She
is the picture of a young fulfilled mother as she looks adorably
at her feeding baby. She smoothes his hair, kisses his tiny
hands and lightly tickles his pointed nose till he quivers and
breaks into a disarming smile.
“Isn’t he charming? Harris, my prince Harris,”
an overjoyed Murasiah says of her six-week-old son, touching
her face with his. “He has the most delightful smile I
have ever seen.”
Murasiah, 23, is among the tsunami survivors in Banda Aceh who
benefiting from the ambulance emergency call center of the Indonesian
Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia-PMI).
Murasiah recalls the day she gave birth to Harris on February
9, 2006. “I was laboring in pain for long hours. I was
waiting for my husband who had tried to get transport for us
from up on the main road, which is about one kilometer from
our house.” Murasiah lives in a makeshift house built
by her husband Abdurrahman at the farthest end of the temporary
living center in Alue Naga village in Banda Aceh, after the
tsunami took their house, and tragically killed two of her brothers
and one of her sisters.
“I didn’t know what happened next, but I remember
I was tucked in and was made to lie down inside a long vehicle
with my husband and two other people inside holding and comforting
me. It was a Red Cross ambulance, I was told later,” she
says.
“The arrival of PMI saved me and my baby.” She kisses
Harris whose eyes shine as if he understands his mother’s
words.
It turns out that the PMI ambulance was summoned by Murasiah’s
neighbor through the emergency call center 188. Murasiah explains
that her neighbor had learned about the call center from a friend
who once experienced breathing difficulties and was rushed to
the hospital in the PMI ambulance.
The PMI ambulance service has four fully equipped vehicles provided
by the Saudi Red Crescent, Taiwanese Red Cross Organization
and Schneider Electric, a private company. The project started
in October 2005 in the PMI branches of Banda and Aceh Besar,
and information was disseminated widely by word of mouth.
In January this 2006, the consortium of the National Societies
of Norway, Australia, Germany, and Hong Kong, which is supporting
the project in coordination with the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, decided to begin an
emergency call center – called 188 – which can be
contacted from a landline or a mobile phone – to make
the project more accessible to the public.
In February, the Irish Red Cross joined the ambulance service
project by supporting a one hour weekly radio programme in Banda
Aceh which, among other things, helps inform the public about
the service. Since the project started, more than 300 patients
have been assisted, mostly victims of road accidents and those
going through difficulty in breathing and suffering heart ailments.
The ambulance service project is manned by 40 well trained PMI
staff and volunteers who work around the clock on rotation basis.
The call center receives one to three calls each day, with numbers
steadily increasing as public awareness grows.
Prior to the tsunami of December 26, 2004, PMI used ambulances
in Aceh province primarily to transport the bodies of casualties
from the armed conflict. When the tsunami struck, PMI immediately
shifted the use of ambulances to carry victims of the tsunami
disaster. With the recent agreement of both parties to cease
hostilities in Aceh, PMI ambulance services have become even
more broad-based.
Vera Watti, 29, coordinator of the ambulance service in Banda
who for the past six years has been an active PMI specialist
disaster response SATGANA volunteer, says she likes the service’s
new role because “it save lives. In the past, sometimes
we just retrieved bodies”.
“No one has died from among the patients we have served
since the project started,” she adds.
Cut Murnita, a 23-year-old volunteer of four years who herself
lost nieces and nephews to the tsunami, says she finds her work
in the ambulance service very challenging. “I feel happy
every time we are able to respond to emergency situations and
give first aid.”
“I feel happier when I know that the person we have taken
to hospital has survived. I still sometimes imagine my nieces
and nephews struggling for their lives. I wish that I had been
there to help them.”
Thirty-year-old Priyatna, team leader of the Aceh Besar group
who has been a PMI volunteer since 1999, said he is proud to
be a part of the Red Cross. “I like the neutrality of
the Red Cross, especially in times of armed conflict. We were
the only ones who could go to the ‘war zones’ and
pick up the casualties without fear of being attacked.”
Prityana adds, “Now, I am even happier with the service.
We just don’t pick up bodies. We save lives.”
Marliana, 16, who was once helped by the PMI ambulance service
because of breathing difficulties, talks about her wish to one
day volunteer for PMI. “If people can save my life, I
can do it, too. I will learn first aid so I can help myself
and other people as well.”
As the PMI ambulance service expands, partner National Societies
are considering the possibility of developing the training and
services in other parts of Aceh province including Calang, Teunom,
Meulaboh and Nagan Raya.
“This is a most welcome change for the PMI role in terms
of ambulance service. Now that we have emergency call center
188, we will be more prepared to answer the call to save lives,
“says Pa Bustari, chairman of PMI chapter in Aceh province.
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Murasiah
was rushed to hospital in a Red Cross ambulance to give
birth to her son, Harris.
(p13923)
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The
PMI ambulance service has four fully equipped vehicles
provided by the Saudi Red Crescent, Taiwanese Red Cross
Organization and Schneider Electric, a private company.
(p13922)
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The
ambulance service project is manned by 40 well trained
PMI staff and volunteers who work around the clock on
rotation basis.
(p13920)
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Vera Watti is happy to be involved in the emergency call
center knowing that every she recieves a call she could
be helping to save someone else’s life.
(p13921)
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Marliana
who was rushed to the hospital by the PMI ambulance because
of breathing difficulties wishes one day to learn first
aid and become a PMI volunteer so she too can help save
life.
(p13919)
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News
