The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
AMBULANCE SERVICE BIDS ADIEU TO ITS CHAMPION, JOHN
JOHN DUGGAN WASTHE AMBULANCE LEAD ON THE ‘97 BENCHMARKING THAT OBTAINED HIGHEST INCREMENT IN THE STATE
HOW many people owe their lives to paramedic John Duggan?
That’s a figure probably hard to quantify given his 35 years’ service to the emergency front-lines in the Kingdom.
In that time, he attended thousands of scenes most people would never wish to contemplate, making the very real difference between life and death for so many.
What was easier to quantify was his extraordinary success representing his colleagues across the ambulance service nationally when he led negotiations for the service under the benchmarking process in 1997.
Along with fellow Kerry service man Brendan Galwey, John succeeded in securing the highest increment any public service attained in the industrial relations process – a rise in the order of 25 per cent on the pay levels the emergency workers then earned.
For all these reasons and much more was his retirement marked with deep feeling by his colleagues across the health service at University Hospital Kerry last week.
It was an event attended by HSE top brass, including the HSE National Director of the Acute Hospitals Division Liam Woods as well as the CEO of the South/Southwest Hospital Group Gerry O’Dwyer.
Also present was John’s long-time friend and colleague, National Ambulance Service Kerry manager Pat O’Callaghan.
Pat said the Lissardboula, Farmer’s Bridge man has been to the forefront of modernising of the ambulance service in Kerry in recent decades – not just in terms of its members’ working conditions, but also in the high level of expertise they all bring to a service Pat describes as ‘five-star’.
For the benchmarking established the structure within the ambulance service that exists today.
And, as the regional trainer for Kerry, North Cork and West Cork in recent times, John has helped all his younger colleagues gain the vital learning and expertise.
“The ‘97 agreement changed the name and structure of the role people had until then known as ‘ambulance driver’ into EMT, emergency medical technician and laid the groundwork for the scale that sees EMTs progress into paramedics and advanced paramedics,” he said.
“Paramedics typically stay local to respond to emergencies. Advanced paramedics, then, are capable of administering 49 different drugs.
“They’re able to give interventions: drips, morphines, phentanyl and so on. They can intubate and extubate, put up drips and, in a really invaluable skill they can use, what’s called an intraosseous needle – straight into the bone when there’s no vein.
“In every shift in Tralee I have eight APs and around four in most of the other five stations of Killarney, Listowel, Dingle, Cahersiveen and Kenmare.
“John was central to that programme and indeed was part of it himself, progressing from EMT to paramedic and advanced paramedic before becoming training officer for the entire region of Kerry, North and West Cork, a role he’s fulfilled for the last seven years.
“We have a five-star service in Kerry, they are all extraordinary, and John can testify to that, the type of calls they respond to can be very stressful, even for those who are professional. But we have a great group and we are united in what we do. I can never say enough for them, they never say no to any situation and respond to all the calls in all conditions. And that’s testament in a large degree to the leadership of the likes of John.
“It really is a heart-rending moment for the service, saying goodbye to such a cherished colleague. We say it is always very hard to replace a person, and that’s especially so in John’s case because of the experience he brought with him through the disciplines he worked in as a member and as an officer.”
One litmus test of the professionalism of the 96-strong Kerry ambulance service has been its record to date through what has been its darkest hour – the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tasked from an early stage with testing for COVID-19, the ambulance service had also, of course, to largely take nearly every call as a potential COVID-19 one, requiring great courage of its members at a time when the news was a grim barrage of the catastrophe in Northern Italy.
Pat said it was a testament to the professionalism and courage of the service here that they continued in their duty with stoic determination. He said they were lucky in having been able to operate with the appropriate PPE from the getgo (stocks were there since the Ebola scare of 2014), but that the professionalism of the staff, all trained by John, made the difference in one essential way.
“We have had no case in the National Ambulance Service of Kerry. Not one of our staff contracted the disease. Two members dealt with a case which turned out to be COVID before the thing had really hit in Ireland and were put off for the 14 days but didn’t contract it, luckily. The fact we have had no case is due to the care and vigilance of the staff themselves.”
The service men and women were also appreciative of Mr Woods’ contribution to their special leave-taking day for John last week. Mr Woods spoke highly of the Farmer’s Bridge man and his stalwart service to healthcare in the State, and was also deeply impressed with the new ambulance centre at UHK – which, just as with John Duggan’s work, has brought the service in Kerry into the 21st Century.