Ambulance Victoria (AV) Auxiliaries have a proud history of fundraising and advocating for their local ambulance services, dating back more than 100 years.
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, AV is celebrating one woman who is ensuring that legacy continues in Lakes Entrance – Avis Salisbury.
Avis is president of the Lakes Entrance Ambulance Auxiliary and, in just seven years of involvement, has been instrumental in re-activating the auxiliary and re-engaging the community.
“About three years ago, the president and secretary at the time were stepping down and there were only two of us who wanted to keep going,” Avis said.
“With the support of the local team managers as well as AVs auxiliaries team, we ran an information night and everyone that was there joined up to the auxiliary.
“Now, we have about 10 people and it’s a really wonderful group.”
Avis became a member of the auxiliary in 2018, a few years after moving to Gippsland from Melbourne.
It wasn’t long before she established one of the Lakes Entrance Ambulance Auxiliary’s most enduring and successful fundraising initiatives – regular raffle nights.
“It was my second meeting with the Auxiliary and they were talking about how to raise funds,” Avis said.
“My husband works at the Waterwheel Beach Tavern and they have Friday night raffles, so I suggested we could get involved.
“Before I even blink my eyes, the auxiliary president says ‘great, you do it, you organise it, moving right along’, and that’s how I was thrown into it.
“We started the raffle nights at the start of 2019 and now we’re doing them every four weeks.
“It’s been a wonderful fundraiser for the Auxiliary and people in the community get to know us because we’re locals, so they know where their money is going.”
Avis said the community is always at the forefront of everything the auxiliary does.
“We raise funds for all sorts of things, from additional equipment for the ambulances to extra training for the local paramedics,” Avis said.
“At the moment, we’re mainly concentrating on getting more 24/7 publicly accessible Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs).
“What we do is always with the aim to improve the service to the community.”
