Dr Mark Wallace, car lover, paramedic and now GP spoke at Alexandra Rotary this week.
Starting as an apprentice motor mechanic ( which he hated) he joined the ambulance service in 1986. During this time he met our fellow member Bruce Hyatt. Further training as MICA paramedic followed in 1991. This was richly rewarding work.
Following the Boxing Day tsunami in January 2005 Mark volunteered to work in Aceh Sumatra for several months . This time proved a turning point in deciding to pursue further qualifications in medicine.
Mark also worked in Vanuatu post cyclone, and as a helicopter based paramedic in Doha for 3 and a half years 2010-2013. An approach from the ambulance service to assist with retrieval of wounded patients from Benghazi, Libya during the time of the overthrow of Col Gaddafi provided another challenging but satisfying work experience. The port of Misrata was full of ambulances, filles with people needing attention. A ferry was converted into a hospital ship to transport people to Tunis, Tunisia, a 3 day voyage. Mark was part of the team caring for patients and passengers.
Plans to return to a camp on the Libya-Tunisia border to set up another clinic were abandoned when that site was bombed, so Mark returned to Australia,
From 2013 Mark worked as a MICA paramedic while studying medicine, and living in a motorhome while completing his clinical rotations, before graduating in 2018.
He worked as an intern at Burnie, northern Tasmania for 2 years before returning to the big island (but not Melbourne) spending 6 months driving around the state looking for a place that resembled Tasmania.
Mark's family (36 y.o daughter and 33 y.o son, partner a Melbourne-based physiotherapist) also enjoy their time in Alexandra.
His next challenge- to be a good GP. He is happy now to live a quieter life, as he is 'done with all the high drama and stress' of his early career.