By Ronan McSherry
A GREENCASTLE mother, whose baby was saved, thanks to the work of ambulance crews, has joined calls for the Health Minister not to rubber stamp the slashing of almost 6000 hours of cover locally.
Lorraine McCool from Maryville, says she is 'eternally grateful' to the ambulance service since they arrived at her door in the early hours of January 9 as she was about to give birth.
"It was a premature and very quick labour. The baby was breached, which is very dangerous.
"They managed to get me out to the ambulance and the baby just arrived there and then. The ambulance was there very quickly. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for the ambulance paramedics she definitely would not have survived, no way.
"Greencastle is so far from any hospital, my daughter needed attention there and then at that minute and the only option was the ambulance. We were in Enniskillen within a half hour."
She is appalled at the suggestion that ambulance hours could be cut.
"I can't believe it. It is a good job this was not happening at that time. Danielle is five months old today (Thursday) and I am so grateful to the ambulance people."
And endorsing that call is a former paramedic, who does not wished to be named.
The medic told the UH, "I don't know how they can start to cut hours. The capacity is not there to impose cuts. The ambulances are meeting each other on the roads. They are flat out.
"In Omagh there are four ambulances running all the time. They just can't afford to have vehicles taken off the road.
"I know in recent years the increase in the workload in Omagh for ambulance personnel has been phenomenal. I was shocked to see this area get hammered again and personally I thought it wouldn't happen in Omagh because of the situation with the hospital. Obviously they have no thought for that."
Both agree that the mooted Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs), which will bear medical equipment but cannot move patients to hospital, will not be able to replace the loss of the ambulance hours.
The ex-medic said, "Certainly, they are not the answer. If you take a RRV to the side of the road, they are going to have to sit and wait for an ambulance to come and transport a patient to hospital.
"That waiting time could cost lives."
