King’s Birthday honours for valued St John WA team members
Twelve members of the St John WA team have received the distinguished Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) and at least two other team members received general appointments and awards as part of the King’s Birthday Honours for 2023.
The Ambulance Service Medal offers recognition for distinguished service to members of an Australian ambulance service.
See the full receipient list here.
Medal of the Order of Australia
- Craig Spencer, Wheatbelt Regional Manager – For service to the community through a range of organisations.
- Robert (Bob) James, Lancelin Volunteer EMT – For serivce to the community.
- Mary Day, Chittering Gin Gin EMT – For service to polocrosse.
Ambulance Service Medals
General category
- Steven Douglas, Volunteer EMT – Northam
- Maxi (Mark) McDonald, Community Paramedic – Dalwallinu
- Michael Morgan, Volunteer EMT – Toodyay
- Amy Teakle, Volunteer EMT – Northampton
COVID category
- Andrew Blane, Area Manager – Metro Operations
- Rebecca Boughton, Area Manager – Metro Operations
- Conrad Fairhead, Paramedic Special Operations
- Mark Hill, Paramedic Special Operations
- Naomi Powell, Manager – Metro Operations
- Brett Screen, Paramedic Special Operations
- Jillian Smith, Manager – Metro Operations
- David Tunnard, Paramedic Metro Operations
Andrew Blane has been a frontline paramedic since 2007 with St John Metropolitan Operations, and in his 16-year tenure he has worked diligently to ensure his patients are cared for and his colleagues are supported.
He has a human-centred approach that always considers both the patient and the care provider, and how a positive interaction can result for both.
Rebecca Boughton joined St John in 2012, and is currently a frontline Area Manager for the Metro Operations team.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been an integral part of the COVID-19 operations for St John WA, becoming an Area Manager and the lead in the BRAVO COVID-19 operations cell, where her efforts helped maintain response capacity and staff safety.
Steven Douglas has served as a volunteer with the Northam depot of St John for the past 40 years.
He commenced as a cadet at age 14 in 1983.
Since then, he has taken on a number of volunteer support roles such as volunteer development officer and country youth ambulance and youth development officer.
Mr Douglas is currently serving as Emergency Medical Technician in his hometown of Northam Western Australia.
Conrad Fairhead joined St John in January 2007, and has held many operational roles within the metropolitan area during his 16-year career.
Throughout his role as a Special Operations Paramedic, he is always one of the first to provide medical assistance in a disaster or crisis.
More recently, in 2023 he was deployed to assist with the response to the Kimberley floods following Ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie.
Mark Hill commenced with St John in February 2002.
During his 20-year tenure he has undertaken a variety of frontline operational roles.
As a frontline operational career paramedic, he has worked within metropolitan Perth and has travelled regionally.
His frontline experience is expansive, across on-road paramedic response, industrial paramedicine, clinical support, paramedic training and special operations paramedical.
During Mark McDonald’s employment since 2012 with St John, he has worked as a frontline ambulance paramedic in the metro area, and relieved country ambulance at various locations including above the 26th parallel as station manager at Hedland, and paramedic at Geraldton, Albany, Pinjarra and Bunbury, and has also been a relief community paramedic in Carnarvon, Denham and Exmouth.
Mr McDonald is an exceptional paramedic who is always ready and willing to share his skills with those around him, especially the emergency medical technicians of which he is a huge advocate for.
Michael Morgan started with St John in 2003, accumulating 20 years of service, and since that time has given significant volunteer contribution across multiple roles including frontline Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Patient Transport Officer (PTO), Volunteer Leadership Group (VLG) member for Northam depot, Toodyay sub-centre chairperson, and most recently as Volunteer Development Officer (VDO).
Mr Morgan is a committed volunteer, regularly undertaking frontline volunteer shifts as both an EMT and a call taker for the Toodyay sub-centre.
Naomi Powell began her career with St John in 2002 as a country volunteer.
She qualified as a paramedic in 2007, and undertook this role until 2011.
From 2011 to 2014 she was an Area Manager which required her to provide single responder response, frontline leadership at multi casualty and major incident scenes, as well as clinical support at resuscitation and complex patient incidents.
Mrs Powell was one of the first female operational frontline managers at St John WA.
Her commitment to developing and inspiring other females has seen the balance of female managers increase from less than 10 per cent to 50 per cent in recent years.
Brett Screen joined St John in 1999 as a frontline ambulance officer, and then paramedic in 2003, and in his 24 years of service has worked across multiple roles of training secondment, both operations centre and on-road team leader, critical care and industrial paramedic, and as a regional paramedic where he also undertook relief in the station manager position.
As a Special Operations Paramedic he has undertaken deployments including the Waroona-Yarloop bushfires in January 2016 which devastated the town of Yarloop. He also volunteered to assist with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) medical support in Papua New Guinea in November 2018.
Jillian Smith commenced service with St John in 2009 as an Ambulance Officer in metropolitan Perth.
During her service of 14 years, she has performed and excelled at many leadership roles including Station Manager, Operations Response Manager, Operational Support Manager, Area Manager and Acting Metropolitan Manager of Operations.
Throughout the entirety of her career and now, she has been an exemplary role model within St John WA; leading with integrity and continuing to be a passionate and dedicated advocate for the safety and wellbeing of her peers.
Amy Teakle joined the Northampton Sub Centre in 2013 serving as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and in 2017 took on the role of Sub Centre Chairperson.
In April 2021, Cyclone Seroja hit Northampton, and despite major damage to her home and the sub-centre, and little to no communication lines, she was out on the road to assist anyone in need.
She is the backbone of the Northampton Sub-Centre, and a major reason the sub-centre has excellent facilities to house its volunteers and provide first aid training.
David Tunnard joined St John in January 2010 as part of the Metro Operations team, and has served 13 years as an Ambulance Officer and Ambulance Paramedic/Station Manager.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he supported the local management team and his colleagues on-road who were under extreme pressure because of the pandemic.
Mr Tunnard was always accepting of any tasks and completed these tasks without question or complaint knowing he was benefitting his colleagues, St John as an organisation, and in turn the patients that he so passionately cares for.
