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By Mark McDonnell
On September 24 seven representatives of NSW Ambulance came to Bilpin District Hall to speak to locals about setting up a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) service. They wanted to see whether locals would be willing to act as unpaid volunteers to be medical first responders, for call out incidents to 000 from the Bilpin, Berambing and Mt Tomah areas.
Ambulance acknowledges the need for some kind of first responder is due to the fact that there is no ambulance station close by. The nearest stations are in Richmond and then Lithgow.
Many of those present stated that what the area really needs is a local ambulance station with fully trained paramedics. Clare Beech from NSW ambulance said there was no plan for a new ambulance station in the area and the only option available was CERT.
Over a three hour meeting, with a lot of detail given about how the CERT program works, many of the locals attending the public meeting pointed said they already made a large commitment of time and energy to the local RFS. Most of those at the meeting were already volunteers with the Bilpin and Mt Tomah brigades.
NSW Ambulance said they needed at least 8 and preferably 12 volunteers to get a local CERT up and running. It would take a year or more to establish, as there is a lot of training of volunteers before anyone is sent to help in emergencies. This typically involves 9 months of online, face to face and some clinical work “in the field”.
State Member for Hawkesbury, Robyn Preston, addressed everyone to say that while the CERT program had much to recommend it, it would be at least a year before it could be operational, once an initial team of volunteers was identified. Clare Beech indicated that NSW Ambulance wanted to remain engaged with the local community and was willing to look at variations to the CERT model if that would prove more effective.
Dr Phil Hungerford, an emergency specialist doctor who lives locally, addressed the meeting stating that there are other options outside of NSW Ambulance’s CERT program to provide a medical first responder scheme, run directly by locals. He is working with the Mt Tomah and Berambing Community Association to set something up more quickly than NSW Ambulance is able to manage.
At the end of the meeting a resolution was passed “This meeting agrees to work with NSW Ambulance on a CERT program, or other suitable community-based program for medical first responders, while continuing to advocate strongly for the establishment of a staffed ambulance station in our community to provide full paramedic services and facilities”.
The motion was discussed and then voted upon with overwhelming support. No one voted against the motion but there were a few abstentions, with the comment made by one of those abstaining, that he felt “conflicted” due to the heavy demands on volunteers already within our area.
Representatives of NSW Ambulance were thanked for their participation and contributions to the meeting. Bev Milne invited those residents present to put their name on an “Expression of Interest” form if they were willing to become medical first responder volunteers. By the end of the meeting only two of those present put their names forward.
So there is some way to go before any kind of medical first responder program is up and running in the area, and on current indications it is more likely to be a locally run volunteer service, rather than CERT run by NSW Ambulance.
The Gazette is following this story.
