'Don’t always wait for ambulance' – Hon Ronnie W. Skelton
The Health Minister made that remark earlier today December 21, 2017 while being part of the dedication ceremony of two new ambulances donated to the BVIHSA.
“There is always a time when all the ambulances are out and there is a call. You cannot, if there is an emergency need for medical attention, it is important for the public to recognise that the patient is more important than the ambulance getting there so you need to find some method of getting people to the hospital or to the clinics so that they can get the help they need,” explained the Health Minister.
He added, “So while we try to get the emergency section of the hospital the resources it needs there will always be a time when we will not be able to respond.”
On the other hand, Hon Skelton stressed the importance of the private Sector partnering with the health Sector of the Territory. “First let me say on behalf of the people of the Government and the people of the Virgin Islands we thank Colonial Insurance for their generous contribution to building the emergency section of the Health Services Authority. And your contributions doesn’t stop there, we need more help.”
One of the ambulances was sponsored by Colonial Insurance BVI, whose General Manager Mr Carlton O’Neal was on hand to officially hand over the keys to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Unit of the Peebles Hospital.
Prior to the arrival of the two new vehicles, the Peebles Hospital was equipped with three ambulances.
Vehicles were scheduled to arrive before hurricanes
The vehicles were ordered in February of this year, with an expected deliver ydate of June 2017. The time frame was changed to August due to a delay by the manufacturer in building the chassis as specially ordered for the Territory’s terrain.
“As luck would have it the company sent an update two days before Hurricane Irma to advise a further delay until November. I use the word luck because had our two new units arrived as initially planned they would have been damaged during the hurricanes. Although in our case that may not have been a bad thing since our insurance provider is also the sponsor of the vehicle,” Chief Executive Officer of the BVIHSA Ms Paula G. Chester-Cumberbatch said at the dedication ceremony.
Ms Chester-Cumberbatch noted that as a provider of health services it is a requirement and expectation for the BVIHSA's response time to emergencies to be prompt and efficient. “For our emergency medical services team this is vitally important and in other to do so our EMS Unit must have an adequate fleet.”
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