The Ambulance Department is proud to profile a long time worker Driver and Nurse’s Assistant, Alberic Arrendell, who has been with the department since March 5, 1979, 31 years of service to the community of St. Maarten.
I started as a First Aid responder, Arrendell said. In time, I attended other classes and courses and workshops, moving up the ladder of being a 1st responder to that of and Emergency Medical Technicians to a Nurses Assistant.
The aim of the Ambulance department commemorating the week is to bring awareness of what the department does and also to provide information to the public that will provide more information on what to do when they call the emergency number 912.
Arrendell said that back in the day, the population was less and the skills used to do the job back then was different than today. Equipment is also different. The demand is different and heavier. One has to keep up every 2 years.
To the general public please pay good attention to what the EMS has to do.
Concerning the relationship with the public, we want to work closer with them and for the public to have more intimate knowledge of what we do here at the Ambulance department, Arrendell said.
Arrendell wanted to mention that when the public call in, it is important to provide exact information to the dispatcher. Take your time, explain the exact location.
We work in a department that deals with people’s lives, so we have to be exact. Every day, every shift, the machines and equipment are checked.
The Ambulance personnel are trained in many skills, namely: Transport of the sick and injured, General patient management, Patients assessment and examination, Cardiac monitoring and defibrillation, Oxygen therapy and resuscitation, Management if child birth, Drug therapy for conditions of respiratory distress, diabetic emergencies and seizure activity, Intravenous fluid therapy, Hemorrhage management, General first aid practices, Airway management, Fracture, soft tissue and joint management, among other skills that the personnel are trained in.