News

NewsMeet the oldest Air Ambulance Nurse in Australia
Meet the oldest Air Ambulance Nurse in Australia

Meet the oldest Air Ambulance Nurse in Australia

Tags: FiftyUp Club
Last updated by Someone on

Maureen Roberts has many career highlights to share from her 32 years as Australia’s longest serving air ambulance nurse.

In a recent interview on Macquarie Media, Maureen told the story of the pilot of her aircraft passing out at the controls and how she calmly popped his oxygen mask on and brought him around enough to land the plane. And you thought your job had challenges!

Maureen began her career in the Riverina and became interested in the Air Ambulance are speaking to a fellow nurse from the service. She started her career in Albury but is now based at Mascot, near Sydney.

Another memorable moment of her career involved a premature baby in the skies over the Hunter Valley in NSW. The Air Ambulance needed to land but a FA18 Hornet on “critical fuel” took precedence. Maureen remembers saying to the Air Ambulance pilot “the fighter pilot can eject if he needs to but we can’t, we need to land”!

One of the wonderful things about her job, Maureen told us, is that every day is a different experience depending on the patients you're transporting.

“Sometimes you're taking people home to die and they know they're going to die and they have the most amazing conversations with you."

Hear the full interview with Maureen Roberts here

Originally posted on .

Join the conversation

FiftyUp Club
Fiftyup Club

Join the Conversation with other members below on the FiftyUp Club Forum. Join an existing conversation, or start your own. 

Conversation is closed.
Read our moderation policy here.
Barbara
Barbara from NSW commented:

Like Rosemarie from SA I too am disgusted with the gaps I have to pay because I have private Health Insurance. An excess for going into hospital rising health insurance fees ( I pay over $310.00 per month) and rising electricity bills as well as car and house Insurance. There are now only my husband and myself left at home but it costs us more and more every year 

John
John from NSW replied to Barbara:

Barbara , I do sympathise and agree with you. I feel that in Australia we have become a nation of gougers and rip off merchants. Too focused. On the shareholder at the expense of the customer. Loyalty, these days, is worth nothing. 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to John:

John: Spot on! Please read my reply to Barbara, it may be of assistance to you. 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to Barbara:

Barbara: This is the plight of just about every single one of us, in fact is disgusting! This is why I am trying to cover every single angle in my quest for better living, after all we work very hard all of our life to be faced with this kind of situation. I am a member of The Seniors Party (www.seniorsparty.org): We have this Club on one side and The Seniors Party in Canberra on the other side. I think it's a good combination. 

Sandy
Sandy from NSW commented:

I support the objectives, and hope—rather than expect—that they will be achieved. The larger the membership, the stronger will be the lobbying and buying power and the negotiating strength. I would hope to see target shooting with tight aims, not shot guns let off in random directions. 

Dawn
Dawn from QLD commented:

What about the banks giving us a fair deal, interest on some credit cards is still very high and needs to be addressed. When will the banks recognise loyal customers, who have paid more than their share over the years. With all their profits, do they need to charge account keeping fees & such high interest on credit cards etc. 

Rosemarie
Rosemarie from SA commented:

I bought a small new car as mine was 10.5 years old. Paide $980 in stamp duty. Insurance is round $720 after getting 3 other quotes all about $140-160 dearer Certainly I agree Health insurance should be cheaper, especially hate the Gaps, disgusting why pay insurance and then those huge gaps. Yes I agree with everyone, hoping this isn't another junk mail trap. Let's hope something good comes out of it. 

Someone
Someone from NSW commented:

car insurance should go down not up as you continue not to make any claims and the value of your vehicle goes down why is it cheaper to go overseas for a holiday than in Australia?amd why are greenslips so expensive? I could go on but lets see what happens - John from NSW 

Thomas
Thomas from NSW commented:

Weekends away discounted would be nice. Cheaper car insurance would be good, the longer you drive without an incident it should be rewarded not increased. I dont see why senior cards should not be available from 55 up. 

Catherine
Catherine from NSW commented:

I would like cheaper health insurance, we should not have to pay for maternity and anything we are not likely to use. 

Paul
Paul from QLD commented:

I agree with Debra, lets hope this the FiftyUp Club not just another funnel to my inbox for ads for funeral insurance, mobile phones and such. 

Debra
Debra from NSW replied to Paul:

Thank you Paul -- !! cheers Glad someone has experienced and understood where I was coming from . - I am confident, after reading some comment's from this forum that IS NOT going to be the case . 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to Debra:

Debra: Please read my reply to Paul, it may also be beneficial to you. 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to Paul:

Paul: I feel the same way. This is why I also joined The Seniors Party (www.seniorsparty.org). I feel by being a member of both we should be able to channel our needs through a couple of places only. 

Paul
Paul from QLD replied to Henry:

Hello Henry, I checked out the Seniors Party website today...a little dismayed, there is no information as to the size of the party, where the party members are located do they have any representation in any Australian electorate etc, etc. I sought answers on their forum but guests are not permitted to view it, one must register first, however registration failed after trying several times, a message simply stated that Iam unable to register at this time. 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to Paul:

Good morning, Paul: You are quite correct, you need to be a member to enter the comments area, but you can see all the rest. This was done to avoid people trying to sell stuff, fake passports plus the usual enlargement offers, etc. The Party has been going for about a year now. During this period they requested people to complete a Declaration of Intentions, simply to get to know what's been happening. The Party reached as list of 270 people. 2 months ago the Party requested those people to now complete a registration form according to the rulings of the AEC - only 65 did, so a change was made to encourage further membership: firstly, membership fees were wiped out for the first year (first day of registration starting), members are going to receive a Party card that hopefully will be used to get discount in various places, once the Party signs them in (similar to the Fiftyup club), only members will receive the monthly newsletter, the rest will have to read in on the website. Currently membership has increased to 86 due to various manoeuvres with regards to promotions. I would encourage you to read the Declaration of Intentions that was used as a base to write the Constitution. There are so many of us over 50 without a proper representation in Canberra. 

Paul
Paul from QLD replied to Henry:

Many thanks Henry. 

MARIANNE
MARIANNE from NSW commented:

ANONYMOUS FROM NSW HOPEFULLY THEY WILL OFFER ACCOMMODATION AND HOLIDAYS AT A CHEAPER RATE, AS WE ARE LESS LIKELY TO DAMAGE ANY PROPERTY. ALSO HOPEFULLY WE CAN RECEIVE CHEAPER MEDICATIONS FROM CHEMISTS, ON VITAL MEDICATIONS THAT ARE NEEDED. WE NEED TO WORK LONGER NOW, AND SO NEED TO LOOK AFTER OUR HEALTH. 

Henry
Henry from NSW replied to MARIANNE:

Marianne: The other day I rang a motel up north to enquire about discounts for over 50's. The lady that answer the phone told me all excited that YES they offer over 50's a discount : (wait for this!) TWO DOLLARS! , Yes, you heard right: a lousy 2 bucks! This is how they feel about us- the forgotten era I call it - this is why I am also a member of The Seniors Club (www.seniorsparty.org). With this I feel I am covering both ends of the spectrum. 

Richard
Richard from NSW commented:

discount those who have a good track record instead of us paying for the one that don't 

Comment Guidelines