May 9, 2022
A massive fundraising effort by a small community led to a special presentation to the Proston Ambulance on Saturday morning.
The Proston Local Ambulance Committee (LAC) began fundraising in November last year to buy a Raizer lifting chair for use by local QAS paramedics.
Acting officer-in-charge at Proston Ambulance Station, Kim Urquhart, said the battery-operated, mobile device could lift a person weighing up to 150kg off the ground into a seated position, from where they can be easily transferred into an ambulance.
She said the device was necessary because Proston paramedics respond to jobs as solo officers, and were not allowed to try to lift a fallen person by themselves.
In the past, they have had to wait for up to an hour for back-up from another station such as Murgon or Kingaroy.
“It’s all about safety,” she said. “Safety for us and safety for the patient.”
The Proston Ambulance Station covers a huge area and can respond to jobs as far away as Mundubbera, Monogorilby and Chinchilla.
There are two permanent officers based at the station and two 4WD ambulances.
Proston LAC president David Hunter said when they heard about the need, they sprung into action to raise the $5500 necessary to buy the chair.
“We were allowing 12 months to raise it, but we did it two months!” he said.
David had a special thank you for John Welsh, publican of the Golden Spurs Hotel.
When the fundraising paused with about $1400 to go, John stepped up and the hotel contributed the remainder.
About the same time, the former Hivesville Markets organising committee wound up and offered the LAC $1000.
David said this money would be put towards their next fundraising project.
Major donations for the Raizer chair were received from the Golden Spurs Hotel $1484, Proston Lions Club $1000, Proston Golf Club $620, Proston SPAR Supermarket $500, Proston Towing $500 and Hivesville Fuel $250.
Individual sponsors also stumped out amounts ranging from $5 to $200.
David presented thank you certificates to all the fundraisers.
Kim said the Proston LAC was the largest in the Darling Downs QAS region and one of the largest in the State.
