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About Me
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2014
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August
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- Volleyballer Realizes Dream
- Under 17’s Take A Bow
- MAD No Longer In Sports
- Karateka ‘Masters’ Honoured
- Commercial B-ball ‘Double’ Tonight
- Unemployment In Paradise
- St. Jude, We Cry For You - Pt1.
- MLK’s ‘Dream’ Unfulfilled
- King - Frederick: The Facts
- He Soared Exultingly .....But The Wings came off
- Disagreeing Without Being Disagreeable
- Another Failed Escapade
- A Threat To All
- Top Magazine Features Ladera Hotelier
- THE GREAT BOOK RUSH Schools Re-open On Monday
- Search On For Dead Police Officer’s Gun
- Piton Film Festival
- New Sandals Regional Director In St. Lucia
- Lions help Four Needy Students
- LIME’s EC $2.7b. Fight Back $35m. Investment For S...
- Lewis Heads Team To Look At Economic Citizenship
- La Rose Today
- ‘Distillers’ Spend $30,000 On Education
- Digicel Gives Away $
- CSEC Pass Rate Up However, Concerns Remain
- Consumers Complain About Higher Electricity Bills
- C.F.L. Praises Farmers
- 29 Students Get Summer Jobs with LUCELEC
- Suzie Agnes-Ida d’Auvergne SLMH, CMG
- Remote Participation
- Is Your Data Secure?
- A Baby...... Against All Odds
- The Political Stalemate
- Have Flambeaus Lit Frederick’s Fuse?
- ECONOMIC REVIVIAL - The Debate We Should Be having
- REDEMPTION!
- More Blackheart Warm-ups
- B-ball In South
- Confronting Ebola
- WASCO Asked To Clean Up Its Act
- United And Strong Has New Logo
- Taiwan $ For e-Gov’t System
- SSU ‘Cop’ Dies After Accident
- Number Of LUCELEC Scholars Swells To 25
- More Showers Forecast For Today
- LOCK OUT!
- 3 Get Digicel Cash
- South Coast League Tonight
- GOALS GALORE IN YOUTH LEAGUE
- Commercial B-Ball Tomorrow
- Blackheart Play Offs Tomorrow
- Remembering Chrystal
- Red Cross Launches Free Life-Saving Mobile App For...
- Keep It In Your Pants
- Is Ice Bucket Challenge A Waste Of Water?
- Commercial Court To Boost Competitiveness
- ‘YES’ TO FREE MOVEMENT
- SEDU Outreach In Dennery
- P.M. Sees Economic Rebound Says Priority To Protec...
- Gov’t Claims Victory vs. Grynberg
- Digicel Gives Away $500 A Day
- Track Your Money
- Adopting a baby?
- Valley Soccer Camp Huge Success
- Swimmers Win 19 Medals In Suriname
- St. Lucia Hosts U-12 Tennis
- ST. LUCIA U-17 WIN
- No More Drawing Boards
- Bocas Win Rigobert Netball In Micoud
- Blackheart Win For Mon Repos
- St. Lucia Loses Out
- Skirting The Issues Again
- MP Dug His Own Grave
- Mary Francis’ Truth
- Kamla Is Right Joint Regional Action Vital To Ensu...
- Is The IMF Satan?
- Can Lloyd Make A Difference?
- Restoring St. Lucia
- ‘Sultry Six’ For Miss Gros Islet
- South Running Out Of Burial Space
- OECS Nationals Can Stay Here Forever
- New Dance Music Single from Chrycee!
- LUCELEC Scholar Excels At SPISE
- Frederick: ‘I Was In For It’ Says Expulsion From U...
- C.S.A. MEETS G.N.T. TUES.
- Bankers Donate Dialysis Machine To St. St. Jude
- Axcel Appoints Country Manager
- Alleged Cop Killer’s Prison Lifestyle In Question
- ‘How About Some Techbooks?
- Your Guide To The Effective Use Of Computer Techno...
- What Every Parent Should Know About Their Child
- The Night When Radio In St.Lucia Changed Forever
- Storm Watch
- Youth Olympics Tough on St. Lucia
- Youth Football Goalfeast Continues
- South Basketball On
- Just Plain‘Suzie’
- WVENT-Talking The Talk
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- P.M. Lauds Judge Suzie
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August
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5 comments:
We need a unit within the fire department just for paramedics, fire fighters should not be handling those calls with just basic EMT training we need advance life support paramedics on board ambulances. Nothing will change though.
Well the chickens keep returning home to roost. I am not surprised at the continues plunders which happens before, during and after response to an emergency call here in Saint Lucia. After-all it is now a legal requirement for all Emergency Persons on board ambulances responding to emergency calls to be licensed to provide emergency care.
After discussions with the Allied Health Council in Saint Lucia it was shocking to learn that there are only 6 licensed EMT/EMT practitioners here in Saint Lucia and mandatory requirement as per the Allied Health Practitioners Act No. 33 of 2006.
Currently not one of the so called EMTs at the Saint Lucia Fire Service have a license to practice on board ambulances or in that field.
