Robert Lockhart was the chair for our February 13th, 2012 meeting. He gave Michelle Breen of Ambulance New Brunswick (ANB) a summary of what Rotary does and who we are. Rick Fazari introduced Michelle. Michelle has been here for 6 or 7 years now and originally comes from Newfoundland. She came here to be in ambulance services after her training in Newfoundland. On December 16th, 2007, the contracts passed to ANB. NBEMS joined ANB in 2007 under contract...
ANB are looking at what works best for vehicles now as far as efficiency and safety are concerned. Michelle mentioned that sometimes, it’s not all about looks. ANB has more than 130 ambulances and 80 ambulance stations with over a 1000 paramedics. They get 100,000 calls a year, and 9,000,000 KM racked up around the province. All ambulances are fitted, stocked and organized the same for efficiency and ease of use. This is so every paramedic can use the same ambulance and will be able to go in the vehicle and find what they are looking for without having to waste any valuable time. They have had some resistance to their efforts and experiments but have concluded that speed is not always necessary and sometimes even counterproductive or harmful. They also have an air ambulance, and you need at least five years of nursing in an emergency environment to work on this aircraft. All paramedics wear a pager and a radio. Safety is their number one priority!
Every vehicle has a black box, almost like a plane. Each paramedic has a magnetic key that identifies and reads and records the drivers’ actions and driving. This will identify and notify dangerous driving audibly and beep if the driving is not safe for the conditions. Each move is communicated via satellite, and if the driving is too severe, it can result in an infraction against their abstract. Dispatchers are based in Fredericton and Moncton, so everything you can give them as far as directions are helpful, relevant and vital.
Tips to remember: Stay Calm; only call 911 for emergencies, they will ask specific info in a particular order, but this is for a good reason. Their website is www.ambulancenb.ca.
Past President Donna Gilchrist thanked Michelle for coming.