Irene Whitnell, the woman who broke the mould of a male-dominated ambulance service in Wales has retired after 35 years.
Irene, now 60, was the first woman to join the old Mid Glamorgan Ambulance Service back in 1976 and its first female Divisional Commander as well as being the new Welsh Ambulance Service’s first Locality Officer.
In that time the Tonypandy girl whose appointment was hailed in her local paper with the headline ‘Blonde joins ambulance service’ has become one of the most respected ambulance officers in Wales.
She joined up on November 15, 1976, and said: “I was working for Securicor and thought I was applying for a job to drive a bus to take elderly people to the day centres in the Rhondda.
“It wasn’t until I got to the interview in Cathedral Road in Cardiff and there was a big white ambulance with a blue light on top that I realised I would be an emergency ambulancewoman but I was very excited about it.
“In those days you just didn’t see any women in the service and I think they put me in Trealaw station because it was the only one with two toilets.
“They weren’t sure what to do with a woman. They didn’t have a uniform to fit me so they gave me a blue nylon one and when I went to the hospitals people would ask me for a cup of tea – they thought I was WRVS.
“The men used to have a blue peaked cap but they didn’t have one for women so they gave me a policewoman’s hat with a white top and I had my picture taken with the Chairman of the Mid Glamorgan Ambulance Service.”
Irene trained as an emergency medical technician and later as a paramedic.
She had risen to become a leading ambulancewoman and progressed to station officer and divisional commander in charge of Taff Ely and Ogwr Vale and when the all-Wales service was formed in 1999 her title was changed to locality ambulance officer.
In her time Irene has been in charge of Cardiff and the Vale – now two localities – Merthyr and Blaenau Gwent and during her time at Merthyr they were the best-performing locality in Wales with 80 per cent of emergency calls reached in the target of eight minutes against a national target of 65 per cent.
She said: “I did enjoy all my time with the ambulance service but I suppose my happiest days were on the road, dealing with people and helping them.
“Some of it was sad but some of it was funny as well and I met some wonderful characters.
“Over the years I’ve been very lucky to have worked with some wonderful and very professional people for whom I have the greatest respect and I’ll never forget them.
“The best part was being able to help people and getting good outcomes and you’d go home feeling you’d really done something worthwhile but I enjoyed the challenge of the management side as well.
“You had to deal with the sad days too but you couldn’t get hardened by it. If you get hard you shouldn’t be in the job because your compassion goes.”
Irene takes away some fantastic memories, like delivering her first baby under Pontypridd Bridge: “This young girl had been diagnosed with renal colic by the doctor, we didn’t even realise she was pregnant. I’m not sure she did.,
“Suddenly she said she wanted to start pushing. Her mother was in the back of the ambulance with me and she definitely didn’t realise her daughter was pregnant. It all worked out fine in the end though.
“In those days the men used to be worried about drunks and if there was a fight but I found I could deal with the drunk men, they wouldn’t pick on a woman as much – I used to leave the drunk women to the men though.”
Her own pregnancy – she and husband James have a son, Lee – caused its own issues: “I don’t think the Mid Glamorgan Service had ever envisaged this happening, that they’d have someone who was pregnant on emergency ambulances.
“I carried on working, carrying stretchers and things, until seven months, with my trousers held up by elastic.”
Irene has also suffered her own serious illness but is now recovered and celebrated retirement with a holiday in Costa Rica before returning to the smallholding she and James have bought in Trelewis, between Pontypridd and Caerphilly, where they keep a horse and three ponies – she is a keen rider – eight sheep and over 30 hens.
“I have ridden since I was three and I still enjoy it and where we live we have wonderful views of the countryside.
“I’ve shown my horses and have even won a couple of times at local shows and now I’m retired I’d like to do more of that and visit more country shows.”