It is indeed sad to know that in the year 2009 the act came into enforcement and many continue to break the law in that regard. So I ask the questions why do these incidents continue to receive the needed level of expertise. Yes the fire department maybe overwhelmed due to limited resources human, technical, and training even those training persons at the fie department lacks the internationally accepted standard to teach such training.
So victims of such emergencies will continue to suffer until such issues are addresses seriously. This brings to mind a emergency at Ciceron some years ago when a female citizen called for an ambulance for her ill brother despite his alcoholic history, when the Fire Service personnel arrived they simiply said that he was just drunk, helped back into bed from where he was found seated outside his house under a tree and the ambulance persons returned to thier station. 30 minitues later they were called back to the same residence where this time the victim was now dead, later that evening the Chief Fire Officer appeared in the local news applauding his men's performances as having performed remarkably in the management of the victim.
If I am not mistaken only Doctors can say an individual does not need medical attention and so every one who calls for an ambulance must be assessed and then transported to a hospital.
I am a paramedic by profession and a Saint Lucia residing in New York presently pursuing my Masters Degree in EMS Management and everytime I return home I make it my duty to look into the progress of this service to the people of Saint Lucia over the years and sadly improvement seem to be just buying new ambulances and equipment and unless and until something drastic, tragic or fatal happens no one speaks out.
Where is the investigative reporting that all the so called reporters and media houses suppose to do when carrying a story in the press to the public. This matter is a very old one year after year victim after victim the story stays the same.
it is like the relevant authorities do not give a shit about who lives or dies. And did you also know that for a medical service provided by the Fire Department the Ministry of National Security/Home Affairs happen to be the authority Ministry for this medical Service and not the Ministry of Health, what ashame.
I wonder what standard of care the ambulance service from the fire department provides to visitors of the island, where tourism is the primary revenue generator. There is so much more to say on this matter but it seems that the people who think they know what has to be done to provide an efficient and reliable service to victims of emergency calls does not have a clue what needs to be done or what they are doing. GOD watch overs Saint Lucia and its people in time of emergencies.
There is a need for more intervention when it comes to medical emergencies however, I will not support any and everyone who decides to write and comment concerning responses by the fire service without properly explaining themselves.
First of all I NEED to ask the author of the article if he was the one who called the fire service. As the case is often presented that everyone "knows" the fire service has been contacted but no one has actually called for the service in reality.
Indeed there is a major lack of manpower and ambulances and properly trained individuals ( I am a TRAINED, LICENSED EMT within the fire service, and there are more than 6 of us). However Anonymous number 2, you have many "facts" wrong and I would appreciate it very much if you did proper research. No a doctor is not the only one who can determine transportation need, and coming from a paramedic I expect you to know better. Do the words assault, physical harm and none consent ring any bells. Your concerns about intoxicated persons 'specifically' needs to be addressed by the medical facilities, who believe it or not don't always accept such persons, and that patient is left in care of the EMTs on an ambulance who have a queue of calls pending.
Further more you make claims of the Allied Health Practitioners Act, how can the EMS system work in St.Lucia without the basic structures needed for EMS. We (yes we, you are proud to say St. Lucia) don't have medical direction among other necessities . You can not blame the fire service for that.
The service has its flaws, many many many. but not because the public sees something happen that they all need to jump at it, without questioning. Especially when it comes to EMS and you have a frantic, non medical crowd who assumes that the roll of the ambulance is transportation.
So again to the author of the article, please indicate the time you were aware the call was made to the fire service, and PLEASE explain what exactly you perceive as the lack of concern and urgency ; considering the patient NEEDS to be assessed, evaluated, secured and then transported.
And to the other individuals so concerned about the responses from the fire service at mass crowd events. There is legislation that guides mass crowd events and clearly stipulates the role and responsibility of organisers in providing medical and safety needs, which includes a STANDBY ambulance with medical personnel assigned solely to the event. Point your blames else where.
Thank you,
unkown you need to read correctly " anonymous 2"sd that only a doctor can determine that a patient do not need medical attention and every patient must be assessed and transported once they do not sign refusal of care. I too am studying EMT and I strongly believe that the level of emergency care in st.lucia on a scale of 1 to be 10 10 being the best is 4. I have called the ambulance and have watched men of fire service act on many occasions and to this day I wonder if those individuals are trained to manage a patient. So many times a patient may not be dead and they are labled "black" when really they may just be clinically dead and not biologically dead. an accident which is not a mass casualty you hear it being treated and patients being labled black although there is a sign of survival.
St.Lucia needs a proper structured EMS system. Our country is lacking in that field. I call out to the fire service to ensure all staff do have the proper training that they need especially those who are dispatched aboard an ambulance to care for a patient because the patient or patients family may just be a doctor, nurse, EMT, Paramedic and this may just end sour. I am not going to continue because I do not want it to be on fire service but St.Lucia government needs to put the proper structures needed In place.
Basic life support, cpr and first aid training is important it is easy and you can save a life. our government needs to put together advance life support system as well there are times that all a patient may need is IV FLUIDS om the scene or on the way to the hospital after blood loss and our personnel cannot do just that as they are not at tht level.
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