Ambulance

On 1 July, 2008, Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV) and the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) were merged into one service, namely Ambulance Victoria.

Since that date much work has been completed to amalgamate administration and operations of the former country and metropolitan services.

The work horse of Ambulance Victoria consists of a majority of general purpose response vehicles supported by strategically placed Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) units. In addition a core of single officers are able to respond to assist general and MICA members at incidents.

In situations where it is critical to have patients transported to a hospital in the shortest time possible, Ambulance Victoria has access to five helicopters.

Four form part of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), with helicopters based at Bendigo, Essendon Airport, Latrobe Valley and Warrnambool.

A fifth helicopter, based at Essendon Airport, is able to provide support for multiple roles, including the Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (PETS) and Neonatal Emergency Transport Service (NETS). This helicopter is also available to provide services for time critical patients.

A lesser known role by Ambulance Victoria is its Air Ambulance operations, using fixed wing aircraft. Four King Air 200C twin turboprop aircraft are used under a leasing arrangment with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

These aircraft are used to transport patients from rural centres to major hospitals for specialist care or other treatments.