Melanie Riley
MANY people stopped to check out the unusual site at the Cave Gardens/Thugi on Wednesday as Limestone Coast locals completed their SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) Remote Training assessment.
The optional course requires expressions of interest put forward to join the program, and its aim is to equip paramedics and volunteers that work in hazardous environments to be able to use equipment like ropes, to make safe access to patients and members of the community that find themselves in danger.
Team leader training and standards special operations team SAAS Simon Cradock led the team over the three day course, taking place in various locations around the region, including Mount Gambier/Berrin’s Cave Gardens/Thugi.
“If you can imagine the setting here today, if someone accidentally fell into this sinkhole, it would be really difficult for a paramedic – a clinician – to make access and treat that patient without using ropes,” Mr Cradock said.
“It would be almost impossible, and really dangerous.”
The Cave Gardens/Thugi was the location for the group’s final assessment on their last day of training, and required abseiling down into the cave, and then back up the other side.
“They’ve all done really well,” Mr Cradock said.
“It’s quite physical, so they have a fitness requirement, and then they’ve got annual requirements every year for us to come down, or for them to come to Adelaide and re-credit in the safe use of these ropes.”
He said the Cave Gardens/Thugi acts as a primary location for their SAAS Remote Training, and in addition, completed the prior days in Millicent and Naracoorte.
“We’ve done some windfarm stuff out towards Millicent, and we’ve got some cave work where we’ve used ropes around Naracoorte,” he said.
“It’s very region specific, so it’s not across all of South Australia – it’s targeting regional locations that have the type of work that requires the ropes to make safe access.
“When we get more regional and more remote, we see people getting further away from immediate response.
“A lot of travellers, a lot of Grey Nomads out there are getting into more regional places and often it’s those that have less mobility that find themselves in difficult locations.”
The training is not only applied to natural outdoor environments, but also applies to industry, commercial and residential environments – anywhere somebody may find themselves that isn’t easily accessible.
Mr Cradock had safety advice to share, especially when visiting popular tourist spots around the region.
“Stay behind the balustrades and the barriers, they’re there to keep you safe – don’t climb up them, don’t climb over them, don’t climb past them,” he said.
In the event of making a triple zero call, he encouraged callers to be as detailed as possible, to ensure the right assistance is given.
“Our emergency operations centre is very good at interpreting the kind of information that we’d get from that caller, to understand the requirement to send SAAS Remote to make access,” he said.
“It does help if callers are really clear about the fact they can’t make access to that patient.
“We want to see these guys and girls training here today doing the best they can for the local community.”
Emily Rose Moustrides was one of the crew undertaking training on the day.
Ms Moustrides has been with SAAS for seven years, starting out as a volunteer in Penola, which she did for nearly four years.
She is currently a paramedic intern, and has been for just over three years, and is only weeks away from qualifying as a paramedic.
Ms Moustrides has been Naracoorte based since 2017, and said her reasons for taking on the SAAS remote course varied.
“I enjoy the rescue side of things,” she said.
“I like the challenge and I like doing ambulance work.
“I like adding other elements of work and throwing myself in the deep end, having fun, and it’s all about helping too.”
Although initially nervous about her training, she was confident and feeling good by the end and said she went better than she thought.
“Every day we’ve had new locations, new places to go, and every day I’ve started my level of fear really high,” she said.
“As I get over the edge – that’s the hardest part – that’s when I realise it’s actually not that bad and it’s a lot of fun.”
Mount Gambier/Berrin local Shayne Haggis has been a paramedic for over 10 years, after volunteering with SAAS for 7 years and while he completed his university degree.
Completing his training was important to him, to be able to assist in providing first response assistance.
“I wanted to have another skill in my arsenal and to be able to help people,” he said.
“We’re a long way from Adelaide and a lot of the full time rescue guys are up there, so it’s about supporting the rescue guys down here with the health component.
“MFS are awesomely trained, so we’re just trying to get up to a standard where we can be of assistance to those guys.”
He was feeling confident about his training, and although he thought he was “a bit rusty,” it was all about keeping the skills fresh in his mind.
“I’m fine – I’m old but I’m fit,” he said.
“I’m not too bad with this stuff, you know you’re safe.
“Get me off of a skyscraper, I’d get a bit funny, but this has never bothered me too much.”
