to a falls clinic like they currently go to a diabetes clinic and the modern paramedic will be a lot about the distribution.

The roll out of Live Move Up Module (LiveMUM) will be a game changer too. It uses computer intelligence to provide location intelligence which we currently rely on humans for. It will rely on millions of case data to ensure our ambulances are where our patients are going to be and that can only be a great thing. Our workforce will grow over time – we’re growing by about 160 this year and we’ll probably grow by about 150 positions each year now just to keep up with demand. Health care doesn’t sit still and paramedics are very adaptive – they have to be because they’re in a world of change every day and they see the best in people and the lows and you just have to continue to grow this workforce and develop them.

What are your thoughts about Ambulance workers being regarded as one of the most trusted professions in the community?

I think our workers have to be because we go into peoples’ homes when they’re at their most vulnerable at all hours of the day and night. They need to be trusted. It’s great to get that feedback on just how trusted they are – whether it’s the service they do, or just the amount of appreciation we get as an organisation – more than 1000 people a year write in saying how happy they are with the Ambulance Service and the treatment they’ve got. It doesn’t always go well though, we get things wrong from time to time and that’s sad when it does happen but there are humans involved in everything we do. How has the introduction of university degrees and high‑level courses our staff complete contributed to our reputation?

What the university degrees have done is allow us to professionalise as a health service and you’d never want it any other way. The people we get from the university are highly educated, they’re eager, they’re smart and they’re just a good product and we’re so fortunate to have so many good universities in this country and in Queensland too. Our universities are second to none and what they produce is just excellent.

If you were going to give a newcomer to the QAS one little gem of advice, what would it be?

Separate your home life from your work life. Don’t overinvest – see it as a great job and see it as a wonderful place to work with good terms and conditions, but make sure you have that separation there. You need family and you need them close because you will go through some pretty trying times.

What will you miss most?

Probably the staff and the people I’ve worked with each and every day. I’ve been fortunate to work with a bunch of really, really lovely people over the years.

What are your future plans – will we see you back helping out with patient transport?!

(Laughs) No, I’m looking forward to my pre-retirement and travel and hopefully they’ll open up the world soon. We’ll go do a lot of Queensland first and later when it opens up, the rest of Australia.

We’re heading first to Agnes Water, where we’ve been going ever since our honeymoon. Our two boys are in their late 20s now and both based in Queensland, so I’m also looking forward to spending more time with them. As much as I’ve had the best job in the world, and I’ve really enjoyed it, I can move on quite easily. There’s still a life out there for me and retiring relatively young at 57, I think that’s a good age after 40 years in the Service and 10 years as Commissioner, and hopefully with good health, we can enjoy this next stage of our lives.

Clem Beatson with Russell's didgeridoo

Russell's farewell gift from country

Just before Russell left the building departing for his pre‑retirement break, he was presented with a very special gift – a didgeridoo.

This didgeridoo was handmade and painted by QAS Cadet Clem Beatson, a Darumbal man from Rockhampton. Jordan Young, also a Darumbal man and Cadet working in Woorabinda, played the didge for Russell as part of the presentation.

Russell grew up in Clem and Jordan’s region and the wood used to make the didgeridoo was collected from a tree on Durumbal country, halfway up a mountain overlooking the Fitzroy River.

Clem said the didgeridoo’s artwork was designed to represent Russell’s time with the QAS. “We wanted it to heavily cry “Ambulance”, so mission accomplished!” he said.

“The track running around the didge has 40 large dots which represent each year of Russell’s service within the QAS”.

“The last 10 large dots are supported by smaller dots which represents his last 10 years of service as Commissioner and the additional support he has provided to the QAS”.

“The sunset, people silhouette, and caduceus (the symbol of medicine) is a representation of everyday life as a paramedic and the sunset is a double representation of Russell’s time setting with the QAS,” he said.

“The teal background is our highly recognisable colour branding for QAS.”

Clem commenced his career as a Patient Transport Officer (PTO) in Rockhampton in 2014 and in 2016 he transitioned into the Indigenous Paramedic Program, of which he remains a participant.

As part of the presentation Jordan played the didgeridoo for Russell.

“The piece was played from the heart with sounds featuring the Dingo, Brolga and Kookaburra, it was a song of celebration,” Jordan said. Russell was pivotal to the development of the Indigenous Paramedic Program and the establishment of the QAS Aboriginal and Torres Cultural Safety Unit.

This gift was a token of appreciation and a lasting reminder of his connection and support to Aboriginal and Torres Islander Culture. The team who presented Russell with his gift said he was clearly touched by the sentiment.