Video Transcription
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Hi, I’m Chloe Edwards. I’m in Byron Bay for Red Frogs, and we are here helping the schoolies this week.
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Have a great night!
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So, um, last night me and the team were out just walking the streets. We were walking along the beach and chatting with different groups of schoolies. We started to notice quite big groups of kids heading in one direction.
We thought, “Oh, let’s follow along and maybe see where we end up—see if we end up at a party or if they’ll let us in anywhere.” As we kept walking, it was getting further and further away. These groups were wandering, and we’d heard rumours throughout the week about a bit of a party at the beach in the bush.
So, we trekked out to the beach, climbing over the sand dunes and following the kids with their flashlights. We hadn’t even taken more than two steps into the party before a guy came running out towards us. He was like, “Oh, the Red Frogs! You need to help us—our mate needs help!”
We were talking to some other kids. I was chatting with some schoolies, just having a good conversation. Once I finished, I saw this dude just roll out of the bushes, completely out of it—eyes rolling back into his head. He was completely unresponsive.
I went up to the guy and said, “Are you all right?” but there was no response at all. He was just reaching into the air, completely out of it. So, we were able to immediately get him away, call an ambulance, and stay with his friends to be a calming presence. We made sure he was safe until the ambulance and police arrived.
We managed to get his friends to pick him up. Now, he wasn’t a small dude—he was like 110-115 kg, over six feet tall. Not a small guy. Getting him out of the bushes and onto the sand, somewhere safer, was a challenge because he couldn’t stand at all.
It was also this amazing twist of timing, with everything being set up just right. We had our team call our team leaders, and they arrived on the scene at the same time as the police and ambulance.
But because of where we were—tucked away about 200-300 meters from the car park in the beach bush—the dispatchers on the phone hadn’t been able to place where we were. Thankfully, we all had each other’s locations on the app. Our team arriving at the same time as the police helped lead them and the ambulance to where we were and to where the schoolie needed help.
They were able to get him to safety and make sure he was okay. It was just this amazing thing—if we hadn’t been wandering along, we might not have ended up at that party, or at that party at that time, when those boys came out needing help.
Justin Payne: I’m Justin Payne, the Senior Operation Supervisor for the Special Events Planning Group for the Queensland Ambulance Service.
During the time I’ve been involved with Schoolies, particularly over the last eight years as a commander, I’ve found that the rapport that’s been built with the Red Frogs team and the school leavers gives us a foot in the door.
Often, we’re finding out about incidents before they become more significant. Knowing that organizations like the Red Frogs are there to assist us gives us peace of mind. They actually form part of our risk matrix in ensuring we have access to school leavers on a greater scale.
I do believe there would be a lot of cases where patients would be in a worse condition upon arrival if it weren’t for the Red Frogs. They’ve been able to advocate to friends within the room and insist that an ambulance is required. Getting there sooner is always better than not getting there at all.
It’s such a privilege to get to do what we do—to perform such a practical, tangible act of serving and loving others in a way where you might never see the results, but you know that, hopefully, you’ve been able to do even just one little thing.
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