Calling an ambulance when time is crucial
IF YOU’VE ever called an ambulance for a loved one, you’ll know all too well how excruciating it is to wait for help to arrive; minutes feel like hours.
And, with South Africa’s current response times not where they should be, the wait can also be detrimental to the person in need of assistance.
Every second counts in medical emergencies. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, after just five minutes without oxygen, brain cells start to die, and every minute thereafter 10% more die, with complete brain death occurring within 14 minutes.
Stroke victims lose the use of two million brain cells every two minutes, and arterial bleeds can result in death in mere minutes.
CEO of AURA, South Africa’s on-demand security and medical response platform, Warren Myers, said the current response landscape was falling far short of delivering a vital service that all South Africans deserved.
The Gauteng Department of Health reports that the current average response time for an ambulance in Gauteng ranges from 30 to 60 minutes, well short of the international standard of seven minutes for life-threatening calls.
“To make matters worse, there are a few numbers a person can call in a medical emergency, complicating the process for the person who is already under pressure to help someone and help them fast.
“You can call 10111 or 10177, 112 from any cellphone. Some private health insurance providers have their own medical emergency numbers,” he said.
Myers added that current technology has huge potential to improve emergency response times for all and streamline the process of getting help.
“With the introduction of smart technology into the emergency response sector, the outdated practice of phoning an ambulance, explaining the nature of the emergency, as well as your exact location, and then waiting for the agent to dispatch a vehicle, can be simplified to a single touch of a panic button.
“The AURA platform does all the hard work for you – pinpointing your location and using a connected device installed in the response vehicles, ensuring that the closest vetted private ambulance is dispatched to you, saving precious time. Think of it like Uber for ambulances,” said Myers.
Reuben Ruiters, Gauteng EMS Director: Operations, said there were various categories of calls for which response times differed.
“We have P1 calls where the response time is under 30 minutes. This could be 60 minutes in rural areas. The continued attacks on paramedics and robberies also affect the response times,” he said.
Shalen Ramduth, national operations director of Netcare 911, said medical emergencies tended to happen unexpectedly, and it was crucial to know what to do in a crisis. .
“In emergency medicine, we aim to
get the right kind of medical attention for the patient as soon as possible. The sooner a person with a critical injury or medical condition is attended to by trained emergency medical services personnel, the better their chances of survival,” he said.
During the panic of a medical emergency, people often cannot remember the correct number to call or cannot find where they have written it down, which can waste precious time when a life hangs in the balance.
“The GPS feature provides Netcare 911 with your exact location, which assists them to dispatch help to the right place, first time, reducing response times.”
Netcare 911 ambulances are also equipped with a navigation system with real-time traffic monitoring that guides the driver to the scene where they are needed in the shortest possible time.
Netcare 911’s response time for most medical emergencies in a metropolitan area is less than 15 minutes.
ER24’S Russel Meiring said there were several factors that contributed to a potential delay in response times for emergency vehicles.
“These can include traffic, road conditions, vehicles unavailable due to other emergencies, incorrect addresses and location, etc. In areas where ER24 cannot be adequately represented, we do make use of alternative service providers to ensure that the patient receives the correct medical attention
as quickly as possible.
“Response times differ due to the times of the day as well as whether the patient is in an urban or rural location. Priority may also be given to more urgent cases, where the patient requires urgent medical intervention,” he said.
Meiring added that there were several things that the community, as well as motorists can do that would decrease the response time of emergency vehicles.
“Ensuring that the correct location/ address of the patient is given, with as much detail as possible. This would aid medics in quickly locating the patient to avoid delays from looking for the patient or caller in a broader area.
“When driving, make way for emergency vehicles. All too frequently, we see that motorists do not make way for emergency vehicles, which could cause a delayed response.
“This includes using the emergency lane for unauthorised use. These lanes are intended for emergency situations, allowing for the emergency services to respond quickly to emergency situations,” he said.
Meiring said they had seen attacks on emergency services rise in the past few years. This was due to paramedics being seen as a “soft” target.
¡ For more information on how you can get an Aura-powered emergency response service, visit our partner page https://www.aura. services/our-partners/.