“In my final year of studies in high school, I was admitted to hospital and underwent surgery and without that I wouldn’t have been able to live for any period of time. I guess in that time I transformed… I started to realise I wasn’t all that invincible. It was a recognition that my survival was dependent on others, members of the health workforce, the expertise of doctors and nurses and clinicians. Not only was I not invincible, I was - and we all are - vulnerable people and our wellbeing and sometimes our very survival depends on those around us.”

Phillip talks with host Jess Mansour-Nahra about how he came to be a paramedic, his experiences working in emergency management, and how paramedics cope with making life and death decisions in high intensity situations when lives are hanging in the balance.

Phillip Ebbs is a senior lecturer in paramedicine at Charles Sturt and an Australian paramedic and researcher. Phillip has held senior paramedic leadership roles across a number of high profile incidents including the Lindt Café Siege (2014, with unit citation), the Hunter Floods (2015), and other security-related operations. Philip recently co-authored a chapter in the book 'Paramedic law and regulation in Australia' (2019), on ethics in paramedicine and decision making.

Episode recorded: 6 June 2019

Host: Jess Mansour-Nahra, Charles Sturt Media

Production: Adam Thompson, 2MCE

Due to our many regional locations, Charles Sturt’s podcast recordings range from phone, to studio, to in-person recordings, leading to some natural variance in recording sound.