How can you help our ambulance service?

MURRINDINDI’S acting Paramedic Community Support Coordinator, Craig Beamish, spoke about some of the challenges faced by local paramedics in providing support to the Murrindindi community, as well as ways that we can all help.

In the Hume area in the first quarter of this year, there have been 5623 code one (emergency) callouts. Across the state, there have been 102,000 code one callouts, breaking the previous record of 100,238 code ones in the last quarter of 2022.

Health system challenges

Asked about the increase in callouts, Craig said, “There’s just a change in the health system across the board.

There’s reduced access to primary health, reduced access to GP appointments, reduced access to health (services) across the board in rural and regional areas.

When we have people who can’t access their normal health care providers, then the next alternative is to utilise something that’s accessible, being the ambulance service.” He added that there are probably other factors at play as well.

He said that according to statistics, one in five emergency calls are not…

How many ambulances do we have in the shire?

At a local level, the Murrindindi ambulance area includes Alexandra, Eildon, Marysville and Yea.

The Alexandra branch is a 24 hour branch. They have a day shift and a night shift, each with two paramedics on the ambulance.

In Yea, Marysville and Eildon, they run a ‘paramedic supported branch’ with one ambulance each. They have a volunteer ambulance community officer (ACO) and a registered paramedic in their ambulances, operating on…..

How can you help?

He stressed the importance of people learning cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator usage, or even better, to do a full First Aid course. He added that when people call Triple Zero, the caller will always be kept on the line and given advice until the ambulance arrives. They’ll talk the caller through what to do.

Despite the challenges, it’s very important for people to call an ambulance in an emergency, such as a….

What other medical services are available?

There are some government and local initiatives to provide alternative pathways instead of calling an ambulance.

If people have non-life-threatening emergencies, they could consider using one of the alternative services, such as VVED. People just need a phone or tablet with video capability…

If you have time…

Have you thought about becoming an ambulance community officer (ACO)? They’re needed due to limited resources in the area. While Marysville is currently staffed by a paramedic and an ACO, “Eildon hasn’t had any ambulance coverage for a number of weeks because we…

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