Bendigo’s paramedics have been recognised as the best in the region.
Their branch was last week named the Loddon Mallee Team of the Year by Ambulance Victoria, as part of their Staff Recognition Awards.
Talking to Robbo on the Wake Up Call following the announcement, Acting Senior Team Manager Ben Miller said it was “fantastic” to see the Bendigo crew receive the accolade.
“It’s an incredibly busy team… they see about six thousand cases a year [which] equates to about 16 to 17 a day,” Miller said.
“Those cases can be… trying to locate a patient and not finding them and being clear 30, 40 minutes later, to transfers through to Melbourne that can take four to five hours.
“They’re also the first crews to, when they come on in the morning, go and find night-shifters still out on their jobs and relieve them, or go up to the hospital and relieve crews that are stuck up there.”
He also noted that the team is a “training branch” which helps educate undergraduate paramedics, doing so and all their other tasks with “a really positive attitude, and a really professional attitude”.
The Bendigo ambulance unit earned the prize ahead of 30 other crews the Loddon-Mallee region, which covers an area from Mildura in the state’s north-west to Gisborne in the south.
Additionally, Miller himself received the Regional Director’s Award for his “professionalism, leadership and commitment to supporting others” as part of his role leading the team.
He told Robbo while he was “honoured” to receive the award, it was the Bendigo team who was “more deserving” of the recognition.
“I don’t do anything particularly unusual – like most of the colleagues I have, we come in to work and we do the job to our best capacity,” Miller said.
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