Lorraine’s long wait

OFFICER resident Lorraine Pigram had never called an ambulance before.
That was until, weakened by an infection, she collapsed and fell off the toilet.
Fearing she had broken her hip, Lorraine cried out to her son-in-law Martin, the only other person home at the time, only to find she was in too much pain for him to move her.
“He heard a cracking sound as he tried to move me and decided it was best to call an ambulance,” she said.
So Lorraine was left to wait in the toilet for an hour and a half, coming in and out of consciousness with her son-in-law desperate for someone to help her.
“It’s all a bit foggy for me,” she said. “But Martin said it was a really stressful time for him – that it frightened the hell out of him.”
Lorraine was finally taken to Cabrini Hospital in Malvern when the ambulance arrived and could not speak more positively of the officers who attended.
“From what I can remember they were fantastic, really good,” she said.
“I’m not taking anything away from them – it’s just scary to think that it took that long to get an ambulance when there is a station in Pakenham and Berwick.”
Gembrook Liberal Candidate Brad Battin echoed Lorraine’s sentiments.
“You can’t find a bad ambulance officer, they are fantastic,” he said.
“It’s the system they work in.”
Ambulance Victoria regional manager Simon Thomson said that new services had been introduced into the area in recent years and that the organisation was continually reviewing resources in the area.
– Melissa Meehan