Responding swiftly to genuine emergencies is what the officers at Saint John Ambulance (SJA) do best. As busy as the Eater period can get, the nights can be a handful with callers calling in to seek for ambulance transportation to the hospitals.
Ambulance officers attended to cases all over the city all of last night to dawn, including four cases with one patient experiencing Shortness of Breath (SOB) case, a trauma case, a severe sour throat case and a Respiratory Viral Infections (RVI) case that can be associated with a wide range of clinical manifestations.
Despite with only six ambulances on the road and two officers per ambulance, the team responded promptly to the first SOB case which was a female in her 40’s. The team immediately put her on oxygen and rushed to the Gerehu General Hospital (GGH).
The team was than dispatched to 9 Mile Bush Wara area to attend to their second emergency call, a trauma case. A male aged between his 30’s-40 was assisted immediately by the officers and transported to the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH).
The male patient lost a lot of blood due to a drunk assault. He was stabbed by his wife after acting all rowdy, which caused her to act out of rage and stabbed him with a knife on his leg. But being under the influence of alcohol, the SJA officers advised the care takers that he won’t be attended too and treated immediately due to having alcohol in his system.
A patient who is under the influence of alcohol waits for at least 3 to 4 hours before the nurses or doctors can attend to him or her.
Going beyond the city limits to provide substantial medical services, the team dashed off to Goldie Barracks around 1am to attend to their 3rd case.
The patient suffered from a sore throat and was rushed to GGH. The officers mentioned that this could be a possible mouth cancer case if not treated early. Ending off the night was a painful site of the RVI case. The patient who is in her 20’s expressed agony as she was rushed to the PMGH.
The patient who is on ART treatment for HIV/AIDS said that she did not have any medications due to it been finished. She expressed pain throughout her whole body and shortness of breath as well.
The patient had NIL care takers due to her family not wanting to hop on the ambulance with the team to take her to the hospital. Even so, the officers safely rushed her to PMGH and was left at the Emergency department.