9 minute read
REPORT FROM OUR CEO
2020 started quietly with confident anticipation of a year to be filled with progress and development - the second year of running our own call centre, offshore vessels in production locally, the new JetRIB innovation taking off, steady expansion of bases along the coast, a new organisational structure and the appointment of fresh new executives, growth and development of new stations, a massive training plan for volunteers and a huge effort in drowning prevention, with the addition of survival swimming.
I was aware of COVID-19, it had been there before in my medical career, as had measles, chicken pox, influenza, SARS, MERS and HIV. Epidemics come and go, the virus runs through a community who develop herd immunity and the epidemic subsides. I expected three months at the most! What was impossible to anticipate was the multiple levels of lockdown, which brought economies and societies to a standstill and threatened businesses, livelihoods and lives across the world.
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We shut down all capital expenditure and reined in operational expenditure. In less than a week, we turned an onsite call centre into a virtual operation. We took our training online, fortunately having already invested in IT infrastructure and eLearning in prior years. We rapidly distributed all our stocks of PPE, designed appropriate response protocols, and set about procurement of further PPE stock. Day-to-day management was facilitated through focused virtual meetings. I can only compliment both staff and volunteers for their commitment and innovation in a crisis. If I reflect on how we were able to achieve this performance, I suppose it is because we are an emergency service, crisis is what we do!
As with most other organisations, cash flow became a key issue. After an anxious initial few weeks, it was apparent that, despite reduced capacity in the call centre, our donors were backing us, and the flow of funds was able to not only sustain operations, but also capital projects. I wish to express my overwhelming gratitude to stakeholders and donors, who, despite the certain personal difficulty, backed us, stayed with us, and kept us afloat.
Everyone was affected initially by shutdowns, including our service providers. We remained conscious of our contribution to both local and regional economies and expenditure was closely scrutinised to ensure that, while we maintained stringent conservatism, we did not unnecessarily stop procurement, and in that way compromise our operations and the livelihoods of our suppliers and supply chains.
We fully expected a downturn in operations, fewer callouts, less demand, but the opposite happened. While beaches may have been locked down, COVID-19 generated considerably more work in the fishing and shipping sector. We did more medical evacuations from ships at sea in six months than we normally do in a year, but our volunteer stations rose to the challenge, despite the personal threat and risk, adapted quickly to infection protection protocols and carried on. Volunteers were not without fear, there was a concern, but with input
from our internal medical capacity, we were able to provide the correct advice, reassure responders and they committed to the task at hand. Fortunately, we have had surprisingly few COVID-19 cases amongst volunteers and staff and thankfully, very little serious illness.
Our volunteer community did suffer economically during lockdowns, some lost their businesses, others their jobs. We were fortunate to be able to assist through our networks in ways, big or small, to provide relief vouchers or just guidance and support. We remain indebted to an incredible volunteer effort who deserve all the kudos they get.
Our biggest disappointment in 2020 has been that we had no access to schools to provide water safety lessons and survival swimming skills. 2020 would have been the year we rolled out survival swimming on an increasing scale, but sadly this will have to wait. Fortunately, the youth seem to be less impacted by COVID-19 and so hopefully the education system goes back to normal quickly and we can rapidly advance towards our goal of teaching a million children every year.
Another challenge we had is that, despite the effort in digital provision of training, the practical programme is at least a year behind, putting crews at risk due to currency and training exposure shortages. With new stations coming on board and an everhungry stream of new volunteers, as well as junior and development academy programmes, this is going to be a tough year.
We are in active discussion with other like-minded organisations in a ‘Drowning Prevention Alliance’ and look forward to expanding this initiative in 2021 and formalising a structure to collectively address drowning in South Africa. Our mortality rate appears to be stable at below 2.4/100000 (2019 Fatality Data 2.46/100000) of population, but we can do better, and it may well have been higher, if not for our efforts.
I am pleased to report that, despite COVID-19 and associated challenges, we were able to deliver on most of our planned objectives that were dependent on continuing to raise the required donations. Our fundraising staff have performed stellarly this year and, despite working from home and having many disruptions, raised an amount very close to the planned budget, and 1.7% better than 2019. Credit, I repeat, must go to a stakeholder and donor community who have kept the faith and sustained us.
Lastly, a year like 2020 provides considerable stress and achieving what we have comes at a cost, mitigated however in no small way by the support of so many people, from the Chairman of the Board to every donor in the far corners of South Africa. You made it possible! In all humility, we offer our thanks.
