Trangie Ambulance volunteers Sharna Gall, Bev and Col Hamilton and Warren’s Julie Lincoln have been recognised for their hard work and dedication to the job with an official graduation ceremony held in town on Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Acting NSW Ambulance Duty Operations Manager Glenn Flanagan and Deputy Director of Operations John Stonestreet, were on hand to present this “fantastic four” with their certificate of qualifications.
“What today is all about is we’re here to celebrate the fact four local volunteers have passed all the assessments required to become a volunteer ambulance officer, and to celebrate the return of an ambulance presence to Trangie,” Mr Flanagan said.
“Col, Bev, Sharna and Julie all put in a huge amount of effort and time to get to this stage, from giving up their weekends for training, and a lot of personal time away from their family, work and home to be part of this service.
“It takes a very special kind of person to do this job- the commitment and sacrifices you have to make, and of course the willingness to help the community members in their time of need.”
It has been several years since Trangie has had an ambulance service based in the town, and Mr Stonestreet said it is wonderful to see it up and running again.
“Trangie went into a lull with its volunteer ambulance officers for four years and to now have four of them undertaking the task it is great to see,” he said.
“Often you do find it hard in smaller communities where everyone wears multiple hats; it is hard to find the time to commit to a role such as this but these four need to be congratulated for where they are now.” For Sharna, Col, Bev and Julie, their journey to becoming volunteer ambulance officers started more than a year ago at an information meeting held during Volunteer Week. CentaCare’s Petra Mellor was keen to get a recruitment drive going to re-open the Trangie Ambulance Station, which she has now accomplished.
All came away from that meeting realising the benefits to the community by re-establishing this vital service and signed up on what has been a challenging but rewarding journey.
Volunteer ambulance officers respond to ‘000’ calls and are always backed up by either Narromine or Warren paramedics and their skills are updated by regular on-going training.
This service does not interfere with volunteers’ normal day-to-day activities as you only attend a call out when you can.
“Ideally we’d like to have more than four volunteer ambulance officers to stretch the work-load so any community members interested in joining are encouraged to talk to Col, Bev, Sharna or Julie,” Mr Stonestreet said.
So if you would like to give something back to the community by being part of this rewarding service and to gain very valuable skills, contact Col, Bev, Sharna or Julie.
