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Velda Mitchell is familiar with the term frontline — having worked in the Army Reserves and now at Echuca Regional Health’s emergency department. As she explained to CHARMAYNE ALLISON, the same principles apply. NOT many passions take you from the frontlines of the Army Reserves to ground zero of a hospital in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic. But for Echuca’s Velda Mitchell, paperwork and people — the two pursuits closest to her heart — have done that and so much more. After years as a clerk in the 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse and later the 8/7 Battalion R.V.R., she transferred to another high-pressure setting — Echuca Regional Health’s emergency department. But while it’s a whole new battlefront, Velda said the same principles applied when fighting COVID-19. “My time in the reserves taught me skills I still use to this day,” she said. “It taught me organisation and the importance of following processes and procedures. “I just like that as a ward clerk, I can provide people with admin support so they can do their job. “And I love dealing with people all the time.” Born in England, Velda was just three years old when she moved to Australia with her family — her parents, plus seven brothers and one sister. Her dad was in the Navy, so they moved around quite a bit throughout the years. After graduating school, Velda worked at an office in Richmond and for horse trainers in the Macedon Ranges before getting married and starting a family.
However, after her first marriage broke down in 1990, Velda found herself “at a loose end”. “That’s when my family suggested I join the reserves,” she said. “At that time, I had three brothers in the Army Reserves — the defence force was a family thing.” She still reflects on joining the reserves as the best decision she ever made. Velda had progressed to her corporal training in 1993 when she met her now-husband Steve Mitchell and they moved to his hometown of Echuca. That same year, Velda started working part-time for ERH as a personal carer at Glanville Village, while also juggling a part-time gig as clerk for the 8/7 Battalion in Shepparton. But after six years in the reserves, Velda made the tough decision to pack away her army uniform for the last time. “Steve and I had eight kids between us, so by the time the children became teenagers it was getting harder and harder to balance everything,” she said. “I was doing my sergeant’s training at the time, so it was a difficult decision — but I knew it was the right one.” After several years with Glanville, Velda was ready for a change. So in 2005, she transferred to become a ward clerk with ERH’s emergency department. Throughout the past 15 years, she’s watched the ED grow to the point ERH clerks are now providing 24-hour coverage. >>
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