“The first 8-10 minutes is crucial to a person’s survival rate after a cardiac arrest.” A fresh, new partnership between St John Ambulance WA and Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA) will help make beaches that little bit safer in the event of a cardiac arrest emergency. In 2011, the network of people trained in the St John Ambulance First Responder system was expanded to include members of SLSWA. The first 8-10 minutes is crucial to a person’s survival rate after a cardiac arrest. With every minute of delay, the risk of death increases by 10 per cent, so a fast response is vital. A cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time, so this new beach- based trial in partnership with SLSWA means there will be an increase in trained first responders available to be on the scene of incidents with Automated External Defibrillators (AED). This availability could make all the difference to saving someone’s life while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. This First Responder trial program will run from January 4 through to the end of April at some of the state’s most popular seaside spots: Cottesloe Beach in the metropolitan area, Middleton Beach (Albany), Secret Harbour (Rockingham), Smiths Beach (Yallingup) and Yallingup Beach. A fresh, new partnership between St John Ambulance WA and Surf Life Saving WA will help make beaches that little e Sa ner Timely Trial to Save Beach-goers The B u l l etin MARCH 2011 inside Kununurra Patient Transfer Heaven Saving Lives with 12-lead Trial Cambodia Calls Volunteers Lend a Hand to QLD Flood Victims How the beach-based First Responder system trial works: A triple zero call (000) is received by a St John Ambulance Communications Officer. If the patient is in a First Responder location, a system alert is triggered indicating that a registered first responder could be close to the emergency area. The Operations Centre despatches an ambulance and contacts the First Responder responsible for that location. The First Responder heads to the emergency area and starts critical resuscitation techniques, using an AED if necessary before the ambulance arrives. As yet, there have been no incidents to report where these beachside First Responders have been called upon. However both St John Ambulance WA and SLSWA are keen to see a successful trial outcome that will see an extension to more West Australian beaches in the coming years. If you have any queries from individuals or organisations interested in becoming part of our First Responder system contact Project Manager, Sally Simmonds on 08 9334 1222. WIN a $100 Gift Voucher See back for details
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“ Th e first 8-10 minutes is crucial to a person’s survival rate after a cardiac arrest.”
A fresh, new partnership between St John
Ambulance WA and Surf Life Saving WA
(SLSWA) will help make beaches that little
bit safer in the event of a cardiac arrest
emergency. In 2011, the network of people
trained in the St John Ambulance First
Responder system was expanded to include
members of SLSWA.
The fi rst 8-10 minutes is crucial to a
person’s survival rate after a cardiac arrest.
With every minute of delay, the risk of death
increases by 10 per cent, so a fast response
is vital. A cardiac arrest can happen to
anyone at any time, so this new beach-
based trial in partnership with SLSWA
means there will be an increase in trained
fi rst responders available to be on the
scene of incidents with Automated External
Defi brillators (AED). This availability could
make all the difference to saving someone’s
life while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.
This First Responder trial program will run
from January 4 through to the end of April
at some of the state’s most popular seaside
spots: Cottesloe Beach in the metropolitan
area, Middleton Beach (Albany), Secret
Harbour (Rockingham), Smiths Beach
(Yallingup) and Yallingup Beach.
A fresh, new partnership between St John
Ambulance WA and Surf Life Saving WA
will help make beaches that little
e Sa
ner
Timely Trial to Save Beach-goers
The BulletinMARCH 2011
inside Kununurra Patient Transfer Heaven
Saving Lives with 12-lead Trial
Cambodia Calls
Volunteers Lend a Hand to QLD
Flood Victims
How the beach-based First Responder
system trial works:
A triple zero call (000) is received by a
St John Ambulance Communications
Offi cer. If the patient is in a First Responder
location, a system alert is triggered
indicating that a registered fi rst responder
could be close to the emergency area.
The Operations Centre despatches
an ambulance and contacts the First
Responder responsible for that location.
The First Responder heads to the
emergency area and starts critical
resuscitation techniques, using an AED if
necessary before the ambulance arrives.
As yet, there have been no incidents
to report where these beachside First
Responders have been called upon.
However both St John Ambulance WA
and SLSWA are keen to see a successful
trial outcome that will see an extension
to more West Australian beaches in the
coming years. If you have any queries
from individuals or organisations interested
in becoming part of our First Responder
system contact Project Manager, Sally
Simmonds on 08 9334 1222.
WIN a $100 G
ift Voucher
See back for d
etails
This year will be
a very exciting
one for St John
Ambulance where
we will really start
to see the benefi ts
from all of the
contract and funding
announcements made last year. Prior to
Christmas we had the largest ever number
of new Communications Offi cers commence
their training - 24 in total. During January, 33
new Patient Transport Offi cers and 49 Student
Ambulance Offi cers have commenced their
induction program. While such a large number
of new operational staff coming through
training and commencing their duties more
or less at the same time really stretches our
capacity, we are all thrilled to fi nally see growth
starting to come to fruition.
For those of you who have had the
opportunity to visit Belmont recently you
may have seen the changes and expansion
occurring in the Operations Centre. This
re-modelling has been necessary to
accommodate the growth in staff numbers
and the additional country support capability
we are putting in place. Thank you to everyone
for the patience shown during the renovations.
