Starter Kit. Idea 352 of 500. Cluster 17
Ambulance and emergency-response subscriptions for the districts
The mechanism, from the book
Sri Lankans abroad have parents at home whom they cannot look after from Melbourne. They will pay, and the money stays.
The first step
Find out from the nearest hospital's emergency desk how long help takes to reach the villages in your district at night. Then ask 20 households with an elderly parent who they would call, and offer a yearly membership with one number to ring and a vehicle on standby, collecting signed pledges at a stated price. Enough pledges to cover a driver and a vehicle for a year is your answer.
- Who pays first
- A child abroad whose parent lives in a village far from the hospital, who would pay a yearly fee for one number that always answers.
- What leaves today
- Families now depend on a neighbour's car; a subscription turns money from Sri Lankans abroad into a funded local service, paid local drivers and a response record.
Ask first
- the area Medical Officer of Health. Ask how private ambulances work alongside the public emergency service here.
- Department of Motor Traffic. Ask what a vehicle must meet to be registered as an ambulance.
Check before you spend
The registration and equipment an ambulance must carry, the training your crew needs, and that members understand you add to public services, not replace them.
Find out these three numbers
- How long does help take to reach the villages at night?
- What yearly fee will households pledge?
- What does a driver and vehicle cost for a year?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.