BCH shares facilities with summer paramedics

A JOINT initiative between Ambulance Victoria and Bellarine Community Health (BCH) has helped improve ambulance coverage on the Bellarine during the busy summer period.

Since December, an Advanced Life Support Paramedic Responder has spent part of their day and afternoon shifts based at the Portarlington Community Health Centre (PCHC) to better meet increased local demand due to the increased tourist population.

“We’re really pleased to have been able to provide Ambulance Victoria access to our facilities at Portarlington in the past few weeks,” BCH chief executive officer Shane Dawson said.

“For paramedics it’s means having a comfortable space to respond from, but more importantly for the patients on the Bellarine it’s meant having timely access to a paramedic for emergency call outs.”

Ambulance Victoria Barwon group manager Duncan Erwin said AV approached BCH about the initiative and appreciated their support providing some facilities for paramedics over the summer period.

“Our performance in the Greater Geelong Local Government Area (LGA) is improving, as the latest quarterly response time data published on our website shows,” Mr Erwin said.

“Paramedics responded to 85 per cent of Code 1 patients in the Greater Geelong LGA within 15 minutes during the final three months of 2017, compared with 75.5 per cent during the same period in 2016-17– a 9.5 per cent improvement.

“Our average Code 1 response time improved from 12 minutes and 47 seconds to 11 minutes and three seconds.”

Mr Erwin said the paramedics based at Portarlington over this summer would be among those based at the new ambulance station in Swan Bay.