St John supporting SECAmb in the snow

During the heavy snow period at the end of November, St John Ambulance in Surrey provided six 4x4 vehicles and crew to support SECAmb, the South East Coast NHS Ambulance service, assisting with a high level of 999 calls, enabling patients and casualties to be reached where normal ambulances cannot go.

Members of Felbridge and East Grinstead division assisted in their new vehicle and covered over 130 miles in one night. Two patients were transported to hospital, one treated at home and the crew were called to assist with two other incidents before being stood down – one of which was an imminent birth.

Andrew Latham, Assistant  Commissioner, and Andrew Clark, SECAmb Liaison Officer, attended four calls during this period and rescued fellow SECAmb staff and St John Ambulance members who had become stranded whilst making their way to casualties.

In one case they were called to a very sick man with breathing difficulties who needed urgent removal to hospital. His house was not accessible by road, however this did not stop Andrew Clark finding a way to get their 4x4 vehicle to the front of the property to assist the ambulance crew stretchering the man some 200 metres through snow half a metre deep to their vehicle

Another patient who required transport from her residential home to East Surrey Hospital, usually a 25 minute journey, told her crew that she was, 'enjoying the outing' after it took an hour and a half in the hazardous snow. The crew also rescued a stranded WPC.

Despite the challenges of the weather, St John Ambulance members in Surrey once again were the difference.