“Dial 119”

A severe heart attack can kill the sufferer within 3 minutes if immediate care is not available.

Some ambulance services are attempting to cut their travel time to such medical emergencies in the hope they can make a difference in reducing such deaths, but more emergency care training is also being stressed.

Recently, one such training seminar was held at the Nagasaki Prefectural Welfare Center for ambulance personnel to learn ways to improve survival chances for patients in severe emergencies.
The intensive trainings emphasize saving or rescuing the patient through the use of all medical equipment and means available to an ambulance staff.

The seminars are entitled the “Emergency Patient Transportation Workshop” and are sponsored by the Nagoya based NPO Japan Emergency Ambulance Association, and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency with a grant from The Nippon Foundation.

Currently, in Japan it takes an average of 6 minutes 18 seconds for an ambulance to arrive on the scene of an emergency situation after a call has been received at 119, the ambulance and rescue telephone number.Generally, about half of the people who suffer a very severe heart attack die within 3 minutes, if in addition to the attack, the heart stops beating, so it is extremely important that the persons on the scene or arriving on the scene have the training to give appropriate treatment and care.

These special workshops are designed for civil emergencies in which ambulance and welfare personnel are called out to deal with situations requiring 119 emergency care and transportation to a clinic or hospital.

These personnel are taught the use and handling of the AED (automatic external defibrillators) and other life-saving medical equipment carried in an ambulance for acute emergency situations.n addition to welfare, ambulance and emergency care staff involved in the transportation of seriously ill patients, the workshops are also open to people who are interested in learning about emergency care.It is hoped that these seminars will be expanded to teach more rescue and ambulance personnel, thereby reducing the number of fatalities encountered in acute emergencies.