Hanover ambulance headache

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) of the Hanover Fire Department is again without the use of its ambulance, which is putting the lives of Hanoverians at serious risk.

According to Head of the Hanover EMS, District Officer Taleeni Francis, the ambulance has been out of service since April 16. As a result, he said, the EMS is unable to respond to medical and trauma calls.

"We are only able to respond to motor vehicle accidents, using the fire truck, and there is little or nothing you can do when you respond to motor vehicle accidents on the fire unit. Because once you start management on a patient and you can't finish, in terms of transporting the patient to an advanced facility where somebody more advanced can take over that patient, then basically you would be abandoning the patient. So we really cannot function that way, without a unit," Francis lamented.

This is not the first time the ambulance has fallen into disrepair. The unit has consistently over the years been out of action for protracted periods. Data from the EMS show that in 2013, the ambulance was out of action for almost the entire year, and was only operational in May and part of September. It returned to action on January 22 this year, and then fell again into disrepair on April 16.

In 2012, for the months of September, November, and December, the ambulance was out of service. In April, the ambulance was in disrepair for 18 days, 24 days in July, 22 in August, and 27 in October. This means for approximately 60 per cent of that year the parish had no ambulance coverage.

EMs demotivated

A Jamaica Fire Brigade document posted on its website notes that: "In order to effectively carry out its duties, each EMS station is to be equipped with a "state-of-the-art ambulance fully equipped with oxygen, suction and other basic life-support equipment".

It also noted that the EMS's responsibilities included responding to road traffic accidents, life threatening trauma, cardiovascular emergencies, unconscious persons, acute respiratory distresses, severe bleeding, obstetric emergencies, and any other medical condition that is life threatening and requires emergency action that is within the scope of the EMS.

But Francis says EMS are getting demotivated as they are unable to execute these duties for which they underwent extensive professional training. He said residents of the parish, especially those in deep rural areas, have also been expressing their disappointment, as they have been unable to access the service to assist in potentially life-threatening situations.

"The most we can advise them to do is to is to try to get to the hospital either by calling the hospital, even though we know the hospital does not respond to house calls of that sort, or try to get a taxi, which in itself is not the best way," Francis explained.

He said the frequency of breakdown of the ambulance was due possibly to its age.

"The ambulance is 14 years old, and (ideally) emergency units should be operational for three years. And then, normally, they are put out of commission in first world countries. This is a 2001 ambulance," he said.

Checks online of ambulance manufacturers showed that the price of a new state-of-the-art Type Two ambulance starts at US$61,992, which is approximately J$6.2 million, while the price for its superior, a Type One ambulance, begins at US$132,439, which is approximately J$13.3 million.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade EMS was established in April 1996, and in the western towns of Savanna-la-Mar, Negril and Ironshore. The Lucea EMS was added in August that year.