IN small rural towns, Ambulance Victoria relies heavily on locals giving up their time to be trained and work as Ambulance Community Officers (ACOs).

ACOs are community based first responders, who are employed on a casual basis to work ‘on call’ at either a community or a paramedic branch.

Locally, Southern Grampians paramedic community acting support coordinator, Ed Crimmins said ACOs form a vital part of the ability to provide prehospital care to patients in the Southern Grampians region.

“Prehospital care is the term used for medical care outside of a hospital situation,” he said.

“So, for example we could attend someone experiencing chest pain and through assessment diagnose them as having a heart attack and we can start treatment in the field at their residence or location in the prehospital setting and then take them on to hospital care.

“We try to have these teams to get somewhere quickly with high quality CPR, being able to administer defibrillation, give oxygen as well as other medical treatment while the advance life support crew comes to back them up.

“In the first instance, we have two teams in the shire that we are especially looking to recruit to – Coleraine and Penshurst.

“Both these teams have limited staff which in turn limits our capacity to respond in a timely manner to those towns and surrounding areas.

“Other towns such as Balmoral, Glenthompson, Casterton and Macarthur are likewise always looking for more volunteers. We’re trying to improve our ACO coverage – (we) probably need a few more in each town.

“Were just trying to get a few more people to bolster the numbers.

“Preferentially, the person would reside in the town they would provide the service because there’s a certain response time required.

“They work out of their own Ambulance Station in whichever town they are based.”

Mr Crimmins said there was a level of commitment required to serve as an ACO.

They provide advanced first aid in remote communities where the caseload is low, and the Ambulance branch is not staffed full-time.

In Victoria, there are presently about 650 Ambulance Community Officers providing services to rural communities at about 80 designated branches.

Mr Crimmins said there were minimal differences in the uniform that ACOs wear compared to fully fledged paramedics.

“As an ACO you will support Paramedics in providing emergency care to local communities in the Southern Grampians area.

“No previous medical training is required

“Successful applicants will be trained by Ambulance Victoria in advanced first aid, basic pre-hospital emergency care, emergency response driving and occupational health and safety.

“Then throughout the year there is monthly training sessions which allows them to maintain their authority to practice.

“ACOs have life-saving skills that they develop and maintain every year.

“It’s a normal sized ambulance – ACOs run a different skill set as opposed to a paramedic but they have a lot of skill sets that are really invaluable in the life saving space.”

Anyone interested in becoming an ACO is welcome to email Mr Crimmins at southerngrampians.pcsc@ambulance.vic.gov.au or for more information go to bit.ly/4d4Kpsq