I stopped fopr a woman who had been knocked off her motorcycle by one of those scooter boys who always get just that little bit too close.
She had obviously broken here ankle and was in considerable pain. I made her as comfortable as possible while I waited for the crew to arrive.
When they did arrive she her leg was put into an inflatable splint. She was carefully put on a stretcher and treated in the ambulance before it drove off.
I did pinch myself to make sure that I hadn’t somehow managed to get teleported back to the UK (which is more likely than seeing professional ambulance crews in Taiwan) but I actually was still in Taipei.
so, scotty, are you saying the EMT’s here are trained to do their job they sam way EMT’s do their jo in the west? if so, why aren’t the ambulances here equiped the same as in the west?
Excuse my cheeky reply about the phone numbers.
I don’t personally have the phone numbers, but I’ll ask my boss for them.
I suppose the other problem is that the good ambulance services may be at the wrong end of town and be unwilling to travel too far.
Anyway, our customers are in most Taiwan cities, so I’ll see what I can do.
Scotty.
I would say that the answer is," budget"!
We used to import American ambulances.
Once, we had a call from one of the hospitals complaining that the 110volts wasn’t working in the ambulance when the defibrillator was plugged in. I checked the system and found nothing wrong apart from the fact that the defibrillator didn’t draw enough current for the generator to kick-in. (Switching a light on did draw enough current!)
I fixed the problem by adding a switch to the circuit, which turned-on a light bulb. Technical stuff!
The electronics and wiring for the american ambulances are amazingly complex and extremely expensive, but this problem could have been prevented if the ambulance manufacturer hadn’t thrown in an inadequate generator. Nobody’s perfect!
Anyway, our company are striving to improve the quality of emergency medical equipment in Taiwan.
There is a lot of red tape and corruption.
One customer had a huge budget for 14 4wd ambulances. The budget was so large, he demanded that the vehicles be specially imported.
The vehicles were subsequently imported and kitted-out with the cheapest Taiwan-made shit that you could imagine.
It’s a strange business!
I have been driving cars and scooters in Taiwan for over 11 years. I was always taught in England to treat every other road user is an idiot.
It certainly is true here.
It never ceases to amaze me to see scooter riders pull out of a junction without looking to see if the way is clear! It seems to me that their mentality is," If someone hits me, they will have to give me money."
No bloody use if you’re dead!
Enough ranting for now. Drive carefully.
Scotty
Which presumably includes the staff, no? A previous poster mentioned that he’d be more inclined to take a taxi than trust his chances with an ambulance here. I’ve had the same advice on more than one occasion – from hospital doctors.
Somebody mentioned at least Taipei has good ambulances and crew. I have to mention again that an expat last year had a simple medical condition in the Taipei area and a six year old with training and basic equipment could have seen the young expat through the crisis.
Also, another poster mentioned that these people may just be serving time.
What a contrast. I got to spend a lot of time in Australian ambulances being moved around with assorted broken parts and found out that the crews are the end result of massive pruning from initial applicants. They consider it an honour to have the job.
Interesting coincidence. I have been given this exact same advice by 2 Dr’s here in Tainan. The setting for our discussion was a social one and they were speaking in honesty.
Having seen ambulances stuck in traffic and the utter indifference shown by the traffic I understand this problem.
I however had no idea the EMT crews were so inept.
That’s right. I would say that on the occident, the emergency service personnel see their job more as away of life than an occupation.
I personally was picked out of 1000 applicants for the police. 5 of us got in. It’s the same for the paramedics and even harder for the Fire Brigade.
Most of the people involved in these PROFESSIONS would not be able to see themselves in any other job and probably wouldn’t want to. It is a carrer for life.
Here, it seems to be the easy option to while away military service. No passion for the job at all and certainly little, if no professionalism.