- Published:
- Tuesday 25 August 2026 at 5:10 pm
Ambulance Victoria paramedics and first responders have teamed up with emergency service colleagues in Rushworth for a realistic road crash rescue simulation, preparing local crews to provide best care to patients when it counts.
The Ambulance Victoria-led training exercise simulated a minibus and car collision, with participants required to assess and treat 10 patients encompassing all ages.
A total of 38 local emergency service personnel were involved in the training, including 15 local Ambulance Victoria Ambulance Community Officers (ACOs), Ambulance Victoria paramedics and communications centre employees, and representatives from Country Fire Authority (CFA), Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) and local emergency management stakeholders.
The exercise was designed to enhance communication, coordination and operational effectiveness between Ambulance Victoria and local emergency service partners.
“Simulation exercises are incredibly beneficial for training our clinical skills and learning how to better work alongside our first responder colleagues,” Ambulance Victoria Acting Campaspe Senior Team Manager Troy Pickles said.
“This was an important exercise for local crews because large-scale incidents in rural areas present unique challenges and best patient care relies on strong cooperation between multiple agencies.
“The exercise provided a safe environment to test plans, identify communication or coordination challenges, and strengthen working relationships before a real emergency occurs.
“It also reinforced our crews’ confidence in managing complex incidents and demonstrated we can work together seamlessly with other emergency services to achieve the best possible patient outcomes.”
The training focused on several key skill areas, including mass-casualty patient triage, major incident command and control, effective communication and information sharing, resource coordination and decision-making, and familiarisation with inter-agency processes and responsibilities.
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