By Gavin O’Connor
South Wales Echo
Copyright 2007 Western Mail and Echo Ltd
All Rights Reserved
WALES — Saving lives is just a day’s work for three generations of one family.
Rhys Griffiths, his uncle Michael and his great-aunt Shirley all work in the same ambulance control room.
The trio followed one another into the profession and have helped save lives ever since.
Michael’s mum Shirley Stevens, 59, was the first to step into the role after training as a nurse at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff.
She then joined the ambulance service in 1976 as a technician in Bridgend and Cardiff and took her first step up the ladder when she became a station officer at Blackweir Ambulance Station in the city.
Following that, she qualified as an instructor and spent the next 20 years transferring between operational and control duties and was appointed locality officer for Blaenau-Gwent.
Two years ago she became regional manager for south-east Wales and with a total of 31 years’ service, Shirley has received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in recognition of her contribution.
“I started this whole family thing off,” said Cardiff-born Shirley, now living in Cwmbran, who has the unenviable task of bossing her son on a day-to-day basis.
Her son Michael Protheroe, 39, of Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, joined the service on leaving school aged 16 and became one of the youngest control room operators based at Fairwater in Cardiff.
For the past four years his direct line-manager at the control centre, called Mamhilad, has been mum.
“It’s something I always wanted to do,” he said.
“I see this as frontline work and I have been in the job ever since, even though it is pretty unusual to spend one’s whole career in the control room.”
He has worked his way up the management structure and is currently a duty control manager.
And latest recruit Rhys Griffiths, 21, also from Cwmbran, was always itching to join his family after gaining work experience with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.
He started work in the south-east Wales control room at Mamhilad 18 months ago.
“It’s something I’ve always been interested in but I couldn’t start until I was 18,” he said.
“I thoroughly enjoy the job but would like to gain some experience as an ambulance technician and paramedic to gain an insight into the other side of the service, the frontline operations.
“This would help me in the control-room.”
For Michael, however, his next role could lead to him treading on some well-known toes.
“I suppose the next step would be my mother’s job,” he joked.