Top honour for paramedic

LONGTIME pillar of the Hopetoun community, volunteer paramedic Kathleen Poulton was awarded an Ambulance Service Medal as part of the Australia Day honours list.

Now working and living in Ballarat, Mrs Poulton said receiving the award provided her with the opportunity to reflect on her 22 years as an Ambulance Community Officer.

“It’s an honour and I’m proud, humbled and embarrassed all rolled into one feeling,” she said.

“My husband was part of one of the first groups to become an ACO around 40 years ago and the community rallied and paid for our own ambulance with the support of Hopetoun Rotary Club and the local doctor.

“I then thought, I suppose I could be ambulance officer because you tend to wear different hats and you do those things, when you’re in a small town.”

The Ambulance Service Medal recognises those who excel in their care and services under any of Australia’s ambulance organisations.

Being an ACO, Mrs Poulton said although she was paid for hours on the job, there are many unpaid hours both on call and volunteering.

“Back in Hopetoun we had an ambulance that was manned by Ambulance Community Officers which are volunteers, however, we are not paid paramedics, we are paid volunteers,” she said.

“I was a team leader for seven years, I was instrumental in bringing education for CPR and defibrillators at local shows, at the Red Cross or primary schools and worked to enlist more ACOs in the area.

“I’m also a nurse, that’s my paid job because my passion has always been community health and community nursing.”

Mrs Poulton said she continues to channel her passion for nursing and paramedicine into her current work at Ballarat Health Services’ Queen Elizabeth Centre and home visits.

“I’m also very passionate about keeping those services available to rural communities,” she said.

“I hope I instil in my kids and grandkids that when you live in a community, you’ve actually got to live in it you can’t just be there.

“Over the 22 years, I have worked with so many people, ACOs and paramedics and we’re all there for that person on the worst day of their lives and to be awarded and singled out is not in my make up at all.”