Halls Gap has a team of Ambulance Community Officers (ACOs) who are trained by Ambulance Victoria to respond to emergency situations with Advanced First Aid. Halls Gap is backed up by a local ambulance from Stawell, Ararat or Horsham. When someone calls 000 in our area the information is given to ESTA (Emergency Services Telecommunication Authority) in Ballarat. They page the best available ambulance and Halls Gap ACO at the same time. The ACO Team can carry out life-saving procedures and administer life-saving drugs until the Paramedic arrives. Halls Gap ACO is only authorised to respond to 000 emergencies, without a case number we cannot attend.
The area we cover is east to Lake Fyans, through Pomonal and half way to Moyston, north along Mount Zero Road to Roses Gap Road, west to Wartook and south to Mirranatwa Gap.
The number of emergencies is by nature, unpredictable. The most calls we have had in a day is four. We have been two and a half weeks without a call. Most call outs are to one patient. Motor vehicle accidents often involve treating multiple casualties.
We are always looking for new members. If you’d like to be involved, contact Kerry Linke on 0457 795 405.
The team of Ambulance Community Officers (ACOs) replaces the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) which did this work until November 2018.