Ambulance Wish South Australia in 2024 fulfils first request: Simon Baraniec enjoys beer, pie and friends at Oval
Port Adelaide Football Club fan Simon Baraniec was the first to have his request fulfilled in 2024 under the Ambulance Wish South Australia programme.The programme's ambulance (inset, at right) brought him to enjoy a pie and a beer with family and friends at Adelaide Oval where the scoreboard greeted him with “Welcome Back, Simon”.
Images courtesy South Australian government, Ambulance Wish South Australia and Seven News
Ambulance Wish South Australia – combining the efforts of Palliative Care South Australia, St John Ambulance SA and Flinders University – fulfilled its first request at Adelaide Oval in 2024.
Ambulance Wish South Australia aimed to give South Australians at the end stage of life theaccess to the planning, transport and clinical care to achieve their special wish and create lasting memories. The South Australian government gave a $250,000 over two and a half years towards the first stage of the programme, to fulfil 25 wishes for South Australians per year. Ambulance Wish South Australia was seeking further support from businesses and the community to continue the service.
The first to have his wished fulfilled under the programme was Port Adelaide Football Club fan Simon Baraniec, 55, who was diagnosed with spinal cancer in 2023, his special wish involved a visit to Adelaide Oval to enjoy a pie and a beer one last time alongside a group of mates. Baraniec, who was greeted to Adelaide Oval with “Welcome Back, Simon” on the scoreboard, said he felt "amazingly special" to be the first to receive Ambulance Wish South Australia: "Palliative isn't the doom and gloom side of hospital. It's more about caring and giving people things like this quality of life."
An Ambulance Wish South Australia ambulance was provided by St John Ambulance South Australia, with St John Ambulance SA volunteer paramedics and ambulance officers, ensuring the safe transport of wish recipients. No SA Ambulance Service ambulances or paramedics were involved in delivering the programme as part of their paid employment, although they might be involved as a St John’s Ambulance volunteer.
Palliative Care South Australia chief executive Shyla Mills said 12,000 South Australians at the palliative-care stage of illness died every year. "We can try to make a wish come true for people around us and we can make memories that will last a lifetime. At the end stage of life, often really simple things make a big difference." Mills had a personal stake in seeing the programme succeed. Her father, a doctor and a key player in its South Australia launch, died 18 months previously. "The wish bear that all the wish recipients will receive is named after my father.”
Ambulance Wish South Australia hoped to expand across South Australia with a goal of fulfilling 75 to 100 wishes a year, with more support from businesses and the community.
