They make good chutney in Alpha.
This is one of the many things I learnt recently on my trip out to the central region of Queensland.
In my role as the QAS videographer, I’m blessed to get out beyond Kedron to capture imagery and tell the stories of the QAS across the state.
Last month I flew from Brisbane to Longreach and then travelled east by car over a few days to Rockhampton.
I travelled with Townsville-based Deputy Commissioner’s Executive Officer Rachael Floyd, to tell the story of a Health Based Ambulance (HBA) in Alpha – until now a small service used in our rural and remote regions.
HBAs are a collaboration between QAS and Hospital and Health Services (HHS) in more remote areas where HHS workers are primarily responsible for pre-hospital emergency first response care.
The QAS provides and maintains a vehicle while the HHS staff act as first responders with a volunteer driver.
The HBA video will be used to help orientate nurses through their response process, from initial patient contact, to using the ambulance radio to provide updates to the Operations Centre (OpCen) and to demonstrate the type of on road support QAS offers the nurse on case.
In essence, we were demonstrating that HBA nursing staff are not alone when called to a job.
The other aspect of the trip was to capture as much imagery as I could of the QAS in this part of the world as this videographer role hasn’t existed before and so part of my job is to gather video and photos of the QAS at work, to be used as part of our internal and external communications.
To achieve this, I travelled with Rachael and Central West Executive Manager, Gavin Farry, stopping at ambulance stations enroute, to check in and do a ride along around the towns.
I’m very grateful for the help from Gavin and paramedics Brittney Hannay (Longreach), Matthew Tencza (Aramac) and Myles White (Barcaldine) for their help in capturing their towns and ambulances in their natural habitat.
In Rockhampton, Suzy Nehring, Brooke Stapleton and Kirsten Bond helped us in front of, and behind, the camera in the Rocky OpCen,
In the Alpha clinic we were greatly assisted by Queensland Health staff Ben Hodgson, Shane Beinke and George Mihai, with Ben in particular coming in during his time off to star as our “nurse” in the HBA special.
Rachael Floyd deserves special mention for her convincing (some would say Oscar-worthy) portrayal of a snake bite victim and for helping to organise the trip, driving many of the kilometres and being good company along the way.
It was a great privilege to travel through this part of the world, especially to see it so lush and green after the big rains.
Alongside the good Alpha chutney, the contributions our QAS and Queensland Health colleagues make to our communities continue to inspire me.
This short video is a snapshot of the journey, from Longreach to Rockhampton in pictures. Enjoy!
Contact QAS Insight by emailing: qasinsight@ambulance.qld.gov.au