“While preparing tea for my grandkids, six-year-old Amy and eighteen-month-old Rory, I left them for a moment to answer the front door. Just as I was about to open the door, I heard screaming from the kitchen. Rushing back in I could see that Amy had toppled the chip pan of boiling oil onto Rory, who was now in horrific pain. The ambulance was called, but had a voluntary doctor not arrived first to intervene and treat Rory in those first critical minutes, we now know that the baby would not have survived. The doctor then drove Rory with his Rapid Response vehicle to meet the ambulance. Together they rushed him to the hospital while administering advanced life support care all the way. Such care is normally only available in a hospital environment. After many months in hospital, Rory is now back with the family.  Thank God for ICRR, its volunteer doctor and the ambulance service”

“I was leaving for work one morning as I had always done, but on this particular morning, running late, I rushed out to the car, turned the ignition and began to reverse out the driveway. Unbeknown to me, my five-year-old, Jack, had run out to say goodbye. What happened next is any parent’s worst nightmare. I heard the screaming and jumped out. I cannot even begin to describe the horror of what I saw. I had backed over my own son. The ambulance was called and though only twenty minutes away, the extra journey to the Centre for Excellence Hospital would take yet another hour’s drive. A volunteer Rapid Response doctor arrived on the scene and intervened with skills and trauma experience normally available only in a hospital setting. Thanks to the efficient chain link between the National Ambulance Service, the Rapid Response doctor and the hospital, our son is still with us.  Jack is back at school and our family cannot express enough gratitude”

“I was feeding my cattle late one evening, as I would have done each and every evening. On this particular evening, I was unaware that a bull in the field next to me had escaped. The animal approached so fast that the next thing I knew, I was impaled and ended up with serious life-threatening injuries. My son had meanwhile gone searching for me after I hadn’t returned and found me semiconscious. He called for help immediately. The ambulance was delayed as it was already involved in another event in the locality. The volunteer Rapid Response doctor who was on the scene first stabilised me by giving me appropriate levels of pain relief. I was transported by the Ambulance Service along with the accompanying doctor on the long journey to the closest Centre of Excellence hospital. Thankfully, the outcome was good and today I’m back on my tractor though more vigilant than ever before of local livestock.” – Tom