A long-serving control room manager has retired from South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) after a career spanning five decades.
Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Manager, Wendy Gill, has been a part of the ambulance service for 36 years having joined Kent Ambulance Service as a part-time call taker in 1988.
Wendy was given a fantastic send off by colleagues past and present last week.
Starting her career with Kent Ambulance Service as a part-time call taker was a role which suited her and her family as it was one of the only part-time employment opportunities available in the service at the time.
The ambulance service was clearly a good fit for Wendy as a stint working for the AA in 1989 saw her return to the service within two weeks and she has remained working in the control centre ever since.
From call-taker, Wendy went on to become a radio operator before taking up the reins of team leader. In the time since she has held various management roles and has always been a consistent and dependable presence.
Wendy said: “I can safely say hand on heart, I’ve loved my job and the people I worked with. I will miss my colleagues and met some amazing people in my time, people who I now call my friends.
“With the move from our control centre in Coxheath, close to where I live, to our new premises in Gillingham, I decided now was the right time for me to retire.
“It has been tough in recent years with COVID and it has been difficult at times seeing some of our patients waiting so long for a response but overall, I feel very privilege to have been in the service and be there for our patients because that’s what it’s all about.”