Rotary Melbourne recently made a donation to St John Emergency Services PNG, to enable purchase of a Zoll mobile ventilator for use in ambulances transporting snakebite victims from Kwikila District Hospital to Port Moresby General Hospital.
St John sent this clip of the Zoll ventilator in action, using a simulated patient scenario: https://www.dropbox.com/t/3kM54DADBzx7vEtn
Zoll Z Vent mobile ventilator
The Project’s Clinical Director, Dr Arabella Koliwan, recently announced a breakthrough on cold-chain storage of antivenom. St John has leveraged its strong relationship with UNICEF and gained permission to use that organisation’s vaccine fridges to store antivenom. This immediately provides appropriate antivenom storage across 15 provinces and around 70 district health centres.
DFAT and CSL have extended their support of the PNG Snakebite Partnership for three years to 2027. CSL will continue to donate over 600 vials of antivenom per annum and DFAT will fund most of the training costs for health workers specialising in snakebite treatment.
Rotary’s ongoing support is needed, and could include provision of small portable fridges for transport of antivenom, USB data loggers for general cold chain management, and providing the disposable items used with mobile ventilators.
At the other end of the scale, Dr Koliwan’s ambitions include a dedicated snakebite ambulance. It is an unfortunate reality that snakebite victims given antivenom still lose their lives, due to time delays in evacuation to a General Hospital.
Whilst this represents a much more ambitious and audacious goal, Rotary has a track record of supplying mobile vehicles to support its area of focus in fighting disease. This would be an ideal project of scale and great way to involve other Clubs and Districts, as well as attract RI funding.
Rotary mobile van
According to St John PNG CEO Matt Cannon, “a dedicated snakebite ambulance would make a huge difference…an appropriate vehicle that has both a degree of off-road capability, enough space for resuscitation and can be serviced in PNG. One such vehicle…that meets these criteria is a Toyota HiAce 4WD, which the NT St John Ambulance Service has modified”.
NT ambulance fitted for snakebite treatment
Finally, Port Moresby Rotary Club has confirmed its commitment to join with Rotary Melbourne to actively support the PNG Snakebite Partnership project. Port Moresby RC has already donated over A$55,000 to St John PNG.
To make the “magic” a reality, Rotary Melbourne needs the participation of as many Rotarians and Rotary Clubs as possible, as well as District and Rotary International funding.
