ST. JOHN AMBULANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 214, 3 June 1908, Page 5

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE.

A SERIOUS MATTER. It is only a fow wooks since certain strictures were passed concerning the manner in which the ■ St. John 'Ambulance wagon in Wellington was kept, and tho delays which havo occurred at times when it has been needed.' That the matter requires further attention appears to be clear from a statement by a Wellington lady,'who yesterday afternoon, accompaniod lior friend (who was grievously ill) in the Ambulance wagon ( to a private hospital. Sho states that<tho man in charge drove so fast that, in spite of her best efforts, she could not prevent her friend being jerked about in a manner that was sickoningly painful to' witness,particularly as the " case" was one where it was imperative that the patient should be kept as still as possiblo. Questioned closely, our informant stated that there was no one elso inside the wagon who could have signalled the driver to slacken speed, and she was engaged in holding her friend as still as possible ■ under these distressing circumstances. That it was the speed of the wagon that caused the motion was evident from the fact that, in going slowly round the corners there was scarcely any motion, at all. The result of this fast driving was that on arrival at the private hospital the patient, who Had . not been sick, vomited violently, and our informant Baid she could not have stood a much longer journey at the rate they had gone. On arrival at the hospital the matter was mentioned to the head nurse, who said that : it was a thing, "that wanted showing up!" '. ' , . , It should bo mentioned, as showing now clean tho wagon is kept, that while on the journey our informant had occasion to stoop down;- when she found on the canvas stretch beneath the patient a large piece,of wadding saturated with blood, that had evidently been used by a formor patient. _ \ ' Tho St. John Ambulance Association is an institution that docs .incalculable good m maiiy ways, but. in the matter of tho care and control of the. wagon, which is so often requisitioned for tho conveyance of. tho seriously sick, something much more satisfactory appears to be needed.