NAPIER MOTOR AMBULANCE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 355, 15 February 1917, Page 4

NAPIER MOTOR AMBULANCE.

' A DISGRACEFUL CON TIHVAN«’E."

WIIAI' IS REQUIRED

For a very long lime the residents of tin- i«'t cried out for a motor ambulance, vchii-h everyone recognised ;:•- In itig absolutely essential. It v.ns then naturally thought that a most up-to-date vehicle would be procured, as it is obvious that the most smoothly running motor nossihle is required for this work. The utmx’pressed wishes of the public, however, do not appmtr to have been carried out. and the ambulance, to which several leading business men of Napier have called a "Tribune” reporter’s attention, is by no means up to elate, nor are the arrangements connected with its use satisfactory. In the first place the interior of the ambulance is extremely stuffy, and no proper supply of fresh air erm he obtained without opening uto front slide, in which case a strong draught is set. up. The stuffiness is such that the air has an oppressing effect on a healthy person. The stretchers arc poorly sprung, anti the jolting, which could have been entire’;, obliterated if a really modern cur had been procured, is not pleas.-mt.

The engine power is another point, and perhaps the main one, in which the ambulance appears to be badly deficient.

A visitor to Napier recently assisted the driver on the occasion of a night call, the case being one of appendicitis, and he subsequently expressed his intense disgust at the arrangement of the ambulance, which he characterised as a “disgraceful contrivance.” The patient, he stiid, was a girl, in a dangerous state through appendicitis. It was half an hour before the vehicle was available, and after they got the patient in. the ambulance bumped badly, and the giirl screamed W’ith each bump. "I shall never forget her shrieks.’’ he said. And what surprised him most was the fact that the driver bad to change into the lowest gear to got up the hills to the hospital, witli the result that still mo.ro suffering w’as caused to tjie oatient- “For goodness sake,” ho said, “lot the public know, and get v decent ambulance.”

Asked what he would suggest, the visitor said: “There are three or f our things essential to a satisfaclory ambulance. Firstly, air in wanted ; secondly, the chassis anil •stretchers must he well sprung; and, thirdly, the engine should be of sufficient power to take the vehicle up to the hospital without changing into the lowest gear. Many of the nodern ears would take a load up •here on top gear and travel as slowly as you like. Then again. the ambulance should be stationed rt 'he hospital, where there should bn soraeone who could immediately jump in and drive away. Half an hour’s delay is often fatal.”

A ‘ Tribune" reporter carefully inquired into the above statements, and ean verify them. The present vehicle is merely something between ancient and modern methods.