Dial 1298 for Ambulance Newsletter November 2008 – March 2009 Issue 1298.03

DIAL 1298 FOR AMBULANCE OVERVIEW

(November 2008 - March 2009)

Mumbai Kerala

Total Number of Ambulances 51 30

Total number of Calls 8936 6122

Total Free / Subsidized Calls 876 888

Welcome to the third edition of the Dial 1298 for

Ambulance newsletter. During the last five

months, Dial 1298 for Ambulance has

strengthened and augmented its service

following our expansion into larger areas of

Kerala and Mumbai. The past several months

have also been a period of reflection for all of us,

as Mumbai was tormented by one the worst

terror attacks on Indian soil and Dial 1298 was

involved in the rescue efforts.

1298 was part of MEMEx, an emergency

management exercise performed in cooperation

with the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, the

Lifesupporters Institute of Healthsciences, the

Times of India Foundation, and 14 other

agencies. The goal of MEMEx was to prepare

Mumbai for disasters through a series of

community discussions that culminated

successfully in an emergency management drill.

The end of November, Mumbai was terrorized for

three days which left numerous killed and

injured.

During the tragedy of the 26/11 attacks, Dial

1298 was one of the first emergency service

providers to respond to the Taj and other sites.

We transferred 125 people to local hospitals and

were able to save a number of lives.

Also in December, LIHS was felicitated by the

Indian Red Cross Society for providing training in

Gujarat. 1298’s ambulance crew was also

felicitated by the Red Swastik Society for the

crew’s lifesaving contributions during the

Mumbai Terror Attacks.

In January 2009, 1298 celebrated the

completion of its first successful year of

operations in Kerala. This year has been a very

eventful experience for the entire 1298 team. A

number of our supporters have also visited us in

our new office facility. I take this opportunity to

welcome each one of you to come and visit so

that you can see first hand how we operate.

I hope you enjoy reading this third edition of the

Dial 1298 for Ambulance newsletter, and as

always I would want to conclude by hoping that

this year, too, we will continue doing good work

and saving more and more lives!

Message from CEO, Sweta Mangal

26th November, 2008 is a day that many people

will not forget for a long time. Over three days,

Mumbai suffered a series of coordinated terror

attacks that left over 172 people dead and over

300 injured.

The 1298 control and dispatch center received

calls from the Taj Hotel and Leopold’s Café as the

carnage started. A 1298 Ambulance arrived at the

Taj and at Leopold’s even before the Police or the

Para-military reached the scene. Through the

night, 30 ambulances from 1298 responded to

calls at various locations around the city.

In total, 1298 helped transfer 125 people,

including foreigners, Indians, Policemen, and NSG

1298 felicitated by the Red Swastik Society

LIHS felicitated by Indian Red Cross Society

The Lifesupporters Institute of Health Sciences (LIHS) has been

conducting training in emergency medicine and disaster

preparedness at medical colleges throughout Gujarat for over

one and half years. These trainings are usually for resident

doctors of medical colleges and are given free of cost.

Commandos during the three days. 1298 had

90 Ambulance crew members working on the

field at the incident sites 24 X 7, ready to

assist in the rescue of victims. All of the

transfers from 26th to 29th November were

done free of charge, in keeping with 1298’s

policy.

For the extraordinary efforts of 1298

ambulance staff (Drivers, Helpers, Doctors,

and Control Room call takers and dispatchers),

the Red Swastik Society recognized and

felicitated 1298’s entire ambulance crew at

their annual function this year.

In recognition of the outstanding work done by LIHS, the Gujarat State

branch of the Indian Red Cross Society gave special recognition to LIHS

team for their work.

The function was presided over by the Governor of the state of Gujarat and

president of the state’s Red Cross Society, Sri Nawal Kishore Sharma. The

ceremony was also attended by the Health Minister for the state of Gujarat,

Shri Jaynarayan Narmadasankar Vyas.

The Memento

This exercise was unique as this was perhaps the first

time in India that an emergency preparedness drill

had been conducted with such a strong focus on

emergency medical response.

It was also the first time that 12 national and

international agencies had worked together to

specifically improving disaster management.

1298 completes one year in

Kerala!

On the 31st of December 2008 the Kerala

team completed one whole year of

operations. This first year has definitely been

a very progressive and rewarding one for the

entire 1298 team.

The whole family of 1298 worked really hard

to make our Kerala venture a success! After

launching the service in two districts,

Ernakulam and Thrissur, on 31st December

2007, in a year’s time we expanded our

service to five more districts of Alappuzha,

Kottayam, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and

Thiruvanthapuram, increasing the number of

ambulances to 28 in Kerala.

