The Young Turks

'Dial 1298 for Ambulance' had a team from CNBC shooting the Ambulances, the control room and interviewing Sweta Mangal, the CEO of 1298 Ambulance who was being profiled on the show 'The Young Turks'

The MoU with Red Cross

Signing of the MoU with Indian Red Cross Gujarat State Branch to conduct Emergency Medical Technician - basic Course at Ahmedabad

The BLS Testimony

An email received from a participant of the First Aid and Basic Life Support course:

Good morning,

Yesterday I encountered a medical emergency situation in mid of heavy traffic situation.

Thanks to the efforts taken by you for the BLS training which enabled me to act on the steps trained for epilepsy and I was more of a help rather been an another ignorant bystander.

Training not only came handy to provide first aid, save life and avoid wrong decisions by layman there but also helped in immediately clearing off 20 min hold traffic which added to commotions.

Apart from the one incident which happened post the training, I encountered a road accident just the road opposite to my residence. And again the BLS training came in handy, the teenage motorcyclic head a severe head injury and later inquiring @ local hosp found that he is in cure @ ICU.

1. The incident started with a loud screeching sound while I was having breakfast.

2. Jumped out to see thru the window and saw motorcyclist was sliding on a road.

3. People running to help ( that's when I wanted to run as well, but with different intention - to avoid any mishandling of person and too avoid traffic scenario.

4. As soon as reached the spot, all wrong decisions were being called out from all directions as usual and two of the people were trying to lift the patient with blood oozing profusely in haphazard manner.

5. I immediately shouted that "I am trained in this" and asked all the people to get aside and only two should help.

6. That made the scenario little more different to that where its mostly a show on the road with nobody to take ownership but all giving suggestions and directions.

7. I managed to get a long cloth ( I think my brother tossed from the window, immediately tied around the head as there was no time to waste coz the patient was half conscious.

8. Meanwhile people have made the cab waiting.

9. We three on count of 3 lifted patient, me being in centre position and slided into the cab and the pillion rider ( he managed with bruises) along with the motorcyclist went to the hospital.

As the Nair hospital was around a 500 to 600 meters, it was no sense to wait for any kind medical help on the road and getting the patient there was more ideal choice.

2 or 3 days later somebody at the salon met me and congratulated that I have acted responsibly and after enquiring found that the patient was @ ICU and had a major head injury.

At this point, I would take this event to THANK YOU all in empowering us to handle these kind of everyday situation of saving lives and would urge that these initiative should continue.

By these kind of initiative it contribute to social cause and in addition to fulfilling our obligations to society and these kind of activity adds to Kotak image, and brand value.

Regards,

Riyaz Ahmed.

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Ltd

All Guns Blazing...

This is the blog posting by Shobhaa De on her blog: http://shobhaade.blogspot.com/

Mumbai is lucky to have a woman as Sheriff. Dr. Indu Shahani probably has a fan club that is as big as any movie star's - but her 'performance' is of an entirely different kind. As Sheriff and Principal of a leading commerce college where her father was the founder - principal, here's one woman who plays several critical roles with enormous aplomb.... and efficiency. As Sheriff of India's premier city, she has made the most of her ceremonial, non-executive position, by really pushing for change in areas where it is most needed - like women's issues. I was invited by her as chief guest at a workshop on " Orientation on sexual violence against women ". This was the third in an on- going series that sees over 7o NGOs participating and working together for a common cause - a rare enough feat. Last year, Indu started "1298 Women's Helpline'' with the assisstance of these NGOs and also launched Ambulance Access For All, which provides a 24x7 service. 1298 has received over 8000 calls from women in distress. There is also a directory for women launched by Sachin Tendulkar some time ago.

I was there to listen and learn. My take - away is that all these initiatives are excellent in themselves, but would be far more effective if they were to work still more closely together and harness their energies collectively. Shweta Mangal, along with 5 others has succeeded in replicating the ambulance model in 3 cities and now runs 91 such, well- equipped units that can reach a person in trouble within 15 minutes. She sagely says that since people don't always value a free service, her company charges fees depending on the person's financial capacity to pay.

Our Mumbai police have done a fairly good job with their 103 Helpline for Women. I was happy to note the presence of three women cops who were attending the workshop.

As in most such non-profit ventures driven by idealism and little else, funding remains the number one priority. There are enough charged up young volunteers offering time and expertise. But additional money would definitely help.

For all those of you who are interested in contributing time\effort\money, here are the relevant contact details - dial 1298 for the ambulance service. And the Sheriff can be accessed on email : sheriffofmumbai@gmail.com. There's also a website: www.sheriffofmumbai.com.

Like I said in my short speech, women need to know they aren't alone. That is key.Everything follows from the reassurance that help is but a phone call away.