As the organisation grows rapidly over
the next few years it is important we get
the management and support structures
established in such a way that we can ensure
we deliver on all of our commitments and
contractual obligations. We have already
seen signifi cant changes to the structures
and way in which we manage clinical
governance. Similar changes are now also
underway with our structures in country and
training. While such signifi cant change can
be confronting to some of the people directly
involved it is something that is necessary and
will see a ‘raising of the bar’ in terms of the
quality of the services we are able to provide.
January saw the release of the 2011
Productivity Commission Report on
Government Services. This report
demonstrates that West Australians get an
ambulance service that performs very well
compared to others around Australia. This
year’s report includes an analysis of hospital
data that identifi es the proportion of patients
presenting at Emergency Departments who
arrived by ambulance. The analysis shows that
nationally, on average, slightly less than 5% of
non-urgent patients presenting at EDs arrive
by ambulance. It is pleasing to note that, in
both Western Australia and Victoria, the fi gure
is only 2.5%. This means that 97.5% of
non-urgent patients presenting at WA
Emergency Departments arrive by their own
means. This is an excellent result. While we all
know we do get some patients who use the
ambulance service when they should not, the
analysis does put things into perspective.
In my view, the most important analysis in
the productivity commission report is the
patient satisfaction survey. The same survey
is conducted in each State and Territory
with the results compiled and analysed
by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing
Services at the University of SA.
The results in each of the graphs on the
right show the percentage of people who
were either satisfi ed or very satisfi ed.
Consistently we see satisfaction levels
between 97 per cent and 99 per cent.
This is an outstanding achievement and
is a testament to the competence and
professionalism of ambulance operational
staff around the country.
I would like to congratulate all our
ambulance operational staff on this
outstanding achievement.
While there has been a lot of focus on
ambulance over the past year or so, our fi rst
aid training and industrial health services have
quietly continued going about their business
and are achieving some fantastic results.
In both of these areas recent structural
changes will, I am sure, contribute to some
extraordinary growth over the next few years.
Also, a special thank you to our VFAS
members for their contribution during 2010.
The role you play in providing fi rst aid services
to our community is very important within the
range of pre-hospital services provided by
St John Ambulance and the competent and
professional way in which you deliver fi rst aid
services to our community is something we
are all very proud of.
Finally, to all of our personnel, that is, the 1000
staff and 4000 volunteers, thank you for your
efforts. You are all vital to the success of St
John Ambulance in Western Australia and can
justifi ably feel very proud of the achievements
of 2010. I hope you share with me the
excitement of the opportunities ahead in 2011.
A word from the CEOWelcome to th e first edition of our Bulletin for 2011. I hope all of
our staff and volunteers had a great Christmas and N ew Year. I
would especially like to thank all of our operational and support
staff and volunteers who worked over th e festive period. It is hard
not being free to spend as much tim e as you might like with family
and friends and it is often just that bit more difficult dealing
with death, illness and injury over this period. Everyone who was
involved with providing our range of services over this period did a
great job and again I would like to say, ‘thank you’.
The Bulletin is the offi cial magazine of St John Ambulance WA, bringing you news of what we are doing across Western Australia, published and produced by the Corporate Affairs Department.
We welcome your feedback
We welcome views, suggestions, photos and letters from readers. All contributions may be edited for legal reasons, space restrictions or clarity. Let us know what you would like to read in future issues.
To contribute to the magazine or make an enquiry, contact the Editorial Team on 08 9334 1237 or [email protected]
Copyright St John Ambulance WA, 209 Great Eastern Highway, Belmont, WA 6104
Tribute to a Mate - Michael La Verde
In December, St John lost a valued
member of our family, Mike La Verde,
from the Ambulance Radio Section.
During his 10 years with us, Mike was an
excellent radio technician who loved helping
people and would go out of his way to
ensure our career and volunteer staff
received the best service possible.
What made him special was that radio
work to him was more than a job, it was
his passion.
We will miss him very much and the
things that made Michael so special to us
– his love of music (Elvis and ACDC), his
endless energy, his passionate support of St
John Ambulance and his dedication to his
dearly loved family.
We extend our sincere condolences to
Michael’s wife Cathy, their children Marco
and Nicola, and family on the tragic loss of a
wonderful young man.
John Watts
(Manager Fleet & Radio Communication)
9/10/1973 – 12/12/2010
“ What made him special was that radio work to him was more than a job, it was his passion.”
St John Ambulance in Numbers
The number of St John Ambulance staff
on the February 2011 payroll.1,099
The number of dedicated staff who provide
a fl exible supply chain to SJAA WA.19
The total number of commencement or offers
for Paramedics, Transport Offi cers, and
Communications Offi cers this fi nancial year to date.165
The average number of patients presenting to
SJA’s Industrial Health Service remote mine site
medical staff throughout Western Australia.235
The number of Country Ambulance Volunteers at March 2011.3,033
The number of country ambulance volunteers recruited in the last three months.134
The year the fi rst Cadet units commenced at Fremantle.1936
The actual Supply inventory value
for February 2011 month end.$969,000
The total number of students trained during
2010 through the First Aid Focus Program.46,292
The number of new Ambulances stocked by Supply this
fi nancial year (the most ever recorded in one year).22
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