There was a boy trapped underneath the buggy - he wasn't in a good way.
Tim Ives and another Rural Fire Service volunteer had received the call when they were on their way back from fighting a bushfire.
They found the vehicle rolled down one of the steep embankments that characterised the small island's topography.
Tim had only recently joined the rural fire service - one of the lynchpins of this small island community. He had trained to fight bushfires but never had much formal medical training - not for a situation like this. Tim was still only a teenager himself.
"They were pretty unwell," Tim says of finding the child trapped under the vehicle.
"My mum's a nurse so she was able to come help before paramedics and rescue personal made it to the scene.
"The patient was winched out off the island via helicopter."
But the incident left a lasting impression on Tim.
Tim Ives with his partner Jorja
Growing up on Scotland Island clearly had a profound impact on Tim too.
Located in an inlet on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, the only access to the island is via boat.
Once you arrive, you're greeted with interwoven dirt fire-trails surrounded by bush weaving their way throughout the steep terrain.
In the centre of the small community, made up of about 300 homes, is where the volunteer rural fire service is located - marking a geographic and metaphorical heart of the community.
After the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires that swept through NSW, Tim decided to join the brigade too. It was shortly after this, he was a first responder to the buggy crash.
"There must have been about five different kinds of paramedics on scene," Tim says,
"It was up to the NSW Ambulance tasked Community First Responder (CFR) unit, being the NSW Rural Fire Service, and a small group of locals already on scene to look after the patient until paramedics arrived."
NSW Ambulance provides and trains CFR units to respond to and provide early intervention to immediately life-threatening conditions, including CPR and defibrillation.
Under the CFR model, NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers are part of the NSW Ambulance response network and receive additional training from NSW Ambulance.
"Seeing them all working together on a pretty unwell patient, that was inspiring."
"It really influenced my decision to study Paramedicine."
Once he decided on the degree, Tim's school principal recommended him for an Early Offer Guarantee to UniSC.
"The application got approved, which I was pretty happy with," Tim says.
"Having that offer throughout the remainder of Year 12, was super beneficial - it took away a lot of the stress."
Adventure is a big part of it for Tim too.
He grew up exploring the rat-run of bush trails with his mates, or motoring about in the surrounding waters in a tinny. His life has always been outdoors. He's always been social.
"Everyone in my cohort became friends," Tim says about studying Paramedicine at UniSC.
"Even in the uni breaks, everyone would take their uni friends back to where they grew up - it was really cool."
There is a strong sense of camaraderie that comes with the Paramedicine degree.
Paramedicine lecturer Matthew Hill said a lot of this can be attributed to the student-run Sunshine Coast University Paramedics Association ( SCUPA ).
"This group do a great job - particularly when it comes to organising peer-mentoring sessions, social events and industry workshops for its members," Mr Hill says.
"Building that network of support is hugely beneficial during their studies and when it comes to working in the field as a paramedic too."
In some cases, this can lead to closer relationships than just of a professional nature forming between students, which is what happened with Tim and his partner Jorja Stewardson.
"I suppose we were just spending a lot of time at uni together," Tim says.
"Our group is quite adventurous, so we'd all spend a lot of time outside uni too. We take a tinny we all bought together to go exploring around places like Moreton Island or K'gari.
In that final year, the couple started applying for jobs, hoping they would land roles in similar geographic areas, which is exactly what happened when they were offered paramedic roles with NSW Ambulance.
"We got neighbouring stations about half-an-hour from each other in the Northern Rivers of NSW," Tim laughs.
"We were over the moon."
Now that he's working in the industry, Tim is keen to continue enhancing his skills.
"There's definitely something to learn off everyone," Tim says.
"That's probably what's really stood out to me about working in the industry, the learning never stops - it's great."
