It was a twist of fate that saw the Illawarra's most experienced paramedic enter the profession but it is his compassion and the love of his family that has kept him in it for half a century.
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Terry Morrow, NSW Ambulance's chief inspector for the Illawarra Shoalhaven, officially marked 50 years in the job on Monday, making him the second-longest currently serving member of the service.
After leaving school at 16 in 1969, the Huskisson boy dreamed of becoming a police officer - especially a motorbike cop.
But he was too young and there was a downturn in recruitment, so he asked what he should do in the meantime and was advised to take a first aid course.
He mentioned this to his grandfather while they were driving home from his police exam in Sydney, so they pulled in at the ambulance station in Nowra to enquire about the course, which just happened to begin that very night.
After topping the course, Terry was invited to become an honorary, or volunteer, ambulance officer - and he fell in love with the job.
"Helping people" is the simple reason that he loved it so much.
Terry spent two years in this honorary role before officially joining the ambulance service as a paid employee on April 4, 1972.
He spent five years working in Nowra, before a terrible tragedy spurred him on to take the next step.
Terry and his wife Diane's second child, Christian, died of cot death.
He said it was "very distressing" being unable to resuscitate his own child and he thought being an ambulance officer was no longer enough - he needed to do more.
Terry undertook a six-month intensive care course in Sydney - part of just the sixth cohort ever to complete it - and then spent a year and a half on the road in training before he was recognised as an intensive care paramedic.
After that, he was transferred to Wollongong and helped set up the course in the Illawarra.
Terry was also the first helicopter paramedic in the Illawarra - because he "wanted to have a go at everything" - and spent 25 years with the chopper.
One memorable job saw him flown out to Bourke to transport a woman in labour to hospital.
But unbeknown to Terry, the woman was having not just one baby but twins, which he delivered in the air over Lithgow before the helicopter turned around and took them home.
Terry was also with the helicopter during major flooding in the Dubbo area, when he was winched down to rescue a husband, wife, two children, a cat and a dog from the roof cavity of a house that was floating down the river.
Twenty minutes later, Terry said, the house was "crushed into pieces".
He also worked in rescue for 26 years.
Now chief inspector for the zone, Terry first moved into the management side of things when he become station officer in Wollongong because moving around stations across the Illawarra.
With all his experience, he said, he felt he would have the skills to look after staff.
One of his colleagues, Inspector Matt Sterling, spoke of his generosity and said he would "give you the shirt off his back".
"He's most respected by his colleagues for the support he offers them," Matt said.
Over the course of his varied career with the ambulance service - which has seen him respond to countless emergencies, including the Jamberoo bus crash, the Waterfall train crash and the Newcastle earthquake - Terry has seen the job change significantly.
"It's absolutely changed, from just picking up a person and taking them to hospital... to absolutely advanced medical treatment of patients," he said.
"We do things that intensive care doctors do, that anaesthetists do, that GPs do."
Helping people is what attracted Terry to the job and it's that same desire that continues to be a main motivation for him.
But he credits his family - wife Diane, children Katherine, Terry, Andrew, Matthew and Megan, plus his 11 grandchildren - as keeping him in the job for the past 50 years.
They have missed birthdays, Christmases and anniversaries with him and Diane especially has been understanding.
"I think the longevity of my job has wholly and solely been my family," Terry said.
"They've been loving and supportive and caring to what I wanted to do at work."
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
