Brookton volunteer Cliff Fishlock recognised at awards ceremony for ‘distinguished ambulance career’

A stalwart of the Brookton ambulance service and local community, Cliff Fishlock received the prestigious Ambulance Service Medal at a ceremony this month.

The St John WA Brookton sub-centre volunteer was awarded the medal by Governor Kim Beazley at Government House on April 6, after the recipients were announced on the Australia Day Honours List.

Mr Fishlock received the award for his 40 years of service to St John WA and regional WA communities.

He was the only St John WA volunteer to receive the ASM.

“It’s wonderful to be recognised for the work that you do but of course you don’t do it for this sort of thing,” he said.

“I volunteer with the ambulance service for the community and I just love giving back to the community.

“It’s very nice and humbling when you receive an award like that because it obviously means that someone has nominated me for it, so it’s pretty special.”

This was not the first time the veteran volunteer had been recognised for his community service.

Mr Fishlock was named St John WA volunteer of the year in 1999, he was admitted into the Order of St John in 2010 and promoted to Officer of the Order in 2015.

He volunteers about 100 hours a year across the roles of sub-centre chairman, ambulance officer and development officer.

Mr Fishlock said training young recruits was a special part of his role at the sub-centre.

“I love passing on my knowledge to others,” he said.

“That’s a big special part of my role.

“We have a really good culture at the sub-centre where we get to be a part of a really good team of people of all ages and walks of life.

“It’s important to make everyone feel part of the team and develop a culture that everyone enjoys being a part of.”

St John WA’s award citation praised Mr Fishlock for his “distinguished ambulance career”.

“Cliff has always embraced change within the ambulance service and has supported several initiatives over recent years such as the community paramedic initiative, electronic record keeping, corporate restructures, networking meetings, new clinical skills and equipment, modular training curriculum to name just a few,” it said.

“Cliff is often instrumental in helping to develop changes so that they best serve his community and fellow volunteers.

“His continued commitment to advancing the quality of health care in regional WA is exemplary.”