St John coping despite ‘exceptional demands’
St John have pre-empted the onslaught of winter illnesses and Covid-19 cases across the country by setting up a national system monitoring staff workloads.
Temuka-based paramedic Steve Atkinson said St John and the wider health sector anticipated an increase in winter illnesses following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, particularly flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), on top of the ongoing Omicron outbreak.
‘‘In response, St John stood up a small Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to monitor workload across the country, adding or moving resources as required to meet demand,’’ Atkinson said.
‘‘Our own people and their dependants have of course also been susceptible to winter illness too, so staff wellbeing remains a key priority for St John.’’
He said it’s been an ‘‘exceptionally demanding’’ couple of years for everyone in the health system with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said winter arrived in force this year, with the flu, Covid-19 and respiratory illnesses putting increasing pressure on the health system, including St John Ambulance.
‘‘In South-Canterbury we’ve been fortunate that while demand has been busy because of winter illness, we haven’t been overwhelmed.
‘‘As a close-knit team we all support each other, and cover shifts if there’s likely to be gaps due to staff illness.’’
Atkinson said while high demand during winter is not at all unusual, it has come earlier than predicted right across the country in 2022.
‘‘Our ambulance data for Timaru shows that incident call volumes for the combined months of April, May and June are up about 8.5% compared to last year.
‘‘The winter demand is likely to continue through to spring, especially as more people travel domestically and internationally.
‘‘We’re also expecting a second wave of Omicron to hit over the coming weeks,’’ Atkinson said.
‘‘Paramedics uphold an incredibly high standard of clinical practice, and there’s been significant system-wide improvements in recent times, culminating in the introduction of paramedic registration in New Zealand in 2021 – as well as: double crewing of all emergency ambulances, the introduction of extended care paramedics, a review of the role that our critical care workforce plays in delivering improved patient outcomes; and other developments in patient pathways that ensure the right care at the right time,’’ he said.
‘‘I believe the future of paramedicine is only going to continue to improve, especially within St John, which plays an integral role in New Zealand’s health sector, providing emergency ambulance services, community health, and youth leadership programmes across the country,’’ Atkinson said.
St John, in reassuring that everyone will receive the emergency and acute care they need, is also calling on people to be winter-ready by preventing the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses by keeping up healthy habits (mask wearing, physical distancing, washing hands etc), staying home if you have a respiratory illness (even if it isn’t Covid-19), getting the flu jab and making sure you are upto-date with other vaccinations and prepare a winter wellness kit (for when you, a friend or family member become ill and need to stay home).