Innovations dazzle at Australasian ambulance services awards

The 2012 Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA) national conference in Hobart concluded last night with an
awards ceremony recognising the innovative and world-leading programs and initiatives across the Australasian
ambulance sector.

CAA Chief Executive Officer Greg Mundy said the awards were developed to encourage and acknowledge
innovations from Ambulance Services throughout Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

“The level of innovation and creative thought that has gone into these projects and initiatives is truly
astonishing,” Mr Mundy said.

“Some of these projects have the potential to change the landscape for ambulance services, not just in Australia
and New Zealand, but worldwide.”

The four category winners for 2012 are:

Clinical Capability – St John Ambulance WA, Randomised Placebo Controlled Trial of Adrenaline in Cardiac Arrest
(The PACA Trial), Professor Ian Jacobs.

Management Practice – St John NZ, Building our Operations program, Michael Brooke.

Educational Performance – South Australian Ambulance Service, eBooks for Rural Volunteer Ambulance
Recruits, Kerry Sutton.

Technical Capability – St John NZ/Lightfoot Solutions/Canterbury DHB, Canterbury Pilot- Joined Up Data, Dave
Thomas.

The Star Award, the overall prize given to the most innovative and ground-breaking initiative, was taken home
by St John New Zealand, in association with Lightfoot Solutions and Canterbury DHB.

Utilising Lightfoot’s groundbreaking sfn (signalsfromnoise) technology in their pilot project, St John NZ were able
to follow and measure the patient journey from emergency call through to admission, treatment and discharge.

This technology could potentially enable ambulance services to more efficiently identify patients with life
threatening conditions and monitor and measure ambulance services’ contribution to hospital admissions and
patient outcomes.

Mr Mundy said the project was another example of the innovative thinking on display in the ambulance sector.
“This initiative truly is unlike anything we’ve seen before,” Mr Mundy said.

“It has the potential to save countless lives all over the world and I look forward to seeing it progress over the
coming years.”
2012 CAA Confrence