Ambulances back to base

Wednesday 03 June 2020

As life starts to get back to 'normal', a big "thank you" has been offered to the volunteers who helped decontaminate each one of Guernsey's ambulances every time they were used during the covid-19 pandemic.

Extra effort, including extra man power, was put into cleaning the vehicles because of the highly contagious nature of the corona virus, which affected 252 known patients in Guernsey between March and May.

There are currently no known active cases of the virus locally and the majority of the patients who did catch the virus have recovered, while 13 confirmed to have had it sadly died, along with the three other people presumed to have also had the virus.

During the active outbreak, more stringent cleaning was required each time an ambulance was used, meaning that while the ambulance crews themselves usually clean their own vehicles, they were helped by volunteers so that they were available for the next call out as soon as possible. 

Guernsey’s Chief Ambulance Officer has now thanked those people who made up the St John Ambulance decontamination team, saying how grateful he is to all those who supported the Emergency Ambulance Service during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mark Mapp said: “I’d like to thank all the volunteers who have given their time to help over the past few months. Deep cleaning an ambulance can take more than an hour and that was taking both vehicles and clinicians off call for long periods. Thankfully the volunteers have been available day and night ready to react to the call for assistance.”

Mr Mapp added: “The decontamination team have made an enormous difference to our ability to maintain a fully functioning ambulance service during periods of high demand by allowing medical teams to be available to respond to the next emergency in another vehicle.”

Volunteers from the decontamination team came from a variety of backgrounds. Some were existing St John volunteers who would normally be providing first aid cover at public events, others were new to the charity and came forward to help as the coronavirus crisis developed.

New volunteer Kelly McCarthy said: “I volunteered as I wanted to help the community and emergency services during the pandemic. The appreciation from the ambulance crews was outstanding. St John provides an amazing service to our island and without them, how different our experience of Covid-19 could have been!”

St John volunteers have also been helping to collect and deliver prescriptions and urgent groceries for people who have been self-isolating, shielding or unable to get out during the lockdown. 

Mr Mapp wanted to thank all of those who have helped support the service, particularly during this week as it is Volunteers Week.

Pictured: Volunteers cleaning one of the ambulances.

As there are currently no active cases of covid-19 in the Bailiwick, and hundreds of people have tested negative for the virus since the last positive test was confirmed, the decision has been taken to return all of the emergency ambulance crews to the service base on the Rohais.

During the previous stages of the lockdown crews had been located at satellite stations at Les Cotils and Les Gigands, with the remaining crew operating from the St John Headquarters.

Enhanced procedures, in line with the States of Guernsey ‘Phase 4 exit from lockdown’ strategy, such as new social distancing arrangements and additional hygiene measures have now been put in place at the ambulance station meaning all ambulances are able to operate from there. 

Pictured: Ambulances were positioned across the island, included at the John Ramplin Training Centre at Les Gigands so crews could quickly respond if needed during the covid-19 pandemic. 

Senior Officer Steve Ford said: “We are extremely grateful to the management at Les Cotils and the management at the John Ramplin Cadet Centre for allowing us to use their facilities during the pandemic. This has been a great example of the Guernsey Together spirit.

"Splitting the crews significantly reduced the likelihood of an entire team having to go into isolation if one of them became unwell with coronavirus symptoms and so allowed us to continue to provide an efficient and fully functional ambulance service for the island. As things gradually start to return to normal we feel it is the right time for crews to return to the Rohais. We will be following Public Health guidance and we will keep our procedures under review.”

Pictured top and above: All pictures provided by St John Ambulance Guernsey.