Graham Milner isn’t a loudly spoken man.
He is a huge part of the Benalla community, part of the Lions Club and other community groups, but has also spent 13 years with the State Emergency Service in the region, and also volunteers with the Amber Community — formerly known as Road Trauma Support Services Victoria.
When the call comes through for volunteers to respond to a serious incident such as a road collision, there’s a high chance it’s someone Mr Milner knows.
“It’s hard to handle,” he said.
He’s had it happen.
Mr Milner was part of a response crew cutting someone out of a truck that collided with a tree — a someone, who once they pulled him from the wreckage of the truck, he recognised.
But regardless of whether he knows the person involved, Mr Milner said it was a strain on emergency service workers and volunteers, both at the scene and when they get home.
“All call-outs where there’s a major trauma, you get home and you really don’t think about much else,” he said.
“You’re lucky to get some sleep that night.
“We can go to an incident and on scene we’ll have the fireys, the police, the ambos and the effect on all those people caused by one incident — it’s horrific.
“The mental effects of attending a major incident ... we’re fortunate that we have the peer support to sit down with us sometime and go through the procedure of opening up and letting people know how we’re feeling.”
Mr Milner has volunteered with the Amber Community for a decade, trying to encourage people — some who attend sessions at the behest of the court system — to stay safe on the roads.
He made the plea again on Wednesday in Shepparton, speaking alongside other emergency service workers and volunteers.
He encouraged anyone who had been a victim of road trauma to call Amber Community on 1300 367 797 to seek counselling.