Follow up from Grub's death

[DougieNZ]

Interesting that everyone on here is caling the road (SH43) the forgotten highway.

Now I'm pretty sure that the road is signposted each end as the forgotten world highway. Now could this be a case of people swearing to know the "name" of a road and passing this on to the emergency services, but having the road name incorrect? This is where the database has to be quite clever. It not only has to be able to identify actual names, but also like names that the road may or may not be known by.

SH43 should have nailed it though. I think we have to have some sympathy for the emnergency call takers here. I have actually listened in at a comm centre once, and you would be amazed how shocked people react in emergency situations and then resort to abuse when their "message" is not received. People will swear that they were quite clear with the message they were giving, but in fact the reality is that the opposite was the case...

Now I am not aligning this attitude with this particular case. I attended both the 1000km ride and Grub's funeral. If anything can be learnt from this tragedy, then I am all for it - and I commend you Kari for your strength and resilience. If only we were all so strong....

This is an example of the sorts of calls that can come in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ6_rQ4GTMc

Regards

[nudemetalz]

As others have said, awesome job, Kari.
Brett would have been proud

[Maha]

Awesome article Kari....
Alot of work gone into getting it to this stage.



PS: What shade of lippy was that?....

[Mom]

Thank you Kari for continuing to keep the pressure on over the issues that have come to light since Bretts accident.

There must be accountability for errors made and an assurance that any shortcomings are identified and remedied to prevent them happening again. That article certainly brought a new awareness to the general public of the issue of colloquial/common/local names and reminded St Johns that they need to properly address the problem. Setting up a website for these known names to be registered and the fact that cross referencing of calls will be made in future is a good step forward from the inquiry.

Top effort, I am very proud of you. I could almost see the grin on Bretts face while I was watching the article.

[James Deuce]

PS: What shade of lippy was that?....

Haha! I wasn't the only one thinking how well it suited her then?

[Nasty]

....
Top effort, I am very proud of you. I could almost see the grin on Bretts face while I was watching the article.

Yeah that was his pic painting the porch at mums place ... I miss his grin...

[Gareth51]

As what has already been said , well done Kari

[YellowDog]

I do hope the Ambulance service recognisie this problem and takes steps to improve their ability to locate the needy.

My wife works as a tele-nurse and last night took a call which turned out to be a child with severe breathing problems. She called for an ambulance only to be told that they cannot find the address in their system to enable them to attend. She confirmed the address again however they still coild not help. I don't know what the outcome was as she patched them through to the child's mother.

Pretty serious really.

[yungatart]

Well done Kari!
Lets hope that they make the changes necessary so that no one else has to go through this again.

[2_SL0]

Very well done.

[sunhuntin]

that was brilliantly well done. a national database, that everyone can add to, is a top idea. you came across great, better than most of us would have managed. your strength constantly amazes me.

[sels1]

Good stuff Kari, this may save a few lives in the future

[ynot slow]

That was great.

The hardest part is when guys/girls tiki tour we know where we are going,but not the road names,i.e I know sh30 is between Te kuiti - Taupo but not the road name.

The call sent from Tahora gave the guys a rough area,perhaps the despatchers need to forward the call to closest ambulance center either Taumaranui or NP,that way it is manned by people familiar to the area.

And as all naki people know there is blank spots throughout the province,highlands/lowlands befor Eltham,Awakino area,Whanga etc.

Hope they know surf highway is sh45,once again saying surf highway could be anywhere between Hawera and NP,how many outsiders would know they are in Oeo or Okato,about 30 minutes apart.

[the mouse]

Good on you Kari.

What about this ... a Fire service call here directed from the "call centre" to a roof blowing off in storm at an address in Stewart street, they arrived and were miffed. Turned out it was actually in Stuart Street and the house located right beside their fire station.

[howdamnhard]

Well done, good work.