On Saturday evening, Monique Dries, a 20-year-old dancer, had a harrowing experience. She had dislocated her knee dancing while competing in a dance competition at a hotel back home in Darwin. The incident occurred around 8:15 PM, prompting her mother, Rebecca Davis, to call for an ambulance immediately. The reaction time was extremely lagged, forcing Dries to wait in agony for over six hours before assistance could arrive.
Her mother had to wheel her to the hospital on a luggage cart. In Dries’ case, she remained on stage for an extended time because her injury was so serious. The ambulance eventually arrived around 2:30 AM on Sunday, but not without complications. After a three hour wait, Monique Dries was denied admission to the Royal Darwin Hospital. She then had to wait another 45 minutes in the ambulance due to ramping problems in the bays at the receiving hospital.
Long Wait for Medical Assistance
Monique Dries suffered her injury while dancing in the show at the hotel. By her own account, she was in intense pain and unable to walk without crying out.
“I was lying on that stage floor for like four hours, I was cold … probably because I was also in shock as well,” – Monique Dries
“To put it simply, the picture is fatal,” said Rebecca Davis, who had been waiting with her team for the ambulance to arrive. In a last-ditch effort to end her daughter’s pain, she begged the 911 operator for any kind of palliative relief.
“It wasn’t until I started screaming in pain that they thought it wasn’t a cramp, it was something more,” – Monique Dries
For two hours, Monique Dries rested on an airport luggage cart. At the same time, her mother cast a wide net to keep things from spiraling out of control. Sadly, they met with resistance as Davis was moving her daughter in and out of their vehicle. The dislocation it turned out was so severe that moving her without inflicting excruciating additional pain was impossible.
Emergency Services Response
Andrew Thomas, a member of St John NT, the ambulance service involved in the incident, spoke out about the incident. He acknowledged that the injury, while painful, was not a risk to life. As a result, ambulance resources had to be diverted in other emergencies.
“Our emergency medical dispatcher assessed the patient’s condition to ensure she was stable and provided support over the phone,” – Andrew Thomas
He gave his picture of the long-time lack of ambulance availability. He said that the demand even without any scaling up exceeds what they’re able to do.
“Unfortunately our resources cannot meet this ongoing level of demand,” – Andrew Thomas
Delays such as this second one place a huge burden on emergency responders. They have tremendous effects on patients all across the community.
“The time spent at hospital significantly reduces the capacity of ambulance crews to respond to emergencies in the community and is symptomatic of ever-increasing demands on the whole health system,” – Andrew Thomas
A Call for Change
Throughout the day, Rebecca Davis of Center for Popular Democracy expressed her frustrations and indignation over the current state of emergency services. She emphasized the dire need to ramp up funding and staffing for ambulances. This move is important to make sure that what happened to her daughter won’t happen again.
“Our whole system is broken. We need to invest more in our ambulances and our emergency services because they are so underfunded, understaffed, overworked,” – Rebecca Davis
She added that taxpayer dollars need to be focused on improving essential services. She added that because of the current system’s deficiencies, it’s aggravating when instant assistance isn’t there, especially given the expectation.
“That’s where our taxpayer money goes; it’s for those vital services, and not being able to have them when you need it is really disheartening,” – Rebecca Davis
In the wake of this incident, St John NT is currently involved in ongoing discussions with NT Health. Reuniting both sides, they hope to focus on addressing these issues and increasing resources for ambulance services from staffing to vehicles.
“St John NT is currently in discussions with NT Health to increase the ambulance service’s resourcing, including staff and vehicles, to increase our capacity to respond to emergencies in line with community’s needs through the upcoming new ambulance service contract,” – Andrew Thomas
