Bigga volunteer Denise Perry and Goulburn's Michelle Rawlinson were named as finalists for the 2020 Rotary Districts of NSW Emergency Services Community Awards.
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Ms Perry is a volunteer community first responder with the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) and NSW Ambulance and Ms Rawlinson is a volunteer project support coordinator with NSW Ambulance.
Ms Perry said she was humbled to hear of the nomination.
"I wasn't expecting it at all," she said.
With 17 years as a community first responder Ms Perry has dedicated most of her life to saving others. She shares her successes as well as her losses with the rural village of around 300 people as the licensee of the Federal Hotel.
"We often get people pop into the pub. If we deem they don't need to go to the hospital, we will bandage them up, and they go on their way.
"It is a reward to see people up and about and healthy after they have had something terrible happen to them. I've had some sad days, last year we had a little string of tragic things happen which were well known to each other."
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In 2019, Ms Perry lost a close friend and then the community lost 91-year-old Trevor Picker in a multi-vehicle car accident he was known to Ms Perry for around 20 years.
Bigga is around 58 kilometres from the nearest ambulance station, and Ms Perry is often first on the scene to administer life-saving treatment at car, bike, and farm accidents.
"It was a necessity out here in an isolated area," she said.
She also helped raise money to provide life-saving equipment to the town, $14,000 was raised for a defibrillator and equipment to administer oxygen.
The Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott announced the finalists on August 25.
He said, "As a state, we are hugely indebted to all our emergency services men and women. We should never take for granted their commitment to protecting us and it is important that we acknowledge the unsung heroes who repeatedly go above and beyond."
"The past year has been an exceptionally challenging one for our community, and this is an appropriate time to pause, reflect and congratulate the individual emergency services for the service that they have provided," Mr Elliot said.
The community-nominated award is for all emergency services personnel, both paid and volunteer. There are finalists from Fire and Rescue NSW, the NSW Rural Fire Service, the NSW State Emergency Service, Marine Rescue NSW, Surf Life Saving NSW, NSW Ambulance, and the NSW Volunteer Rescue Association.
The winners for each service, plus two overall winners, and the young volunteer will be announced at an awards ceremony on October 30.
The overall winners will then represent NSW at the national awards on November 23.
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