Drakesbrook Despatch November 2011 Newsletter
Article Date: 30th October, 2011 | 165 Views | 0 Comment(s)
Like you, we all survived the Show relatively unscathed. We treated approximately 18 patients not including the countless bandaids that we distributed for cuts and blisters. Thank you to everyone that bought raffle tickets. The three winners were all stoked to have won a First Aid kit. The most popular items we had were the helium filled balloons and kids packs which included a colouring book and pencils amongst other things. I have to admit that there were some heated discussions between a few of the ambos as to who would be blowing up the balloons. As you can see by the picture, our new recruit, Drew, won out for an hour or so. It required a lot of concentration and energy which is why Drew is looking so relaxed and chilled out sitting in the chair. I went for a stroll through side show alley and all I could see were our red balloons everywhere. I just hope parents weren't using the balloons so they could find their children in the crowd. We gave out around 210 balloons running out of helium just after lunch. I think we'll have to get a bigger bottle of helium next year! Either that or keep a certain two male ambos away from the bottle the day before the show!!!
A few statistics from the last three months for you to ponder over. In July, August and September we did 7, 7, and 20 callouts respectively. On average most callouts that we attend last approximately three hours from the time we leave the depot to when we return to depot. There are occasions when we can be gone longer such as a couple of years ago when Mark T and I were gone from around 11:30am Boxing Day and didn't end up getting back to depot until around 4:30am the next morning. We did two jobs in that time. Along with Andy and Pete the second one lasted 10 hours due to distance from town and the fact that Rescue 65 (helicopter) couldn't land in any of the terrain. The Paramedic was winched in 11kms away, picked up by the local boys in blue and transported to our location. Once our patient was stabilised, we then had the long slow trip lasting just over an hour, with Paramedic on board, to get back to the town oval in Waroona where Rescue 65 was waiting for us. We left the ambulances at the depot at about 6am and came back at around 10:30 to clean all the gravel dust from them. As Pete and I finished our ambulance, the phones went off again and we went out to a two car head on crash out on the Old Coast Road leaving Andy and Mark to finish cleaning the second ambulance. Unfortunately it was a double fatal but on the good side we sent two in the helicopter and two in ambulances to hospital of which they were all okay.
As you can see we give up a lot of our spare time to help others and we have to deal with a roller coaster of emotions, but we do it because we love what we do. I personally think there is nothing better than making a difference in someone's life.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Waroona and Yarloop Police and the Waroona Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade for their help and support over the last year. We all work very closely together and it's nice to know that we've got back up when we go to what can be some very volatile and/or distressing situations.
RETHINK YOUR HEROES. BECOME A VOLUNTEER.
Upcoming Training Nights 7:30pm (come along and experience what we do):
Thursday 24th November 2011
Thursday 1st December 2011 (Last training night for the year)
Take care and be safe!
Judy Chalmers
AAC Ambulance Volunteer