We have also completed 10,000 calls in

Kerala since beginning service there; out of

which over 18% have been free or subsidized

calls.

To celebrate, there was a small cake cutting

ceremony held in the Kerala head office. All

team members took a pledge that they would

continue to give their all to make 1298 the

best emergency medical service provider in

Kerala and in India.

Mumbai Emergency Medical Exercise!

MEMEx was organized by the Mumbai University

Center for Disaster Management, P.D. Hinduja

National Hospital, and the Lifesupporters Institute of

Health Sciences, in collaboration with Municipal

Corporation of Greater

Mumbai and Dial 1298 for Ambulance as leading

partners. MEMEx took place from 3rd to 9th

November 2008, and was the result of multi-

institutional partnerships which were designed to

harness the strengths and capabilities of regional

emergency responders, hospitals, and state agencies

so as to prepare them to confront urban

catastrophes.

Twenty three international experts (faculty in the

various domains pertaining to disaster/emergency

preparedness) trained around 250 individuals as part

of MEMEx. Many trainees came from local

government organizations, including the Disaster

Management Cell and the Fire Brigade. Many medical

professionals were also involved.

MEMEx-

1298 Kerala has completed

its first year of operations,

and is still going strong.

1298’s new office had a number of visitors

over the last two months. The Sheriff of

Mumbai Dr. (Mrs.) Indu Shahani graced us

with her presences and so did Prahlad

Kakkar. Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the

New York-based Acumen Fund, also visited

1298. We also had visitors from Stanford &

Harvard Business Schools, who came to

understand and study 1298’s service model.

Since its inception in August 2008, the 1298 First

Responders Program has rapidly expanded, delivering

instruction in First Aid and Basic Life Support not just

to school and college students, but also to Mumbaikars

from all walks of life. By the end of March we will have

conducted 93 workshops in all, training a total of over

3000 individuals. Through our outreach efforts we

focus on training those individuals who are likely to

benefit most from our training, adapting our training

sessions to give them those skills which are likely to be

most useful for them. Key groups for whom we have

conducted workshops include: mothers/childcare

specialists, senior citizens, factory workers, corporate

offices, schools and colleges, and NGOs.

1298 First Responder

Program

Prahlad Kakkar

Dr. (Mrs.) Indu Shahani

Jacqueline

Novogratz,

CEO Acumen

Fund

Harvard Students at 1298

In addition to this primary focus on youth, 1298 First

Responders have also been conducting workshops for

senior citizens. Through these trainings we seek to

empower senior citizens to help themselves and each

other in the event of an accident or medical

emergency. We also provide instruction on medical

emergencies to which senior citizens are particularly

susceptible, such as choking, heart attacks, and

strokes.

1298 First Responders has also developed a training

curriculum which is specific to emergencies

encountered by young children and infants. We have

targeted this workshop at young mothers and childcare

specialists, and we include special instruction on

correct methods for handling children, dealing with

fevers and injuries, and responding to choking and

respiratory arrest.

If you are interested in organizing a workshop at your

housing society, school, college, office, place of work,

etc, please contact: info@lifesupporters.org

Visitors at 1298

Press Coverage

The Dial 1298 for Ambulance service continues to receive extensive coverage in various mediums such

as leading newspapers such as Times of India, DNA, Malayalam Manorama, Nav Bharat Times etc to

magazines such as Forbes, Modern Healthcare, Outlook etc to the Internet space with yourstory.in /

juniordr.com etc.

To read all the stories and happening at 1298, you can do so by visiting our blog at:

http://dial1298forambulance.blogspot.com/

We would like to thank the following for their continuing support

and encouragement:

Tata AIG Life Insurance

Red Swastik Society

Rotary Club of Bombay

London Ambulance

Service

Lifeline Foundation

Sheriff of Mumbai

Center for Study of Social Change

Lifesupporters Institute of Health Science

Ogilvy & Mather

Times Foundation

Acumen Fund

Eastern Group, GTN Group, Kalliyath Group, Federal Bank, the Mather Group, Health for All Foundation,

Alappuzha Chapter, Y’s Men of Thiruvananthapuram, Lions Club and Rotary Club of Thiruvananthapuram

Mosaic Capital

Ambulance Access for All

CSSC, M N Roy Human Development Campus, 2nd Floor, C Wing, Plot No 6, F -Block,

Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East,

Mumbai 400 051, India

Tel: +91 22 3957 1298 Fax: +91 22 3957 1297

www.1298.org.in