Troy Fosbender says his work can be testing, but it has its consolations.
As a flight paramedic with Ambulance Victoria, the 48-year-old Epping resident takes to the skies as a matter of course.
“Flying between Bairnsdale and Albury is pretty spectacular, looking out over the snowfields at the right time of year,” he said.
It’s little wonder Mr Fosbender has clocked up two decades as part of Ambulance Victoria’s air wing, ferrying time-critical rural patients to and from medical support. This year also marks his 25th year as a paramedic.
Mr Fosbender said that while he had never expected to spend 20 years of his working life in the sky, as a child he dreamt of becoming a pilot.
He left school at 16 to join the navy, with plans to transfer into the navy’s aviation branch.
For six years he worked as a medic based at HMAS Cerberus in Westernport, including 18 months at sea.
“When Air Ambulance came up, it was a chance to combine them both,” Mr Fosbender said.
Every week the veteran paramedic transports patients from regional cities for cancer, cardiac or other specialist treatment. So far he’s been on-board 9628 flights, and he has spent more than 9200 hours in a plane since his first flight took off in 1994.
“Some of the highlights would be looking out for people in the bush,” he said.
“They’re tougher in the bush. I believe they do it a lot harder. If they need a service, they need it. It’s not just on a whim.”
An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said demand for the fixed-wing paramedic service was increasing, with 5414 patients needing air transport in 2013 and 2014, 395 more than the previous year.
