MLMC’s dedicated First Aid Officers Kristin Collins and Kate Draffin recently won Ambulance Victoria's Metro-West Team of the Year for their volunteer work in the community. In addition to this work, Kristin and Kate also manage the College’s First Aid facilities providing an exceptional service to approximately 40 students who visit the First Aid team each day.
Winning this award is a significant achievement as the category included teams from all of Melbourne and the north west area. Their win with the Kinglake CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) team was based on the criteria: turn out time (ie: being the first responders), the number of shifts covered and teamwork. They were nominated by the District Manager and the results were based on votes from their peers.
Kristin and Kate both live in Kinglake and have been involved with the CERT team there for nearly four years. After the Black Saturday bushfires an ambulance station was established in Kinglake operating from 7am to 5pm. To provide services to the community overnight a volunteer based service was also set up and Kristin and Kate were quick to put their hands up. They often respond to calls in the middle of the night and then turn up for work the next day at MLMC.
Kristin who has been at MLMC for seven years says, “living in a rural area, it’s important for the community to have access to emergency services that can respond to late night emergencies, so I thought I’d volunteer. I have the skills to offer as I was based at the Box Hill emergency department for 10 years.” Kate attributes her family background in volunteering for her motivation to choose to become a paramedic and is currently undergoing training at Ambulance Victoria. “It’s great being able to put everything I am learning into practice each day at MLMC,” she says. She completes her Diploma by the end of this year before continuing for a further two years to attain a Bachelor’s degree.
We send our wholehearted congratulations to Kristin and Kate on receiving this award - it is an outstanding achievement and we are grateful for their ongoing contribution to the MLMC community.
