Timmins paramedic retires after nearly 52 years of service

Walter Marsh, a paramedic with Cochrane District Paramedic Services, decided he should celebrate his 72nd birthday by retiring.

“It just seemed like time. Let the young people do it,” he said Monday.

Marsh went to school to be an electrician, but he said he couldn’t get a job at that time.

“So a family friend said there was a job opening at the ambulance,” he said.

“I went and applied, and I got it and then I’ve been here ever since … 51 years, 10 months. Aug. 27 would be 52 years.”

That was 1973, a time when post-secondary education wasn’t required to be a paramedic.

“No, it was just standard First Aid and that was it,” said Marsh.

“That was the year the Ministry of Health took over and started regulating what you had to carry. They supplied the ambulances.”

Ryan Roy, a commander with Cochrane District Paramedic Services, said Marsh has had an impressive career.

“For him just to keep up and keep learning like it’s pretty impressive to, to do what he did,” Roy said.

The celebration of Marsh’s retirement included his last call with the dispatcher.

“Dispatch gives your number, a little bit of your history, and they get you to sign out for the last time on the radio,” said Marsh.

Emotional experience

It was a little bit of an emotional experience and he said he was surprised by how many people came to see him off.

“I like the job, I like meeting people, like working with all the staff, all the different allied agencies,” Marsh said.

“I had a good time, the time I was there.”

Roy said Marsh was one of his mentors.

“Walter was actually my preceptor when I was a student,” he said.

“So when I came out of college, I rode with him for three months and he taught me all kinds of tricks and different things about the career.”

Marsh said he plans to spend time with his family, continue teaching CPR and repairing power lift stretchers when needed.