Dr Andrew Pearce (pictured left with the MedSTAR crew) is a man on a mission. A mission to serve others, a mission to serve his country, and a mission to keep things moving and find the next challenge.
He wears many hats - emergency physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for the past 25 years, Divisional Clinical Director at SA Ambulance Service MedSTAR for the past seven years (although he’s been there since its inception), and Group Captain in the RAAF, an institution he’s been involved with for 27 years.
“I have a deep sense of pride in being able to serve,” the father of three says. 
“And I’ve been fortunate enough to deploy overseas with the Australian Defence Force.
“I’ve always wanted to help those in need, and that was also my drive into medicine. I’ve always wanted to make a difference.”
Dr Pearce’s career in aero-medical evacuation started in Adelaide when he was, in his word, “just a baby doctor” at Flinders Medical Centre.
“I met up with Fred Gilligan, the father of retrieval medicine in South Australia and that started me on a path,” he says.
“I was able to spend time developing retrieval skills in Sydney on the Westpac rescue helicopter, along with medical placements in England and working in Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey.
“So I’ve been lucky enough to be able to acquire skills that I’ve been able to use on both the civilian and military sides of my career.”
Dr Pearce says he spends a number of days a year in his Air Force uniform and believes his time in the Reserves is extremely beneficial to his civilian roles.
“Being a public service employee, you are able to do military service without impacting your career,” he says.
“SA Ambulance Service supports me and I’m supportive of my team of which a number are reservists.”
Dr Pearce says he encourages everyone to consider spending time in the Reserves and believes it has a positive impact from a career perspective.
“I’ve always said that if you lump all your eggs in the same basket and just do the same thing then you could easily get burned out, but if you have diversity and the option to do interesting, challenging things then it’s more likely that you’ll have a happier, healthier public service career,” he says.
“If being a Reservist gives me the ability to explore and develop professionally and personally then I think that’s beneficial for my role within SA Health.”
On Anzac Day, Dr Pearce says he likes to spend time reflecting on the sacrifices made by so many Australians.
“It helps me understand about how we got here and the history of our country, and it helps me understand the history of war,” he says.
“While we don’t like to focus on war, certainly learning the lessons from war may help us in the future.
“And it helps me understand about the camaraderie and support of my colleagues with the Defence Force. I enjoy marching on Anzac Day with my colleagues, I enjoy having a quiet beer with them after the march and reflecting on those that we’ve lost and the sacrifices others have made that have got us here.”
Senior Sergeant Angus McFarlane – who has forged twin careers in the South Australia Police and the Australian Army – shares what Anzac Day means to him. Read his story here.
