NSW Health Pathology courier Russell Platt is handing back the keys after 25 years behind the wheel, delivering precious pathology samples across the Central West of the state and ensuring patients get the best possible care during floods, fires and snow.

Rus­sell Platt has been a couri­er for NSW Health Pathol­o­gy for 25 years and has loved being on the road.

“I was made redun­dant from my pre­vi­ous job after 23 years and had to do a com­plete restart of my career,” Rus­sell said.

“Dri­ving is my pas­sion, so when I was offered the role of a couri­er it was a win-win!”

Couri­ers play a crit­i­cal role in NSW Health Pathology’s oper­a­tions, ensur­ing thou­sands of patient sam­ples col­lect­ed each day get to the right lab­o­ra­to­ry in strict timeframes.

Based in Orange, Russell’s role reg­u­lar­ly takes him across the Cen­tral West, cov­er­ing vast dis­tances to sup­port hos­pi­tals, med­ical cen­tres and laboratories.

“A typ­i­cal day can involve up to 500km of trav­el,” he said.

“I can be dri­ving to doctor’s surg­eries, hos­pi­tals or oth­er health­care facil­i­ties from Syd­ney to Dub­bo, Mudgee to Cowra, Bathurst to Forbes and every town between.

“My deliv­er­ies can include med­ical sup­plies, blood and phar­ma­cy items, as well as col­lect­ing spec­i­mens and get­ting them to appro­pri­ate med­ical cen­tres as required.”

Rus­sell says he loves the free­dom of work­ing alone on the road, but also the strong con­nec­tions he’s made with the lab­o­ra­to­ry teams through­out the region.

“I love liv­ing and dri­ving in the bush and the won­der­ful peo­ple you meet in this job.”

More than good memories

Think­ing back over his career, Rus­sell says the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic was mem­o­rable for the vital role pathol­o­gy played.

“I’ll nev­er for­get the feel­ing of being con­tact­ed at any time day or night, to go on a Covid emer­gency run,” he said.

“Usu­al­ly, it would hap­pen while I was on the ride on mow­er or enjoy­ing one of my trea­sured days off!

“Also hav­ing to do extra night runs to Bourke and back (1300km) to bring home tests through a myr­i­ad of wildlife. I think I saw some Bunyips!”

Major flood events have also posed a challenge.

“I remem­ber weeks spent nav­i­gat­ing flood­ed roads in the West­ern Plains in 2022 and mak­ing sure spec­i­mens got to where they need­ed to go.

“At times when the flood­ed roads were blocked and we had to nav­i­gate anoth­er way up to 200km detours to get through. With lim­it­ed phone ser­vice, we were on our own, which was a challenge.

“Some­times emer­gency ser­vices came to our res­cue, and we end­ed up using SES boats or fire trucks and even pri­vate planes to get spec­i­mens and deliv­er­ies through from the cen­tres cut off by the floods.”

Despite the chal­lenges, Rus­sell says the rewards always out­weighed the hardships.

“There are just so many moments that will stay with me, and I will miss my pathol­o­gy fam­i­ly when I retire.

“I take pride know­ing that what I do every day helps so many peo­ple who are hav­ing a hard time in their lives. And know­ing that pathol­o­gy is a major part of their recov­ery is rewarding.”

“More than a courier”

One of Russell’s col­leagues, Forbes-based lab­o­ra­to­ry assis­tant Piper Thack­er says he’ll be remem­bered for the way he turned up to work each day and the joy he brought to the workplace.

“Rus­sell didn’t just trans­port bloods; he had this incred­i­ble abil­i­ty to walk into a space and instant­ly make it feel warmer and more wel­com­ing,” she said.

“Rus­sell wel­comed every­one with open arms. No mat­ter who you were, how busy the day was, or what kind of day you were hav­ing. He lis­tened. He remem­bered peo­ple. He cared in a way that was gen­uine and effortless.

“Thank you for the years of ser­vice, for the care you showed and the wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment you helped create.”

Rus­sell says he has no firm plans for retire­ment just yet.

“I’ll prob­a­bly go for a dri­ve some­where (laughs). It’s an open book real­ly, and I’ll prob­a­bly be direct­ed by my wife.”

As for what has kept him going all these years, Rus­sell says it’s simple.

“It’s nev­er been bor­ing, I don’t get bored. I’ve always said, how good is it to get paid to lis­ten to 2GB and the cricket.”

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