On the famous bridge at Howlong Country Golf Club, the original class of Howlong CERT, from left, Stan Zawora, Mike Gardiner, Tammy Sinclair, Wendy Terrill, Christine Jacobs, Cody Hawking, Alison Hawking, Brendan Newley, Dave Gulbin and Clint Hawking. Mike decided not to go ahead (physical restrictions) and Tammy has now moved to Queensland.
It was made clear in 2021 to the Howlong community there was not going to be an ambulance station in town – there were ambulance stations in Albury, Wodonga, Corowa and Yarrawonga.
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However, Howlong Progress Association had other ideas which led to the formation of the Howlong Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in 2023.
In an amazing journey, CERT won the 2024 NSW Premiers Award for Excellence in Service Delivery for the development and implementation of the Howlong CERT, in the NSW Parliament House Sydney on Tuesday night, November 19.
“This dedicated unit provides immediate clinical care before paramedics arrive, ensuring vital emergency assistance is always available - a testament to their skill and commitment,” NSW Ambulance Commissioner, Dr Dominic Morgan said.
Whilst this was largely a public sector award and could only have a small number of people at the presentation, Ambulance NSW represented each and everyone who played a role.
Each participant’s name was read out at the ceremony. The importance of community leadership was also acknowledged.
The award, a public sector award for Ambulance NSW for Excellence in Service Delivery of the very successful Howlong CERT training module.
Operational since October 2023, the Howlong community partnered with NSW Ambulance to establish a team of 10 highly trained volunteers, who completed a comprehensive nine-month training program, both in the classroom and on the road with local paramedic crews.
Dr Morgan was at the launch of Howlong CERT in October 2023, and said when a local patient needs lifesaving treatment fast the CERT volunteers will be deployed by the Triple Zero (000) dispatch system, to provide initial assistance while paramedics are on the way.
“CERTs do not replace our valued and highly skilled paramedics, but they are integral to building community resilience in responding to and recovering from not only personal health emergencies, but also natural disasters," he explained at the time.
“Our CERT volunteers are really special people, and we are so grateful for their, and the community of Howlong's support of this program."
Praise by Federation Council
Howlong CERT and Howlong Progress Association received substantial praise at Federation Council’s latest monthly meeting, on December 17 following a detailed report from General Manager Adrian Butler, General Manager who said he had the pleasure of attending the first ever community meeting of Howlong Progress Association regarding this project.
“It is very pleasing to see the project eventuate in such a positive way,” he said.
In late 2021, the NSW Ambulance started a journey with the Howlong Progress Association and the Howlong community to make a difference to the health outcomes of patients in Howlong and surrounds.
Mr Butler said Howlong Progress Association took the community leadership role and following several public consultation meetings, “a brave group of locals put their hand up to be part of a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)”.
“What followed was comprehensive onboarding and clinical training facilitated by local management teams, paramedics and education teams.
“The Howlong CERT members were the first to go through a new NEXTGen Induction training program and following a community launch event in September 2023, the unit went live on 30 October 2023,” Mr Butler said.
“In the first 12 months, Howlong CERT have attended 122 responses and have been first on scene, 119 times.
“This is a really important statistic because, in time critical cases, this mobilisation and response time is essential to early clinical care and improved patient outcomes.
“What is often missed though, is everyone behind the scenes that helped make this magic happen – these are the quiet achievers - service planning, human resources, Control, the GIS wizards, clinical equipment, fleet, assets and infrastructure, marketing and communications, finance, telecommunications, admin staff, uniforms, the local golf club staff for their venue management and catering services....... and of course, the Howlong Progress Association’s leadership from Cheryl Cook who just made our job so much easier.”
Federation Council resolved to formally congratulate Howlong CERT and to Howlong Progress Association for its leadership and co-ordination of this amazing community drive success story.
Application elsewhere in shire?
“Huge congratulations to the Howlong community. I attended a Howlong Progress Association meeting on the subject when I was first on council a few years back when they started on this journey,” Cr Rowena Black said.
“It’s an absolute credit to everyone involved, how the community came together. Hopefully we can see some more in our shire.”
Cr Sue Wearne said it took two years background work to achieve CERT. “We wanted an ambulance station but were clearly told ‘no’, ” Howlong Progress Association treasurer Cr Wearne said.
“To see Howlong continue to fight for an ambulance provider of some form was huge then to see the capacity of the community come together with ten people put their hands and go through nine months of rigorous training was fantastic.
“Our ten CERT members are deeply respected by Ambulance NSW in how they work with the ambulance system. We have three more people (Melanie Delaney, Stephanie Curry and Mel Trevethan) in training.”
Cr Wearne said the Premier’s Award for Howlong CERT and the local program used can lead to other communities pursuing such a valuable team. “I’m so proud to be a member of the community,” she concluded.
“One of the brilliant things about this whole journey was that Howlong was told ‘no’ to an ambulance station but pushed on regardless,” immediate past Federation Council Mayor, Cr Pat Bourke, who attended meetings in Howlong, said.
“There were a lot of passionate people who worked through the system. Congratulations to everyone involved.”
“Amazing” was how Cr David Harrison described the journey and to achieve “a fantastic” result. “How can we extend this across the shire?” he asked, strongly believing in the need, referring to the higher-than-state-average incidences of road accident trauma in the Federation Council area.
As a vastly experienced football umpire, Cr Harrison has seen first-hand a player on the football ground in need of attention.
“Two fire trucks have arrived and they know what they’re doing. There would be opportunities for CERT type of personnel,” he said.
Mr Butler said Federation Council Mayor Cheryl Cook played a big part in this project as Howlong Progress Association Secretary before being elected on to Federation Council in September 2024. She expressed her extreme delight in seeing CERT in action and receiving the NSW Premier’s Award.
Establishment of Howlong CERT involved “many, many, meetings”.
“It was a challenge and involved a very strong administrative background and communication skills,” Mayor Cook said.
“I think our northern part of the Federation Council area could greatly benefit from having what we have in Howlong.
“I’d be more than happy to receive any calls for advice or assistance in what a community has to go through towards achieving that.”
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