Sharlene Hellewell will never forget the moment she found out one of her closest friends had died in a road accident on Victoria's Western Highway.
"I just went down screaming, I didn't want to believe it," she said.
Pauline Smith died in a two-car collision last Friday morning, on the highway near Stawell, where she worked as a paramedic.
Ms Smith, who was 53, is survived by her husband Stephen and their three children.
Two friends with lives spent serving
Ms Hellewell and Ms Smith met at the Victoria Police academy in the late 1990s, and after 10-year careers in different divisions they both became patient transport workers at Health Select.
They then went back to university to study, after which Ms Smith became an Ambulance Victoria paramedic and Ms Hellewell a nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Ms Hellewell briefly lived with Ms Smith and her husband, and they built houses across the road from each other in Berwick, in Melbourne's south east.
Ms Smith continued to live in Berwick while working in Stawell.
"She would commute down on her days off, and they had bought a house in Horsham with a view to moving up there long term," Ms Hellewell said.
Ms Hellewell said, like her, the community of Stawell was in mourning, particularly the other paramedics at the local ambulance station.
"She was the prankster, she was always having a laugh, and would give a lending hand to anybody for anything, it didn't matter whether she was struggling behind the scenes.
"It wasn't just Stawell, it was Horsham, where she was stationed after grad year at Ambulance Victoria, and at university.
"Those [paramedics] that attended the actual accident, I don't know how they would even be able to go back to work."
Much loved and respected
In a statement, Victoria Police said the force was "deeply saddened" and offered condolences to the family.
Ambulance Victoria offered similar sentiments, and said support was being offered to Ms Smith's colleagues and co-workers through this difficult time.
Meanwhile, Ms Hellewell has started a crowdfunding page to help her friend's widower and children navigate the coming weeks.
In just a few days, almost 200 people have raised more than $18,000 for them, a level of generosity which Ms Hellewell said was overwhelming.
Ms Hellewell said the Emergency Service and State Super benefit would help pay for the funeral, and so the money raised would go towards paying for the wake and ongoing expenses for the family.
Donors have also shared fond memories of Ms Smith on the GoFundMe page.
Ms Smith's funeral will take place in South Dandenong on June 2.
Investigations into the crash remain ongoing. The other driver involved remains under police guard in hospital.
Ms Smith's is one of 3 road deaths in the Northern Grampians Shire in 2022.
There have been 61 road deaths in regional Victoria this year so far, which is up by 17 compared to this time in 2021 but down 14 compared to this time in 2019.
