New for the ambulance

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 677, 11 March 1997, Page 12

New for the ambulance

T he Waimarino hasanewStJohn Ambulance officer, 25-year old Sarah Smith, a registered comprehertsi ve nurse who, until she was appointed to the position in December, lived in Ranganui and worked as an ambulance officer. in Wanganui. She took over from Neil Lietz who left the district in late November. After qualifying as a registered comprehensive nurse in Taranaki she spent the next two and ahalf years as a volunteer St John Ambulance officer in Wanganui, also working at a psychiatric unit in W anganui , unti l she j oined the permanent staff in May last year. She shares the roster with Phillip Beer and has six volunteers from the local community she can call on, when she is on duty. Two of these volunteers are male, the other four female and

two are from Raetihi, the other four from Ohakune. While on duty Sarah carries a pager when she is away from her Queen Street, Raetihi station and responds to emergency calls through the St John Ambulance regional control room in Palmerston North. The Waimarino' s northem boundary for ambulance services is the Makatote V iaduct but she will respond to emergencies beyond that, such as she did on the day of the Raurimu shootings on Saturday 8 February when calls for assistance came from T aumarunui . She travelled to Raurimu with one of the local volunteers. When the Waimarinobased ambulance is out of the area attending emergencies or transporting patients to hospital, the other St John ambulance in Waiouru is assigned to cover. The ambulance she drives is well equipped to deal with most emergen-

cies. It has on board a variety of monitoring and stabilising devices including a KED (to extricate injured occupants out of a motor vehicle while ensuring the patient's spine, neck and head are immobilised), a defribrillator, a heart monitor, nitrous oxide, bandages, stretchers, splints, etc. In addition to her nursing qualifications Sarah also holds a St John Ambulance proficiency grade certificate which is the first step in the ladder up to become an intravenous and cardiac care officer (such as Phillip Beer) and then an advanced care officer or paramedic. The St John Ambulance was contracted to provide these services when Crown Health Enterprises took over from Area Health Boards some three years ago. It provides the quickest access to medical facilities, local GP' s, hospitals, health care and maternity services,

Sarah Smith but is quite separate from them. They are not part of either Good Health Wanganui or the Waimarino Health Centre. And, while there is no charge for the use of an ambulance resulting from an accident (this being covered by ACC), medical emergencies which require a patient to be transported to a hospital are liable to a call-out charge ($45) unless they are covered by the Emergency Ambulance Scheme (EAS) costing $30 per year which is less than a single call-out charge.

This scheme entitles the insured person, partner and all children living at the same address to free transport to hospital for medical emergencies. The local St John Ambulance service is seeking to recruit more volunteers and a recruiting drive will be held soon. The minimum requirement is a St John First Aid Certificate. If you are interested in becoming a St John Ambulance volunteer you can ring 0800 102 1 1 1 for details.