Great Australian Ambos Stories

by Bill "Swampy" Marsh

Yeah, while some of my stories are quite gory, others can be very enlightening. Though, in hindsight, the best outcomes are when the patient pulls through. It's then that you know you've done your job, and you get a bit of a buzz out of that.Put the sirens on and get ready to hit the road, because fact is stranger than fiction in this fabulous Australia-wide collection of ambos stories from bestselling author Bill 'Swampy' Marsh.Rural and remote ambulance drivers and paramedics are a dedicated and gutsy bunch who work tirelessly to care for their communities, often in isolated and inhospitable conditions, with few resources but plenty of experience, courage and care. Ambos deal with it car crashes, delivering babies, snake bites, heart attacks, lost bushwalkers, drug overdoses - even the occasional crook camel. One thing they are never short of is a story or two to tell.This memorable and eye-opening collection of real-life accounts of professionals and volunteers alike racing by road, air and water to save people in strife is by turns, poignant, bizarre, heartbreaking and hilarious.Bill 'Swampy' Marsh is an award-winning writer and performer of stories, songs and plays. He spent most of his youth in rural south-western NSW and now lives in Adelaide. Swampy is one of ABC books' bestselling authors of Australian stories; this is his twenty-second book.

Genres: Short Stories, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2022

Reviews

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of stories, fairly interesting in fact. A small number of them were quite funny, while others were horrific, and some were truly sad.
I was going with 4.5 stars but deducted half a star for the lies told about the BS covid.



Listened to the audiobook via BorrowBox
Published by ABC Audio
Read by Bill ‘Swampy’ Marsh, Sancia Robinson
Duration: 10 hrs, 57 min. 1.25x Speed

[Steve Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of some truly astounding stories of Australian Ambos (Paramedics). Some of these stories are gut-wrenching, while others are typically Australian and are very funny and highlight the Aussie sense of humour.

One story set in the Outback of Western Australia and features a mercy dash from Perth that takes two weeks.

Or the one where an 'under the weather' fireman managed to pierce his scrotum after leaping from the top of the fire station to a flagpole.

Funny, sad, and brilliantly told, these stories are typically Australian.

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rural and remote ambulance drivers and paramedics are a dedicated and gutsy bunch who work tirelessly to care for their communities, often in isolated and inhospitable conditions, with few resources but plenty of experience, courage and care. Ambos deal with it all: car crashes, delivering babies, snake bites, heart attacks, lost bushwalkers, drug overdoses - even the occasional crook camel.
This memorable and eye-opening collection of real-life accounts of professionals and volunteers alike racing by road, air, and water to save people in strife is by turns, poignant, bizarre, heartbreaking and hilarious.
St John Ambulance Australia has been active for over 130 years. It is a self funding, charitable organisation active in all 6 States and 2 Territories,dedicated to helping people in sickness,distress,suffering, or danger.St John Ambulance Australia is the country's leading supplier of first aid products,services and training.
St John's mission is to promote holistic health and well-being.Their motto "Pro Fide(for the faith),Pro Utilitate Hominum(in the service of humanity)" embodies the Christian principles of the founders.
The St John Ambulance Association was established in 1877 in England by the Order of St John. The aim of the Association was to address the growing need for effective first aid training to deal with the increase in accidents occurring with the development of an industrialised and urbanised society.
The English Order founded a St John hospital in Jerusalem and,in 1887,created the St John Brigade.The Brigade was based on a military style organisation featuring uniformed disciplined members and a specific hierarchy.Its primary purpose was to provide volunteers,trained in first aid,to offer basic medical assistance at large public events and during times of emergency e.g. war.
The term ambulance comes from the Latin word "ambulare," meaning to walk or move about.

[Charlie Capern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of stories. A bit ‘back in my day’ at times but otherwise fun read.

[Siobhan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, great seeing everything that ambos doing and how much they have to go though.

[Ella May · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Some stories were great. Some seemed so irrelevant with no place in this book.

[Sel Rou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, funny and shocking tales of Ambos. what a tough job they have - especially in the outback

[Megan Shafizadeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really liked this book! cool selection of random funny stories but also some about pure luck!! got me into reading again