This all, however, is slowly improving. There exists a representative group of EMS organizations called the Kenya Council of EMTs (KCEMT), an emergency medical steering group called the Kenya Resuscitation Council, and other interested private and non-profit organizations like the CDC and SHARE who are working together and with the MOH to develop their EMS system piece by piece. Ambulance services in Kenya are becoming more professionalized and are being used more for their intended purpose.
Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances are following agreed upon and standardized staffing, equipment, protocols, policies and procedures. Communications are developing, education is becoming more standardized, and the community is beginning to use the services more legitimately. Advanced Life Support (ALS), a recognized and much needed component in such a system is just coming on-board. To that end, a major piece of the advanced life support ambulance had been missing, cardiac monitor/defibrillators. Services had the ability and training to manage airways, access the vascular system to give fluids and medications, and perform lifesaving techniques such as CPR, but had no ability to impact cardiac related issues because of the high cost of such equipment – until now.
Twelve cardiac monitor/defibrillator units were brought by SHARE to Kenya and given to the KCEMT to be distributed to local representative ambulance services that had the capacity to deliver continued BLS and ALS level care as a part of sustainable and dedicated service in their developing system. The monitor/defibrillators will allow technicians to evaluate and properly treat cardiac conditions as never before, a standard that has been on ambulances in the US since the 1970s.
The advanced LifePak10 cardiac monitor/defibrillator units, batteries, charging stations and associated accessories were donated by WAVES (Western Area Volunteer Emergency Service Inc) in the Central Region New York and by the New Windsor Volunteer Ambulance Corps in the Hudson Valley Region of New York. On the evening of their arrival to Kenya, they were put into use by physicians, clinical officers and nurses on ambulances throughout the city, effectively giving the capital city of Nairobi the first ever 24/7 ALS coverage.
Congratulations to the KCEMT, the Kenya Red Cross and all those institutions and individuals who have made the use of these cardiac monitor/defibrillators possible in Kenya.
Much thanks to WAVES and the New Windsor Volunteer Ambulance Corps for their invaluable donation to the much needed and developing EMS system in Kenya.
SHARE is proud to have been a partner in the development of EMS in Kenya for the past 18 years through local education, equipment donations and a variety of public health improvement programs throughout the country, and will continue to assist in the development of EMS in Kenya as a dedicated partner well into the future.