Ambulance gets down to business
A new, state of the art St John ambulance has been kept busy since its arrival in Nelson.
The bright yellow ‘‘Generation 2’’ ambulance was blessed at a ceremony at Broadgreen House by St John Nelson area chaplain Barbara Harford last week.
But before the event finished, the ambulance was called to attend an accident in Tahunanui. During its first day of service, the ambulance also attended a cardiac arrest and several other jobs.
St John Nelson Bays territory manager Robbie Blankenstein said a 65-year-old man collapsed in Atawhai on Thursday and members of the public performed CPR and got a defibrillator before the ambulance arrived.
The paramedics took over and the man was taken to Nelson Hospital in a critical condition.
‘‘The case exemplifies the community’s role in these cases, not only by supporting St John to have well trained and equipped staff, but also by stopping to render aid, doing CPR and fetching and using a community AED.’’
The new ambulance cost $186,000 and was funded by the Lion Foundation. Blankenstein said St John received no government funding for new vehicles.
The new ambulance was cheaper than the older models because of its ‘‘smart design’’. It fitted into an existing mini-bus vehicle, whereas St John used to build the ambulances by modifying existing vehicles.
There are five ambulances in the Nelson Bays fleet, located in Nelson, Richmond and Motueka. The arrival of the new ambulance meant an older vehicle would be removed from the fleet and used in another region.
Blankenstein said the new ambulance was equipped with the latest technology which kept staff safe and patients comfortable.
Where two paramedics previously had to lift a patient on a stretcher into an ambulance, the new vehicle was also equipped with a hydraulic stretcher which could lift over 300 kilograms at the touch of a button.
‘‘I do currently have a couple of staff off with back and shoulder injuries, so this is a real bonus here for us.’’
The new ambulances had one stretcher, instead of two like the older ambulances.
‘‘If somebody is very unwell we cannot deal with two people at the same time and over 99 per cent of our cases are one-patient only.’’
Added safety features included automatic braking and sensors that warned the driver if they drifted out of their lane or if someone was in their blind spot.