Lisa Edmonds has spent 27 years as a paramedic – with most of that time spent in regional NSW. Photo: NSW Ambulance.
Paramedic Lisa Edmonds has “no doubt” she’s found a permanent home after an almost 30-year career that’s taken her across the state.
Lisa’s become a familiar face in Corowa and has spent the past two decades helping people on their worst days.
Over time, she and her family have settled into country life (with one of her three dogs even being named after a local vet).
“I was only going to stay a couple of years,” she said of her arrival in town.
“I fell in love … and I’m still here. I’ll probably retire here.”
Lisa’s journey as a paramedic started almost a decade earlier.
She was driving when she came across a car accident, taking control of the “chaotic” scene and helping in the aftermath until paramedics could arrive.
“I’d been wanting to get out of nursing, and I was trying to work out what I wanted to do,” she told Region.
“That situation turned up and made me think, ‘Hang on, maybe I can do that job.'”
She put in her application and after a year of waiting, headed to Sydney for her initial training.
“I felt like a fish out of water … I thought, ‘Oh my god, have I made the right decision?'”
After Sydney, it was Taree on the NSW Mid North Coast for her probation period.
She then moved home to work in Newcastle but quickly returned to the regions – even spending time as the station manager in Ardlethen.
For Lisa, heading to Sydney as part of the paramedic contingent at the 2000 Summer Olympics was part of the “more fun side of the job”.
“We are just there in case something big happened. I did very little work, but I had some amazing experiences.
“I saw Kathy Freeman win the gold medal in the stadium – I was standing right there on the edge of the track.
“I spoke to athletes from everywhere, all over the world [and] spent a fair bit of time in the athletes’ village. That in itself was really eye-opening and entertaining.”
Lisa was born in Newcastle, but has made the Riverina her home for 20 years. Photo: Supplied.
Just a few years later, Lisa assisted emergency efforts in the Canberra region, after dry lightning ignited four fires in January 2003.
Four people lost their lives, and more than 510 properties were lost, as the blazes reached the outskirts of the capital.
She spent three days in the capital, assisting local firefighters.
“For two days we were stuck out at Michelago, and the fire had closed in … We couldn’t get relieved. We had no communication,” she remembered.
“There was smoke everywhere … But at the end of it, when we finally could get out, we just went, ‘Thank God’ and went home.”
But before she returned home, Lisa was also able to visit the War Memorial and view her grandfather’s war records.
Seeing the handwritten notes in his record that he’d made on his return to Australia was “nice”, she said.
“We knew he’d been a prisoner of war, but we found out other stuff that we didn’t know because he never spoke about it.
“He was always very tight-lipped about his time, as you can imagine.
“It was really cool to find out more information.”
While Lisa had planned to head back to Newcastle after arriving in the Riverina, she’s never left.
“I was tossing up between Corowa and Cooma,” she said.
“For whatever reason, I chose Corowa. It was a good decision, in the end!”
Despite reaching 27 years as a paramedic, Lisa is keen to press on.
Her reputation among fellow residents has also grown, which she believes is due to her visits to schools with other first responders – it’s meant she’s “quite well known around town”.
“We used to go up and spend time with the kids, and it made them a lot more comfortable,” she said.
“I love that there are now young adults out there with their own children.
“Sometimes I can walk into a house, and they go, ‘Oh, it’s Lisa. You know Lisa, she’s really nice’ … I love being known.”
