A story to tell about volunteers

By Rhonda Dredge

A Victorian State Emergency Service (SES) volunteer was almost killed in a car crash and he was across the road from VICSES headquarters on Sturt St just before Easter to talk about his experience.

Andre Ackaoui arrived on crutches for a press conference on road safety out the front of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) with his sorry tale.

The shock message came as motorists prepared to hit the roads for the Easter break.

The trauma survivor spent three hours trapped in his truck on the Hume Freeway at Wallan last year while volunteers talked him through the ordeal.

“Had the guys not been there he would have lost his life,” his mother Nicole said, who was at the media event with grandson Braydon to hammer home the importance of the message.

Mother and son became volunteers for the Road Rescue Team 13 years ago after their house was flooded.

“I felt helpless so we joined the SES. Andre was 17 when he joined,” Nicole said.

The Ackaoui family stood alongside Acting Minster for Police and Emergency Services Danny Pearson and Road Safety Minister Ben Carroll in urging motorists to drive safely over the Easter long weekend.

Volunteers respond to an average of 1300 road crashes each year, they said, and Andre’s story typifies the ordeal experienced by those involved in road trauma.

The unlucky volunteer was driving his tow truck to work at 7.30am during August last year when he ran into the back of another truck on the Hume Freeway.

“I don’t remember how it happened,” he said. “Apparently I was awake the whole time talking to the rescuers.”

He was in a coma for nine days, with a broken jaw, pelvis, ribs, every bone in his left leg and sternum, plus a ruptured bowel and damaged spleen.

“The hardest thing was being in hospital during COVID,” he told Southbank News.

“I saw my partner once for 15 minutes when she brought in my clothes. It was the hardest thing of all.”

To make matters worse, Andre was charged with careless driving and hasn’t been able to work with the SES until he gets a health clearance.

He had no blood alcohol or drug levels at the accident but is philosophical about the charge. “I’m glad to be alive,” he said.

Andre is keen to get back to the Pakenhan Road Rescue Team with his mum. “It’s 100 per cent the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said.

Volunteers train for two hours one day a week and are rostered on a week a month from 6pm until 6am.

They patrol the scene of accidents, look after tools and talk to injured passengers while they wait for an ambulance.

Andre knows what it’s like from both sides of the vehicle •

Caption: Andre Ackaoui down near SES headquarters on Sturt St for a display of rescue methods.