CITY AMBULANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 19, 24 January 1927, Page 10

CITY AMBULANCE

VERY NECESSAEY;

MAYOR'S KEEN INTEREST

■AUSTRALIAN ADVICE

It has been demonstrated on more than one occasion, unfortunate as it may be, that Wellington does not enjoy an ambulance service adequate to meet air emergencies. All accidents create emergencies, and single accidents are handled without delay, but in a city and district as largo as Wellington and sliburbs accidents fall together, and dangerous.delays result. The.Hospital authorities maintain an. accident case ambulance and also transport for cases of infectious disease, the Harbour Board ■ maintains an ambulance for waterfront cases, but the city itself has no such service, depending upon the Hospital transport, or, failing that, upon tho courtesy of the - Harbour Board and its ambulance officials.

A number of. accidents which occurred in, Wellington about twelve months ago were marked by a series of unavoidable delays in the provision of ambulance service, not in any . sense from any negligence or carelessness on the part of : the Hospital authorities, but because.the machines were at the time of the accidents engaged on other cases.' These delays created a good deal, of feeling among relatives and friends of the patients and among the public generally, and-the provision of a city ambulance for city cases was discussed at some length. Nothing, how.ever, came of the discussions beyond a more or leas hazy agreement that an endeavour should be made by the City Council to purchase a machine and to house it in , the Central Fire Brigade Station, the one point where, drivers would be imniediately available upon call, day. time or night-time. The ratepayers of Wellington last year, however, decided that the time hacl come when the control of the city's fire fighting plant should be placed in the hands of a Fire Board, and there and then the suggestion that a city ambulance should be located.at the brigade headquarters was heavily discounted, though, perhaps, it might still' be possible to make..a workable arrangement between council and Fire Board, whose first.duty is to guard the city against fire. ' '' - .'.'. " '.. ' '

JNVITATION TO AUSTRALIAN

AUTHORITY.

The provision of a city ambulance, then, appeared to bo a very dead issue, and_ as-Wellington has latterly not experienced .unfortunate. accidents made more unfortunate by fong delays in the arrival of the busy ambulances, the whole matter has lately been largely forgotten by, most peopie. " The Mayor, Mr. C. B. Norwood, however, has,:kept this matter very much in mind, and for a long time past has been in communication with ambulance

authorities in. Australia, where this form of service, he says, is developed to a much greater; degree than is found anywhere in New Zealand. During his recent visit to Australia he looked into ambulance matters again,l and personitfly invited Mr. James Dolan, superintendent of the New South Wales Am-

balance Transport Service,; "with headquarters in Newcastle, to visit Wellington and to advise, upon the establishment of an adequate ambulance service for the city and district. Mr. Solan, who arrived last ••week, is at present visiting other centres, but will return to Wellington on Wednesday to 1 confer with the. Mayor and others interested in this project. . V'~ 1 Mr. Norwood 1 is particularly impressed with the success of the Newcastle and almost exactly similar Brisbane ambulance system, and states that Mr. Dolan, who was the organiser of the Newcastle service, is a most capable adviser, with a greater knowledge of this wort than, any other man. in -Australasia. ■"..: „■.'•".. ' •■■■■•■•t

"The outstanding feature of the Australian service," said Mr. Norwood, "is that it is free. It is a service which belongs to the people, and is available' to the people, at air times and for* all cases of illness, whether accident, sickness, whether in the city or within a radius.'of fifty miles, and whether the victim of an accident or a sufferer from sickness wishes to be conveyed to the Public Hospital or to a private,hospital or'nursing home, orj if the.case is pot serious, merely to hia home.

BY VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTION. It was, moreover, in a sense a spectacular service, and therein lay a great deal of its appeal to vthe public, said Mr. Norwood. A street accident occurred in one of a hundred ways, a smart ambulance manned Jjy-men who know their business was on thevspot in a very few minutes, necessary first-aid attention was given, and the sufferer was taken away for other treatment. The public had a warm heart where the unfortunate were concerned, and a warm heart for the organisation which lent a hand to the sufferer, particularly if the organisation went about its work in a businesslike way. "What was the. result? The patient, or his friends, and the public- as a whole were grateful for the service given and experience in Australia had shown that voluntary donations for

3ervices given individuals were more Dften-than not larger than.the amount of the bill which, under another system, would be presented for payment. Curiously enough, also, the donation was sent with a note of grateful thanks, whereas a demand for payment was, as often as not, met with frowns and objections.

.•- So successfully did the New South Wales service appeal to the public in that way, continued Mr. Norwood, that it had been possible to build up a splendid organisation, with no less than ten ambulances, housed in a fine ■building which had cost £.16,000, and manned, by a permanent stafi o£ trained men. More remarkable than that, the service was clear of debt within | five years of its establishment. The service was ireo to those who were unfortunate enough to require it, said Mr. Norwood, that 1 was, it was free to those who could not, or did not wish to pay wholly or in part for what had been done for them, but voluntary subscriptions had in Newcastle and Brisbane been adequate to • maintain such a splendid organisation. Formerly the_ Newcastle Steel "Works maintained their own ambulance service, but following upon a serious accident when ,the_ works ambulance was pitted against tho Newcastle Ambulance Transport Service it-was decided to hand over-the works ambulance to the service that greater efficiency might be obtained, for tho employees of the steel works and for Newcastle generally. Mr. Dolan called upon representatives of the men and asked- whether they were agreeable to contributing Id per week per mAn towards the maintenance of. the city servisoj they objected to the suggested penny and offered threepence, which was, after discussion, reduced to one penny halfpenny. The mine workers also agreed ■to a similar levy, thus assuring for themselves and their families an efficient ambulance service, whether for sickness or for illness.

Itlv. Norwood expresses the opinion that such a system in.the hands of or in - conjunction with the St. John Ambulance Society cannot fail to appeal to the people of Wellintgon, and, once established. in. this city, must almost certain.lv; be adopjted. in. pther centres, _!"._a—— ':.-!.Z~ :_^ . jliaju ■