The Health Services Authority has purchased six new ambulances to replace its current ageing fleet on Grand Cayman.
“Some of our equipment are carrying over 175,000 miles,” said HSA deputy CEO Ronnie Dunn. “They work well, and we keep them maintained but we can’t wait until they are falling apart because it is such a crucial service.”
The new fleet is expected to cost just under $1.5 million, and is part of a larger $8 million three-year initiative to upgrade and medical care, while decentralising outpatient treatment across Grand Cayman.
The HSA’s current fleet of patient transport vehicles on Grand Cayman include five ambulances, two non-emergency transport vehicles, and one rapid response vehicle.
The ambulances are stationed in different districts across the island, with the hopes of reducing patient waiting time between the dispatch and arrival of an ambulance. The exact number of ambulances at a dispatch centre at any given time will depend on the number of requests for services that 911 Communications Centre receives.
In some instances, one ambulance and its team are responsible for the coverage of two districts at the same time, such as the case in North Side and East End. However, the acquisition of the six new ambulances will see one dedicated ambulance for each district.
“The international standard is that the ambulance should reach you within eight minutes after you make that call,” said Dunn. “Right now, with the teams that we have, it is not always possible.”
To address the infrastructure challenge, the HSA has partnered with the Church of God in Bodden Town to use its church hall building as a new dispatch point, once construction of the facility is completed.
This will result in an additional EMS team, taking the total number of dispatchable units to six.
“That’s going to change the response time that we have and the resources we have in that area,” said HSA Board Chairman Osbourne Bodden who added that the project was near and dear to him.
In 2016, the Cayman Heart Fund donated a new ambulance to the HSA, which was worth approximately $150,000, $60,000 of which was raised through the 2016 Deputy Governor’s 5K run/walk.
The now 6-year-old ambulance will remain as a secondary unit to the current fleet of ambulances.
In 2017, Cayman Brac received a new ambulance, and in 2021 Little Cayman received its first purpose-built unit as well.
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