Beryl’s ambulance rescues her
‘‘I had never been in an ambulance or broken a bone before donating Dobegoo’’, Warkworth resident Beryl Good laughs.
It was only three months after the north Auckland couple, Beryl and Doug, donated the ambulance Dobegoo (their names combined) to St John, that Beryl had her first accident which required an ambulance.
Last year the Goods won a raffle from St John and decided to give back and donate a $180,000 ambulance.
In November the ambulance was blessed and put to use. On March 17, it picked up Beryl after she slipped on her freshly painted front door area and cut open her chin and broke her radius bone.
‘‘I was very surprised and excited when I saw Dobegoo turn up to take me to North Shore Hospital. I was impressed with how the stretcher turned into a chair when we arrived at the hospital and how wonderful the young ladies were treating and driving me.’’
This was Beryl’s first time she had ever been in an ambulance, or broken a bone at 71 years old.
‘‘My husband (86) and I have never needed an ambulance but we always knew how important they were, especially with how fast our community is growing. It was a joke really when Dobegoo turned up,’’ she says.
‘‘When I got picked up I was surprised it had already done 32,000km.’’
Beryl says she had quite an adventure going for her first ride.
‘‘I had always hoped I would never need to go in an ambulance, let alone the one we bought.
‘‘Buying the ambulance has been worth a lot more than the cost, the pleasure we have had from people saying how it has helped them has been really rewarding. I met one lady who said she had been in Dobegoo five times.’’
The Goods live by the station and say they hear how often the alarms go off which gave them the motivation to donate.
‘‘I am thankful we have these services and I believe more people should donate to St John.’’
Paramedic Phil Marlow says they were very grateful.
‘‘The new ambulance is a little different from the previous ones, it is a lot smaller and has an electronic bed which helps us and saves our backs from lifting people into the ambulance.
‘‘We currently are doing around 10,000km in Dobegoo a month.’’