8 Berbice ambulance drivers trained as First Responders

The emergency response services for Berbice received a welcomed boost on Friday as eight ambulance drivers in the region completed emergency medical response training at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Speaking with the Department of Public information (DPI), Chief Emergency Medical Trainer for the Guyana Medical Emergency Services, Nandaram Datt said the training is part of the government’s plan to enhance the emergency response department within the Ministry of Pub-lic Health.
Datt noted that often times doctors or nurses responding to a scene may require assistance and, in most cases, the drivers are present and willing to assist, but due to lack of basic training they sometimes do more harm than good. As such, the decision was taken to train drivers on the basics so that if the need arises, they can be as effective as first responders.

The drivers were trained in basic life support and how to perform Cardiopulmonary resuscita-tion (CPR), how to handle a patient that may be choking, bleeding control and the proper pro-cedures for splinting a broken bone, in addition to protocols for securing and moving injured persons.
Datt said the response from the drivers was overwhelming and he was pleasantly surprised at their enthusiasm and commitment to the training. Prior to the training, the drivers did not have any medical training as they were employed mainly based on their driving experience.
The training was the first of many such planned for a 5-year period to cover the entire Guyana. The first phase which is currently ongoing is based in Georgetown while the 2nd phase will see the services branching out across the country based on the density of the population, until the entire length and breadth of Guyana is covered.