Siren rings out for community ambulance

Free Subang Jaya service needs funds to continue operations

HERE’S the job description: Attend to a Covid-19 patient having breathing difficulties during his quarantine at a hotel.

Then, proceed to someone’s house where a woman tried to hurt herself.

From there, go to an apartment where a man had found his roommate deceased.

Following that, there are another three Covid-19 cases to look into.

“It was one heck of a day,” said ambulance supervisor Amala Dass, recalling the events of July 17, 2021.

Dass is part of a team of paramedics and medical assistants with Subang Jaya Community Ambulance service, which provides free assistance in emergency and critical cases.

From 2020 to 2022, the service attended to a total of 2,591 cases.

The service itself is now in need of help, with its organisational funds running dry.

The range of cases covered by the service and the areas under its care is by no means small, according to accounts of cases reported by Dass on social media.

For example, the team recently helped a 73-year-old who nearly drowned at a community swimming pool.

The case came via 999, which notified the community ambulance service about a drowning victim and that CPR was being administered.

“Our team responded immediately and sent him to the hospital,” said medical assistant Ethan Goh, 23, in an interview.

“He survived after five days in the intensive care unit.”

Since 2017, the ambulance service has been available to people in Subang Jaya. Its area of coverage spans PJS7, 9 and 11, SS12 to SS19 and USJ1 to USJ21.

This means the free service is on hand to help thousands of households. For instance, there are 1,034 homes in USJ13 alone.

On very busy days, the team has to deal with nine cases a day. The average is three cases daily.

Each case would be filed meticulously by the team at the end of the day.

“We would respond to emergencies or critical cases,” said operations director Kelvin Chew.

The patients would be sent to Serdang Hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital or Shah Alam Hospital, depending on the person’s situation, he said.

For example, trauma, dengue or accident cases are sent to Shah Alam Hospital.

But in cases defined as Code Blue, in which the person is in a life-threatening medical emergency, Chew said the patient would be driven to the nearest hospital.

The community ambulance service runs from 8am to 8pm daily. Those in need of help can call the hotline at 018-914 4699 or 018-201 4699.

“Our emergency hotline is linked to 999 as well,” Chew said.

All these costs are borne by Subang Jaya Bomba Emergency Assistance Community or SJ Beacon.

SJ Beacon president TH Teoh said the ambulance service required almost RM25,000 a month to run.

This includes paying the salaries of paramedics and part-timers, vehicle maintenance, fuel and medical equipment.

The five part-timers, who are medical assistants and medical students, are paid hourly based on a nominal rate.

Problems have cropped up in terms of vehicle maintenance, as the service is dependent on only one ambulance instead of its usual two.

The other vehicle has been in the workshop for the past six months, because of the unavailability of spare parts that were deemed almost obsolete.

Things are dire. “We have funds to continue running the community ambulance for the next two months,” said Teoh.

Otherwise, he said the service might need to call it a day.

As such, Teoh welcomes donations to Persatuan Bantuan Kecemasan dan Bomba Komunity Subang Jaya at Al Rajhi Bank and account number: 12300-1170704566).

“Let us make a difference in the lives of those in need and ensure the availability of emergency medical care for all,” he said.