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Volunteers gave up their bank holiday weekend to ensure every ambulance was given a deep clean after each call out as pressure grows on the emergency service during the corona virus lockdown.
On top of regular strict hygiene measures, additional cleaning duties have been added to each rota so that every ambulance is deep cleaned after coming into contact with a positive or potentially positive covid-19 patient.
Chief Ambulance Officer Mark Mapp said "what is important to stress, is that as well as demand being up, the time it takes on each case is also much longer.
Pictured: Mark Mapp, Chief Ambulance Officer.
"Crews have to think about PPE, minimising the risk of contaminating equipment unnecessarily and some cases involve consultation with doctors at the Emergency Department - and then there is deep cleaning of vehicles, which can take at least an hour for each vehicle.
"That’s why we are really grateful to the volunteers who are now helping day and night with deep cleaning to free up clinicians so they can be ready to be deployed in another ambulance ready for the next call.”
Above: Volunteers in action, deep cleaning our ambulances.
An increased number of volunteers are currently supporting the staff of St John Ambulance with more than 200 new ones signing up since the start of the outbreak.
"Those volunteers are providing help in a number of different ways," said Mr Mapp, "not just to the emergency ambulance service, but also through a number of new projects that St John has started to help the community. Things like the Caring Caller service and the delivery of food and prescriptions.
"Anyone who wants to volunteer can email recruitment@stjohn.gg”
The ambulance service is dealing with the island's normal medical emergencies as well as the covid-19 pandemic, so anyone with any serious or life threatening conditions, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, sudden onset of new confusion, loss of consciousness, severe bleeding, signs of a stroke should still dial 999. Mr Mapp said they should not delay getting treatment at all.
Currently, there is just one person off sick with the ambulance service, and no staff member has tested positive for covid-19, meaning the emergency service is fully resourced for each call out.
Pictured: Giving the ambulances a deep clean.
Mr Mapp said overall "sickness levels are very low at the current time".
He said: "Over the past few weeks we have had a few members of the team who have been isolating for a number of difference reasons in line with Public Health advice, but there is currently just one person off sick at the moment. None of the staff have tested positive."
Decisions made earlier in the outbreak have helped protect the ambulance service including the decision to change shift numbers and to split the crews up to protect them from any potential cross contamination.
“We are still able to provide a fully functioning and safe ambulance service," said Mr Mapp. "We have increased the number of people on each team and split the crews up between different sites to help increase resilience. As I mentioned previously, we also have a lot of resilience with part-time and bank staff as well as a pool of St John volunteers who are able to support the service in a number of different ways. We are working as a big St John family at the moment and we’re grateful for the support
“We took the decision last week to split our ambulance crews between three sites - the Rohais, Les Cotils and Les Gigands, which is near Oatlands. This gives us extra resilience and reduces the risk to whole teams of staff. Crews are practicing social distancing and good hand hygiene, which is something everybody should be doing, by the way. Crews are also wearing PPE, in line with recommendations - including gloves, aprons and face masks, which is not only about protecting staff, but patients and the wider community.”
Pictured top: The ambulances need a deep clean after each call out.
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