New system of advice given while an ambulance is on the way has helped more than 110,000 people since October launch
“Hello? My wife is in labour at home – oh my God, I can see the baby’s head, what should I do now?”
This was the call 26-year-old Law Pak-yeung received merely two weeks into his job answering emergency reports; and one he would never forget.
It was morning of November 14 when Law got the report from a man whose wife was about to give birth at home. There was no time to get her to the hospital.
“I was freaking out a little bit at first because I didn’t have any experience of childbirth. But I told myself to keep calm, and took a deep breath as the father needed my help,” he recalled.
After sending an ambulance to the couple’s home, Law advised them using the new Post-dispatch Advice System (PDAS). Implemented on October 4, the system gives emergency callers over-the-phone advice for 32 common situations or illnesses.
Since 2011, the fire service – which oversees emergency calls in the city – has offered post-dispatch advice (PDA) to callers for six common problems including fractures, convulsions and hypothermia.
But in October it launched the new system, which uses questioning protocol software developed by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, extending PDA to more than 30 emergency situations, such as loss of consciousness, heart attacks and childbirth.
