Passionate medics to offer free ambulance services to the community
The group said this was their way of responding to the high crime rates which usually increase the need for the emergency services in the area.
A FREE ambulance service is what residents can expect in the upcoming months as soon as a team of dedicated medics are up and running.
The passionate group intend on carrying out their pilot project for the communities of Wentworth, Merebank and Bluff as their way to respond to the high crime rate which consists of shootings, stabbings and assault in the area.
The medics said because the crime rate is so high, the need for the emergency services in the area is also on par and that local government services are unable to meet the demand.
“This leaves our community waiting for help for up to four hours and sometimes, they get no help. Private ambulance services are not willing to respond to these calls as they are not financially viable.”
“This is why we want to establish a community-based ambulance. We will be providing a 24-hour emergency service ambulance. We will also offer a call centre service that not only dispatches an ambulance to you in an emergency but will also provide emergency advice telephonically.”
“We will also be providing our services at events, industrial areas as well as road accidents within our community,” said the group’s Shaun Juistien.
“Our two-year plan is to first establish ourselves within our community to get our programme up and running effectively and efficiently.”
“This will help build up our profile which will assist us in providing the paper work to our sponsors and investors. Our five-year plan is to expand the concept of the other communities to get the other avenues of the concepts up and running, those being training, education and creating employment.”
Through the training programme, he said the aim is to decrease the rate of unemployment in the community by providing future matriculants with the necessary training for their careers.
“We’ve already created jobs for 11 people from our community even before we start providing services. More jobs will be created as we will be using local qualified people who are unemployed to perform various tasks in the business such as security, general maintenance, admin, human resources and repairs for vehicles and equipment. We will also be employing temporary staff on a part-time basis from time to time,” he added.
The team has strategically placed its man power and currently has six full time paramedics to man the vehicle 24-hours and a further four to man a second vehicle should they obtain sponsorship for it. Three more dedicated staff members will man the call centre at all times and two others to maintain the premises, vehicles and equipment.
“To date we have obtained most of our equipment and we are 50 per cent ready to start. Our shortfall is that we need to get a converted vehicle to run an ambulance and to obtain the necessary equipment to register and license the service. We also need office equipment to run our admin and our control centre, therefore, we are appealing to people and businesses to help sponsor us or donate funds.”
Shawn said the sooner a vehicle and outstanding equipment are obtained, the quicker they’ll be able to apply for licensing and registration, which takes about three months to complete. “As soon as we are able to raise funds or get sponsors to achieve this, the sooner we can register and start operating,” he added.
For more information, call Shaun on 076-549-4743.
*This article has been updated with a contact number.
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