A MOTHER WAS FORCED TO PERFORM CPR on her own infant in the back of the ambulance because, once again, the St. John Ambulance Service in New Zealand dispatched a unit with only a driver.
This has been a controversy for the past year in New Zealand. The ambulance service, which receives its funding from the national government, has been calling for enough money to properly staff their units. Last month the medics’ Union threatened to refuse to work on single-crewed units. (see Firegeezer report HERE.) As many as 20% of all calls dispatched in the country are covered with the “single-crewed” units. St. John officials say that they feel sending one person on the calls is preferable to waiting longer times for a fully staffed unit to arrive.
In this instance, the driver-only unit started the trip to the hospital and met up with another unit midway. The baby did not survive.
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The New Zealand Herald story of this latest incident is HERE.
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