During her ten years of employment at the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service, Melanie Carter has worked with the oral health team initially as a casual in Hervey Bay and later in a permanent role in Maryborough.

The Senior Administration Officer said after receiving a staff email around two years ago, her desire to put her name forward to help with any events that may occur was motivated by her husband’s experience in the program when he assisted during Cyclone Larry.

She thought this would be something interesting, and with a son aged 28 and daughter 19, she felt she didn’t need to be at home, so applied.

“I had to do a lot of training online, just basically going through all legislations, code of conduct and everything like that,” she said.

It was when flash flooding from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred impacted Hervey Bay in March that Melanie was called to assist.

“At first they wanted me to go to North Queensland and then they rang me and asked if I would do the Hervey Bay one,” Melanie said.

“The flooding happened on the Sunday and we all turned up at the Hervey Bay Community Recovery Hub on the Wednesday, so we got together really quickly.”

Melanie explained there were about 13 employees from various government departments and employment agencies sharing the shifts.

“It was very daunting at first. We arrived at the library, got given laptops, had a half hour of training and then the doors opened,” she said.

“We were at the library along with staff from Lifeline, Red Cross, insurance companies, Department of Housing and Services Australia.

“It was basically a one-stop shop. We processed people’s claims from the state government, then we worked out if they needed to see anyone else in the hub.

“It was nice to be able to help, sad and nice at the same time.

“We did send a lot to Red Cross and Lifeline because a lot of them did need extra assistance.”

As a resident of Urangan Melanie knew how flood affected the area was and how much water had come through her own house.

She said it was hard to hear what people had experienced, especially those who were already disadvantaged living in caravan parks and losing their caravan and annex.

There were others who lived in units and lost their power, cars and mobility scooters stored in the flooded underground car parks.

Melanie said her experience helped her to feel more connected with the community in Hervey Bay.

“It’s not that I had the damage that a lot of them did have, but I understood where they lived and how they were impacted,” she said.

“I had been questioning my role in what I do as a public servant.

“My family has always worked in government and I thought, what do I do as a public servant?

“So, I think this was about finding a way of getting back into the community. I know it sounds cliche, but hopefully I've been able to give something back.

“I’d love for my team to do it as well. I’m going to encourage them to be involved in the future.

“It was nice to feel like I was doing something and helping somebody, even if it was only just for one day.

“I walked away and thought, yeah, I made that person's five minutes a little bit better than when they came in.

“But yeah, it was worth it - 100% I’d do it again.”