SES Bendigo Unit

For all those who have been asking when our next Trivia Night will be ... it is just a few weeks away!

With only 150 seats available, don't wait too long to book your tickets.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Our volunteers are pleased to see our very own Matt recognised for his decades of response as both an SES volunteer and MICA paramedic on this First Responders Day.

He also volunteers as an emergency services speaker with Amber Community at Road Trauma Awareness Seminars, sharing his experience in an effort to encourage better choices when on our roads.

Thank you Matt - great effort!

Today is WOW - Wear Orange Wednesday.

Wear something orange today, have an orange themed morning tea at work and share some photos with us of how you thanked your local SES volunteers today.

A few numbers for the statisticians -
550 requests for assistance this financial year so far
More than 200 tree down requests
More than 100 flooding/building damage
More than 100 rescues

This is what SES Bendigo Unit has been up to over the past 11 months. 1,500 hours of emergency response, and then there's training and skills maintenance on top of that. Phew! No wonder we get weary at times!

The volunteers and leadership group of Bendigo SES are horrified and angry to hear of the sickening attack on an Ambulance Victoria MICA paramedic in Reservoir today.

Paramedics turn up on our worst days and do everything they can to make them better. They deserve our thanks and gratitude, not unprovoked violence.

These highly skilled, compassionate people should always be safe while on shift - they most certainly should be safe while buying a coffee with colleagues.

If you see a paramedic in our town, show your support. Thank them. Buy them a coffee if you can. Let them know we value them and their efforts to keep us all safe.

This is not ok.

Thank you to our volunteers and those from SES Loddon Mallee Regional Unit and SES Marong Unit who supported both the dawn and morning Anzac day services.

Special thanks to Zoe and Dev for placing the wreath on behalf of our unit and to Virginia Mary Florist for a beautiful floral design in our signature colours.

It was an honour to be in the presence of the last surviving World War Two veteran whose name appears on the board of honour at the Soldiers Memorial Museum.

Mr Todd, thank you for your service. Congratulations on attaining 101 years of age. That's quite remarkable.

Our volunteers will be helping at both the dawn and morning services in Bendigo this morning.

We remember those we lost and thank those who have served and continue to serve.

We will remember them.

Our thanks to Hickmans and Bridgwater farmer Anthony Collins for providing the toys for our two training scenarios tonight.

Scenario one had two people trapped under the Hickmans excavator, one under the bucket and one under the tracks.

The team used the hydraulic ram to take just enough of the weight of the excavator arm that the casualty could be removed for treatment.

The casualty under the tracks was assessed as deceased so the extrication was a little less elegant. The airbags effectively lifted the machine until the casualty could be removed. A separate post has a video of the final extrication.

Scenario two required the crew to extricate the driver of a prime mover. A couple of different methods were used with the ked determined to give good control to all the operators.

Two very informative scenarios, lots of discussion and teamwork from which everyone came away with an extra trick or two in their repertoire.

Great work to our team who participated in the Easter Long weekend events. Was great fun 🙂