Celebrating those who run towards danger

Emergencies don’t wait for a convenient moment, and the commitment from first responders to drop everything and help those in need is being recognised today through National Thank a First Responder Day.

The day is an initiative of Fortem Australia, an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports the mental health and wellbeing of both first responders and their family members.

After 15 years in the SES, and four in Inverloch’s SES, Gary Hammett knows that though there is no good time to leave your family, first responders are often required to help those in need.

For him, it’s about the service provided to the community.

“I do it for self-satisfaction and giving back to the community that’s given me so much over time,” he said.

Mr Hammett is one of Inverloch SES’s most active volunteers, responding to almost 100 jobs in the last calendar year alone.

The Inverloch SES unit responds to storm and flood events but is also uniquely required to respond to marine rescue incidents.

Mr Hammett also responds through the GoodSAM app, attending cases where patients are often not breathing and are unresponsive, therefore not only supporting SES, but Ambulance Victoria as well.

“I respond to not breathing, no response patients for Ambulance Victoria,” he said.

Mr Hammett was at one stage receiving so many GoodSAM alerts that Ambulance Victoria sent him his own defibrillator.

But while the work is rewarding, it can also carry a heavy emotional toll.

Mr Hammett has previously partaken in road crash rescue work and said that those incidents can stay with first responders for a long time after the job’s done.

“I have done road crash rescue as well, and of course, they stay with you,” he said.

“It’s very hard to get them out of your head, because they keep coming back when there are triggers.”

When asked about the most difficult part of being a first responder, he didn’t hesitate to highlight the impact it can have on family.

“There’s never a good time for an emergency, and it’s always around dinner time when all the family’s all got together, and your pager’s gone off, and you look at your wife, and you say, ‘I’ve got to go’,” he said.

“We couldn’t do it without our family support, we just couldn’t, because when we come home after a nasty one, we need to decompress with them, so they ride the emotional wave with us.”

That impact is something Abby, the partner of a Gippsland police officer, understands all too well.

She said that police officers are regularly exposed to trauma and high-pressure situations, which can have an impact even beyond a shift’s end.

“It can be challenging,” she said.

“I do often see the burnout it inflicts on him, but at the same time, I’m immensely proud of what he does.”

Abby said that the role has, in a way, shaped how her partner views the world.

“He’s often scanning his surroundings and anticipating potential risks,” she said.

“It’s a level of alertness that doesn’t simply switch off at the end of a shift.”

For Mr Hammett, the rewarding nature of being a volunteer first responder is something he holds dearly.

“Being a volunteer responder, I probably get more out of SES than what I really put in,” he said.

“We get to do extraordinary things. I’ve been away on many deployments around Australia after cyclone, flood, and it’s so rewarding.”