Upper Yarra
5 Tuesday, 13 December, 2016
Aqueduct replacement underway
7
A Mail News Group publication
Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
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Stop ambo trial By Kath Gannaway AN EAST Warburton woman whose husband waited more than 50 minutes for an ambulance is calling for Ambulance Victoria to drop its trial of moving one of Yarra Junction’s ambulance units down the line on weekends. As reported in the Mail last week, Ambulance Victoria is trialling a strategy of moving a Yarra Junction unit out of the Valley from 1pm to 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A Healesville unit has also been moved down from Monday to Thursday. While the trial aims to increase ambulance resources across the Metropolitan East region, there are claims it is being done at a time when Yarra Junction ambulance station has some of the worst response times in the state.* Mrs Jill Stimson told the Mail she had to make two calls for an ambulance after she found her husband, Terry, 75, ‘in a coma-like state’ and having trouble breathing on Saturday, 3 December. Ambulance Victoria have confirmed the calls saying they received a triple-zero call at 6.10pm and a further call at 6.55pm, with the ambulance arriving at 7.01pm. Mrs Stimson said her husband, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, had fallen asleep on a chair and had a temperature. “I had a nap too and when I woke noticed he was at a strange angle. Neither my son or I could wake him,” she said. Mrs Stimson said she called triple-zero and was initially asked whether she had access to a defibrillator. “How many houses have a defibrillator? “We were waiting and waiting and after nearly an hour phoned again and waited for another 15 minutes (ambulance times show it was six minutes) ... we were so worried.” Ambulance Victoria Regional Director Metro East, Cath Anderson, said they understand it could be difficult to wait for an ambulance and said calls were assessed on their severity.
“We always prioritise our ambulances to respond to the sickest patients first, particularly those with life-threatening conditions.” She said the call was assessed on the information provided by both the communications centre and Ambulance Victoria’s Referral Service as not requiring a timecritical ambulance. Ms Anderson said the closest available ambulance was dispatched under normal driving conditions (Code 2). “At 6.55pm a second call was made to triple-zero. During this call, the call taker was provided new information about the man’s condition and the case was upgraded to Code 1 (lights and sirens),” Ms Anderson said. “The ambulance arrived six minutes later at 7.01pm.” Mrs Stimson said there was no doubt in her mind that her husband needed an urgent response. “He was almost unconscious and hardly breathing,” she said. She said Ambulance Victoria had advised that the ambulance came from Healesville and questions whether the response would have been quicker if the ‘trial’ ambulance had been available at Yarra Junction. “It’s just crazy to take ambulances away from this area,” Mrs Stimson said. “What the people who made this decision seem to forget is that in addition to medical responses, in the summer months we have a lot of accidents in Warburton through to Reefton and even further out. “It’s a bad decision,” she said. Mr Stimson was transported to Maroondah Hospital in a stable condition. *The Mail requested ambulance response times for Yarra Junction but was advised response times are available only by region - and are on the website. What is your experience of ambulance response times in the Upper Yarra and Yarra Valley? Do we need more ambulance presence at local stations? Email editor@ mailnewsgroup.com.au .
ROAR helps out wildlife A DONATION to the Upper Yarra Wildlife Rescue Network has been an added reward for students involved in Upper Yarra Secondary College's ROAR Leadership Program. Students Tristan Mcintosh, Paris Jarvis, Harry Bray and Nick Hay were at the mural launch last week with, back, from left, teacher Stacey Rumbold and Wildlife Rescue members Dale May, Suzy Darsa and Deb Picture: KATH GANNAWAY Marks. See the full story on page 5. 162796
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