OUTLOOK
The outlook for 2021 and subsequent years must be tempered by the economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic. We anticipate a more difficult 2021 and have adjusted budget expectations accordingly. We have lost a substantial number of recurrent donations in 2020 (some 12 000) which directly impacts expected receipts for 2021.
The outlook for subsequent years will depend on the successful resolution of the COVID-19 immunity issue and re-establishing global economic normality. Locally, we struggle with an added burden of slow policy reform to grow our ailing economy and massive unemployment.
While the outlook must by necessity be conservative, we are comforted by the fact that our current operational surplus is substantial at almost 19.4% of revenue and we should be able to continue our expansion and development, albeit at a slightly slower pace. We will continue steadfastly on our mission to save lives, change lives and create futures!
Dr Cleeve Robertson Chief Executive Officer
852 NUMBER OF RESCUE OPERATIONS
1 050 1 138
757 971
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
CASE STUDY
MEDEVAC AT SEA
On Tuesday, 7 January 2020 at 9:30 the duty coxswain of Station 5 Durban received a call from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC). A large ship, on its way to Brazil, was requesting the evacuation of five crew members, following an incident on board. At the time of the call, the vessel was more than 150 nautical miles from Durban, far beyond Sea Rescue’s range of operations. It was decided that the ship should divert towards Durban to rendezvous with rescue personnel closer to shore. Station Commander Jonathan Kellerman realised that he would have to concentrate all his energy on coordinating the resources necessary for this rescue. After placing the Durban Sea Rescue duty crew on standby, the first call was to the MRCC to request that they authorise the South African Air Force (SAAF) 15 Squadron to fly an Oryx helicopter. As the full nature of the medical state of the patients was not yet known, a helicopter extraction was the first choice to ensure that they get to a hospital fast.
Due to the long-range of the rescue flight, it would be necessary for the rescue helicopter to be accompanied by a second helicopter and because only one Oryx was available at SAAF 15 Squadron, a SAAF Charlie Flight BK-117 MEDEVAC was tasked with joining the operation from its base in Port Elizabeth.
MRCC arranged in the meantime for a Western Cape Government Health EMS doctor to provide medical advice to the ship’s medic to stabilise the injured crew until the rescue team could get to them. Netcare911 medics were also put on standby to assist with the operation.
By mid-afternoon, when it was confirmed that the BK-117 was on route from Port Elizabeth, Durban launched its 14.8 m ORC deep-sea rescue craft, the Alick Rennie, to rendezvous with the ship. Meanwhile, at SAAF 15 Squadron, Netcare medics Konrad Jones, Gary Paul and Dewalt Schoeman set about preparing the Oryx to serve as an air ambulance. Three stretchers were configured for the more critical patients, and two stretchers with vacuum mattresses were prepared for the other two. IV lines, drips and oxygen bottles were set up for each stretcher so that medical treatment could begin as soon as the patients came on board.
The Oryx was going to be carrying a full load, with all three paramedics accompanying the five casualties, besides the flight crew. The BK-117 would serve as a support helicopter, carrying two NSRI rescue swimmers as well as its flight crew. During communications, it was also established that there was a sixth casualty who had suffered fatal injuries. The BK117 would transport the deceased if required to do so.
It was 17h20 when the two aircraft got off the ground. Fortunately, it was a calm day out on the ocean, and the casualty vessel was already approximately 28 nautical miles from Durban, and Alick Rennie arrived on the scene just as the Oryx was circling overhead. The necessary paperwork had been completed by the ship’s captain and the patients were ready to be evacuated. They had ingested a toxic substance but had not notified anyone on board until they started to get ill. The substance is known to cause severe organ damage and could be fatal, as was the case with the sixth casualty.
Calm conditions, fortunately, ensured a smooth extrication of the casualties to the Oryx and after a brief triage assessment, the patients were quickly secured onto the stretchers that had been rigged inside.
As the helicopter lifted off, Konrad and his colleagues were already busy setting up IV lines on the patients to start medical treatment. Between the port captain and the ship’s captain, it had been decided that the body of the sixth crewman would stay on board and be returned to Brazil.
By the time the helicopter landed, and the patients were handed over to the care of a Durban hospital, they had all received the first series of medication. One patient was deemed to be in a critical condition, possibly requiring dialysis, whereas the other four were stable. We are pleased to report that, following extensive hospital care, all five patients have made a full recovery, were discharged and have since returned to Brazil
