Medical Evacuations

Part of living on remote Island in the middle of great big ocean is accepting that we may not have the necessary resources on Island to deal with every medical emergency hat may eventuate. Medivacs/ medevacs occur when the local health resources are either unable to treat a presenting patient or are unable to ascertain that a presenting patient has an illness, or injury, that may lead to further complications. While most medevacs are to treat obvious injuries, or for patients clearly in need of further medical intervention, there are reasons for otherwise healthy-looking people to be sent off the Island. Putting a patient on a plane to leave the Island, their family and friends is not a decision that is taken lightly, this is always done with a best possible patient outcome mindset.

I seem to have a thing for oranges of late, so I’ll stick with the orange analogy, if you’ll entertain the idea. Looking at an orange we can usually tell what is going on, it looks good, might be a bit shiny, smells fantastic and is nice and firm when you give it bit of a squeeze. Problem is though, every now and then, you get one that is dry and chalky when you cut it open, or bitter to taste when you chomp in. Simplistically, people can present similarly, bumps and bruises can cover a multitude of further injuries, while medications can reduce a fever, or bring a heart rate down, they may be only masking an underlying, insidious complication.

CT scans are the gold standard for assessing patient disposition. A CT scan will find a spinal fracture that an x-ray will never pick up, can diagnose heart blockages or brain injuries that would never be detected under normal circumstance. For medical staff to be satisfied that a patient is at no further risk of injury, and that any presenting injury is detected, the CT scan has become a fundamental aspect of modern health care. Spinal injuries, heart blockages and brain trauma are a few of the life changing events a modern trauma centre will be able to detect and treat.

While all these medevacs do draw on volunteer resources, they are an essential part of the service we provide, and at times are a great opportunity for new volunteers to become involved with the ambulance service, without the stresses of the unknown. As a group we have become adept at managing the challenges that our working environment presents us with.

Our next skill drill will be held on Tuesday, August 13, at 6:00 pm.

If you are interested in becoming a St John volunteer or, for more information, please email norfolk.island@stjohnnsw.com.au or james.garden@stjohnnsw.com.au