Ambulance Community Officers share Indigo Shire's 'Community Group of the Year Award'

CHILTERN's Australia Day celebration and awards presentation shifted to the town's Memorial Hall after rain fell across the shire on Tuesday. An exciting time followed with the town's Ambulance Community Officers (ACOs) sharing Indigo Shire's 'Community Group of the Year Award' presented by Cr Roberta Horne. ACO Wendy Connor was delighted to accept the award on behalf of the team. "It's an honour to serve the Indigo Shire community and be recognised in this way,” she said. In the community for more than 15 years, she said quality emergency health care was the ACO group's mantra with integrity and reliability in serving the town at the heart of our work. Ambulance Victoria’s chief executive officer Associate Professor Tony Walker said in a statement he was proud of the Chiltern team who had worked incredibly hard for many years to ensure Indigo Shire residents received timely care in their hour of need. “ACOs are the backbone of many communities and are a critical part of our emergency response service model in rural and regional Victoria,” he said. “They have well developed life-saving skills and make a real difference to patients in many medical emergencies including cardiac arrests and road accidents." “They also have an extensive knowledge of their community and are often the first on scene providing pain relief and gathering patient information.” Chiltern’s 15 ACOs are part of Ambulance Victoria’s 1400 strong First Responder team who work hand in hand with paramedics. Guest speaker, Chiltern born 94-year old Andrew Gilmour, with a career in film and theatre spanning 60 years spoke about his school days and life in Chiltern remembering different aspects of the town and its nationalities. He has volunteered for Vision Australia for 38 years where he has delivered audio descriptions for ballet, opera and theatre and for a time ran a day care centre for the vision impaired. A member of a committee which oversees four Australian Federal Government properties, he spoke about the homes sourcing and purchasing Australiana for display. Around 70 community members enjoyed the day hosted by Chiltern Girl Guides with Lazy Harry entertaining the crowd with his Australia Day songs among them his new one especially written for the day. Guide leader Lynne Emblin said it was great to have the girls involved where a morning tea provided Australia's iconic lamingtons. "It was a nice community day where we could get together and a good start to the years following last year's impacts of COVID-19 and smoke from bushfires," she said.

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