In 2013, 175 UFS members selected the State Emergency Services (SES) – Bendigo Unit from our list of organisations.
State Emergency Services (SES) coordinate emergency preparation and response for flood, storm, tsunami and earthquake. Bendigo SES is also the provider of road crash rescue services for the Greater Bendigo area, as well as assisting other agencies such as Vic Police, CFA and Ambulance Victoria with search and rescue, casualty retrieval and industrial rescue.
Bendigo SES volunteers work to (educate) prepare and warn Bendigo and surrounding communities with public safety advice and emergency plans. Coordinating emergency preparation and response for flood, storm, tsunami and earthquake is the organisation’s primary role.(Except in Bendigo, statistically our work is primarily storm, road crash rescue and flood – usually in that order. Bendigo will certainly be very unlikely to deal with a tsunami, and earthquakes are very rare.)
“Bendigo State Emergency Service (SES) is made up of (there are no paid staff at Bendigo SES – we are all volunteers) and dedicated volunteers from all ages and backgrounds. Their common link is a desire to work as part of a team that gives back to the community we live in. We’re grateful for the work they do in protecting our community so please consider donating your membership fee to the State Emergency Service – Bendigo Unit when you join or renew your UFS membership. As a unit of 50 members, it is essential that we maintain two rescue trucks and two four wheel drives to ensure our ability to respond in an emergency – we are presently trying to fund the replacement of one four wheel drive, and we also apply any funds towards training and equipping our volunteers to be able to deal with the emergency requirements of our community.
The volunteers at Bendigo SES would like to extend our thanks to the community, and to UFS, for allowing us to benefit from the Building a Healthier Community Program. We truly appreciate being able to dedicate our time to training and skill improvement rather than fundraising.” – Natalie Stanway, Bendigo SES
To our members, keep doing what you’re doing in helping UFS Pharmacies build a healthier community!