International St John training saves mother
Ghanzi Kaito recognised the signs immediately – the woman was bleeding out.
Starved of blood, her heart rate would increase rapidly, before giving out.
Rushing to Port Moresby General Hospital in Papua New Guinea, Ghanzi Kaito looked about the ambulance for oxytocin, the hormone that would save her life.
His training in Palmerston North one year prior had taught him she wouldn’t survive without it.
The mother Kaito was treating had given birth two hours earlier when he arrived at her village in the Central Province of Vanapa. She was suffering severe, uncontrolled post-partum bleeding caused by a retained placenta.
In childbirth, oxytocin is naturally released, closing the uterus after the placenta has been passed, but her body didn’t release the hormone.
It took the emergency team four hours to transport her to hospital, where she survived thanks to Kaito’s clinical judgement and understanding of how the drug would interact with the patient’s haemorrhaging.
Seeing one of his students save a life based on the training they received from New Zealand paramedics was heartwarming, Byron Williams, St John clinical support officer in Palmerston North, said.
Under Williams, Kaito had been taught how to administer the hormone, to understand what the drug would do and recognise the signs of post-partum haemorrhaging, a common cause of maternal fatalities in Papua New Guinea.
Williams, the project lead on the Papua New Guinea New Zealand Diploma for first responders, said training international St John staff at New Zealand standards would give countries a leg up, especially in developing nations.
Four students, including Kaito, travelled from Papua New Guinea to Palmerston North for the first instalment of the project, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spending more than 30 operational ambulance shifts over three months training.
Kaito learned theory and good practice from the Manawatu¯ team, solidifying his classwork by treating more than 100 patients alongside experienced paramedics from taki to Whanganui.
Having a clinical understanding of treatments was one of the course’s cornerstones, Williams said.
‘‘That’s really the goal of the course, so patients weren’t just given medication because a book says give that medication, but actually have that understanding of how everything is interlinked.
‘‘It’s really good because it shows what they’ve learned here they’ve put into practice. You know that some of their colleagues will be thinking about it and learning from it too and that’s what we want.
‘‘We want to help people. One person can only help so many, but being able to teach someone to help others will help a lot more.’’
Williams hoped more exchanges would happen soon, but following the Covid-19 pandemic, there was no knowing when border restrictions would be eased to make it possible.