GHANA - DAY 19

First shift at The National Ambulance Service (NAS), Takoradi. CPD, donation order and some chill time.

Today I went to the NAS. I felt so at home, I got a massive amount of comfort from being in and near the ambulance 😁 I hadn't realised how much I'd missed it. Everyone was so welcoming and really happy we'd joined them.

They were really keen to learn from us about our trucks and processes and what we do on the road. Despite the fact that their equipment, in some ways is actually better than ours!

There are 20 ambulances in the western region. There are 3 levels of ambulance crew. Basic trained (which takes 1 year), EMT (2 years training) and paramedics (2 years training in North Dakota!). The Takoradi station houses the Control room / dispatch centre. There are 2 dispatchers for the whole region and they work 24 hour shifts. They take an average of 15 to 20 calls per day and decide whether an ambulance is needed.

The government funds the ambulance being used for accidents, taking women in labour to hospital, but the patient must pay for fuel if they're being transferred between hospitals.

The inside of the ambulance has lots of features and things that may be better than ours:
➡️ The spinal board slides under the stretcher.
➡️ The carry chair is bigger, more comfortable and doubles as a stretcher.
➡️ There is a ventilator on board.
➡️ Vacuum splints are standard.
➡️ Foetal monitoring on board.
➡️ The stretcher mechanism is purely mechanical, less likely to go wrong and easy to use.

Interesting points:
➡️ Not as many drugs (only carry diazepam, TXA, oxygen, dextrose and normal saline).
➡️ No drugs are locked away, the diazepam was on a little shelf next to the stretcher 🤣.
➡️ They carry diazepam to pacify aggressive patients!

We went through everything in the truck and s we were doing it one of their managers came out and told them they may as well use it as CPD!! So we went into full SIM mode 🤣 it was brilliant. We didn't get a job unfortunately, but we did get a lift back to the big blue house in the truck (all of us in the front 🤣).

They invited me back tomorrow, and it would be rude to refuse!! Here's hoping for a call 😊.

The order went in for the donation to ENRH A&E. It's very exciting. I'll update that separately.

Finally... It's BBQ night, food was lovely, and now my social battery is low... So I came up to chill, had a shower and now feel much brighter and ready for tomorrow!

**Photos taken and shared with permission** Czytaj więcej