Volunteers prepare for cold snap

St John Ambulance volunteers in the West Midlands are ready and prepared to offer vital support to patients and emergency services during the winter period. New vehicles were officially welcomed to the fleet this weekend to help combat the potential cold snap.

Emergency care

The West Midlands team, which has 3000 volunteers across the county that give first aid care to the public each year, is bracing itself for increased injuries as the big freeze sets in. An official ceremony held at the weekend saw the inclusion of the following emergency vehicles:

• Two new frontline ambulances
• A brand new Command and Control Unit
• Logistics vehicle
• 4 x 4 ambulance donated by Jaguar Landrover

The team welcomed County Chaplain Mark Pryce to their Operations Centre at Summit Crescent, Smethwick. He officially added the vehicles to the county's impressive roster of 63, with a bariatric ambulance and more frontline ambulances to follow soon.

St John Ambulance volunteer crews are on standby to support NHS Ambulance Service Trusts, ready if needed with SJA 4x4 vehicles to reach patients in rural areas or to get to places conventional ambulances can't reach.

County Commissioner, Operations, for West Midlands, Paul Bytheway, said:

'St John Ambulance is a vital part of the nation's emergency response system, supporting communities and the statutory services in times of crisis. During the winter of 2009/10 volunteers crewed 4x4 vehicles to help patients that couldn’t be reached in traditional ambulances.

The new vehicles will help ensure that we are ready to respond to emergency call outs and event cover around the county. In winter, especially during the snowy and icy conditions we can expect an increase in the number of sprains and fractures we are treating because more people are slipping and falling in the cold weather and damaging their wrists, ankles or collarbones.'

In the West Midlands alone St John Ambulance clocked up 259 hours of voluntary service with some volunteers working six and eight hour long shifts in some instances not returning to their operations centre until 3am. Balancing this with day jobs can be difficult but worthwhile when helping communities with vital patient transfers, emergency calls and even assisting the elderly unable to reach or leave their homes in the heavy snow.