IN a career that spans almost 50 years of service, retired Bantry-based paramedic, Michael O’Reilly can trace his instinct to provide people with help back to the frequent sound of sirens from the fire station around the corner where he grew up.

‘From the age of seven or eight, it’s all I wanted to do,’ said Michael (61), whose late parents were from Goleen but he grew up in Douglas Street in Cork, which was close to one of the busiest stations in the city.

In the 1970’s, he said fire stations also ran ambulances and seeing them in action inspired him to join the St John Ambulance at the age of 12, before becoming a porter at the pharmacy at St Finbarr’s Hospital.

Having trained as an advanced paramedic, Michael worked for 27 years in the ambulance service in the city, but the day came when he decided he’d like to take life just a little bit easier.

 Although resident in Waterfall, near the city, he applied to work in Bantry, a place he had already served as a non-rostered relief paramedic from 1989 to 1994, which was at the very start of his career.

‘There is an easier pace in rural areas,’ Michael said. ‘In the city it is just constant. There are calls all the time and never enough ambulances.

‘In the city, you are going all day, and a lot of the caseload can be taken up with dealing with fights, people who are drunk, and people who have taken drug overdoses.

‘Working out of Bantry allowed us, the paramedics, to take the long journey with the patient, and you could see the benefit of your role.

‘I have always liked helping people, and providing care to people who are sick and injured,’ Michael told The Southern Star. ‘I have, for example, seen improvements in medications, which we never had before.

‘Now, we have up to 40 medications in emergency situations, and this helps us when it comes to stabilising the patient in terms of heart, pulse, breathing rate and blood pressure.’

Michael said working in West Cork allowed him to be back on old stomping ground because in addition to his family connections with Goleen, his wife Ciara is from Skibbereen.

‘There was a great crew in Bantry. My colleagues were fantastic,’ he added. ‘There are always new people coming into the service after their training at UCC and we were able to mentor them.’

Commenting on the high stress levels in the job, Michael said: ‘It’s hard when you are dealing with something very serious, but when you see a patient’s distress lessen that reduces our own stress as well.’

And he said too that it is the camaraderie between calls that sees them through: ‘We get over the stressful aspects by having a bit of banter between ourselves.’

Michael said he loved his time in Bantry, having worked there since 2016.

Although now retired as an advanced paramedic, Michael is not ready to hang up his boots. He will continue to work with St John Ambulance, the place where it all started. As a volunteer, Michael will continue to look after logistics, ambulances and medications.

Although the ambulance service continues to hit the headlines, Michael is keen to make the point that the service has come a long way.

‘In my time, we saw the hard times, but now there is new technology, medications and skills.

‘Everything has changed for the better, even if the service could do with more staff,’ he said.