Staff Link to Ambulance No. 93

We were excited to be sent these pictures of Mat Delaney who was rostered on to work in the Starlight Fund “PB” ambulance recently. Mat is the partner of one of Online Republic’s staff members. 

Mat explained that it is great to work in the new ambulance that has all the latest gear. Typically St Johns is dealing with a lot of winter illness this time of the year with respiratory illnesses increasing over the cold months. In one 12 hour shift Mat and his team helped a 3 month old child with a chest infection, assisted in the birth of a newborn baby in the back of the ambulance, attended a (thankfully) minor car accident, helped an elderly person with respiratory infections and came to the rescue of a woman with a brain condition, amongst other call-outs.

 

Mat is a full-time paramedic with St Johns and we are glad to be helping amazing people like him, help out our family, friends and community.

Mat said that there aren’t many ambulances in the central Auckland area that are sponsored outright by an organisation. It does happen a bit more frequently in the rural areas where someone may leave a legacy to build an ambulance. Online Republic would like to put it out there – if anyone in business in Auckland is reading this, to band together with others and sponsor the build of a St Johns ambulance – they need to keep building new ambulances every year to keep up with the wear-and-tear of the vehicles.

Ambulance No. 93 Gets A New Skin

St Johns have been systemically recovering their ambulances to ensure they are more visible. 

We are proud to be supporting the organization, whom for the second year has been voted the Most Trusted Charity in the highly competitive and respected Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands Awards 2015.

 

A taste of the world raises much-needed funds

Staff members of Online Republic’s Auckland office put on a multi-national lunch to raise funds for much needed supplies for what we affectionately call “our” ambulance. With staff from around the world including Tahiti, Australia, Poland, and Vietnam generous individuals brought in dishes they had created including Kerala beef fry with rice, chicken skewers, mini quiches, a good old kiwi bacon and egg pie, a range of different salads and sweet treats. Staff then paid for various selections and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch.

Funds raised, including further donations from staff that couldn’t be at the event, totalled $3,400. Then with matching funds by Online Republic, $6,400 was donated to St John enabling them to purchase some much needed equipment  - a BCI Capnocheck and two Entonox Giving Sets.

So what is a BCI Capnocheck11?
Here’s a description by St Johns: Capnographs are battery operated portable handheld devices used for measuring capnography. Still confused? Well this measures etCO2 (entidal carbon dioxide) which is the amount of carbon dioxide expired after every breath/ventilation. An Intensive Care Paramedic is unable to intubate a patient (put in a breathing tube) without the assistance of one of these measuring devices as it is used to confirm tube placement and ventilation rate. If we hyper or hypo ventilate a patient, this can be very detrimental to a patient’s wellbeing. The Capnographs have a monitoring capability suitable for all patients ranging from paediatrics to adults.

A MRX lifepac has one of these devices built in to it but at a cost of $39,000 per unit. St Johns can’t afford to have one of these in every vehicle. Therefore, there is a critical need for these portable devices.

The Capnographs are primarily used in cardiac arrest emergencies. In the past 12 months, St John Northern Region has attended a total of 5,918 cardiac emergencies whereby 4,861 in the Auckland district, 771 in the Northland district and 286 in the Hauraki/Coromandel district. We are in desperate need of a unit.

OK then what is an Entonox Giving Set?
Entonox is a very common pain relief gas used in the pre hospital setting. It is a mixture of Oxygen and Nitrous oxide in a high-pressure cylinder. The nitrous oxide causes analgesia (pain relief) via effects on the central nervous system and is very quick acting. This unit consists of a regulator and delivery tube and mask for administration. This transfers the gas from the high-pressure cylinder to a usable flow that the patient can then breathe in. The gas is suitable for all ages from children to the elderly and can be used during childbirth.