Sophie's Angels

By Jill Campbell Mackay

IT’S COMMON knowledge that the Cyprus Ambulance service is in a pretty poor state, with ambulance crews woefully inept when it comes to providing an early effective intervention service.

On board crews lack essential training, the ambulances are ill-equipped: in other words, they lack the two key elements that essential for stabilising patients until they reach a hospital emergency department.

The continued lack of skilled paramedics has hampered efforts to raise the grim survival rates of accident victims, with government figures released by the Health Ministry last year revealing that up to 50 people die each year because of the failings of the ambulance service.

Currently, ambulances carry a medically untrained driver, and a nurse, who is, however, not allowed to administer medication to the patient.

In short, the ambulances are little more than taxis with sirens, and you’d be forgiven for thinking the taxi might be the better bet to get you to hospital fast.

Scotsman John William Thompson wants to change all this, by setting up a professionally-run ambulance service for the Paphos region staffed by properly trained paramedics.

He started off by explaining his motivation. “My friend and now partner in the scheme Panie Eracleous’s three-year-old daughter fell into the swimming pool, and although, through first aid she managed to breathe again, the little girl died shortly after due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. At around the same time, another child suffered the same fate, and two others ended up with serious brain and lung damage.

“That’s when we both made the decision that people needed to have an ambulance service that truly delivered a service to the community, one they could trust, so when the ambulance arrived they could with confidence pass the patient into the capable hands of trained paramedics.”

John speaks from experience. He is a qualified paramedic, who in turn trains other paramedics. In his capacity as a medical and safety officer, coupled with two decades with the army medical corps, he is a man uniquely qualified to get such a service on the road.

But there is one big problem.

“Money is what’s needed to cover the running costs of such a service. Panie and I are raising the necessary capital to buy and equip four ambulances. But the cost of maintaining the equipment and constant training of staff is where we need help. You can’t keep a service like this running on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis without money to pay salaries and to keep a state-of-the-art fleet of ambulances on the road.”

Last August, then Health Minister Frixos Savvides said that a centralised ambulance service, with specially-trained paramedics would be up and running within 12 months. John takes this pledge with a pinch of salt.

“I find it difficult to believe that properly-trained personnel can be available within that timeframe. Full training in Europe takes on average three years to complete, with exams at each annual level; add to this the need for these trainees to carry out 25 live intubations (inserting of special tubes to assist breathing), and 25 live intravenous infusions (putting canulas into veins) — these basics of advanced life support are all part of the qualification system — and no paramedic is allowed to be let loose on the public until he or she has gained these qualifications.

“Where would all this be done, when there is no national training school in existence? Initially we would have to bring in qualified personnel until such time a as this training was in place”

The Ministry indicated last year that a percentage of the running costs of the new service would be paid; the figure being offered is anything between 20 and 70 per cent. John has his own thoughts on this offer.

“I believe that the Ministry genuinely wants to solve this problem and so be able to deliver an effective ambulance service in line with the World Health Organisation’s 1994 report, which stated that the current ambulance service should be replaced by a paramedic-run service.

“Nearly a decade later, despite a plan being presented to the government nothing has been done, I suspect. The powers that be will help us to a certain extent then sit back and watch to see how we get on, then hopefully they will take our work standards module and replicate it nationwide.”

But if you are sitting here with all the knowledge and experience to run a paramedic service, but without the cash to maintain the service, what’s the next step?

“The wise move would be to bring us into the fold and use our hard earned expertise, specifically the successful paramedic ambulance station we set up and ran in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.”

Panie is the other half of the partnership, and it’s his unique talents and dedication that have so far managed to generate the money to buy the essential equipment to fit out a minimum of four ambulances, which will be imported from the UK within the next two months.

Panie feels strongly that, “We need to bring this rather critical situation under some form of professional control. That would be the best way, with everyone working together for the good of the entire community, but alas this dream is doubtful unless we generate the amount needed for annual running costs.”

It’ll be a year in August since little Sophie died. The fervent hope now is that by naming the new ambulance service ‘Sophie’s Angels’, her parents, along with John and his team, will have a constant reminder of this little girl, that her tragic death will at least have brought about direct action, action that will hopefully be translated into preventing similar anguish for other parents, and other families.