Detailing the event to ABC News, Ms Schumacher tells that her experience of 50 years as a registered nurse instinctively told her she was having an anaphylactic reaction and to dial triple-0.
“I realised I was having an anaphylactic reaction, so the first thing I did was dial triple-0,” Ms Schumacher told the media outlet.
Problematically, her call wasn’t answered.
“About five minutes into the ringing, I ran outside, in the rain, in my socks, to the car and got my anaphylaxis kit out of the boot,” Ms Schumacher said.
It had been more than a decade-and-a-half since Ms Schumacher had gone through an anaphylactic incident, and she was without an EpiPen at her residence.
Ms Schumacher happened to have the kit because she is an immunisation nurse, with it being a part of the professional kit used.
With the call to triple-0 still ringing, Ms Schumacher administered the first dose of the adrenaline, and when after 15 minutes that call still went unanswered, she terminated the call and thought it best to focus on helping herself with resources from the kit.
Ms Schumacher had to lift her own eyelids to determine her blood pressure and heart rate as her eyes and face had become highly swollen.
An hour passed and after administering four shots of adrenaline and antihistamine to herself she began to feel the attack subside.
She decided not to call triple-0 back, realising what was going on with them. The RN believed the teams to be completely overwhelmed and thought herself to be in a lucky position to care for herself.
“I knew the system was pretty close to being overloaded, but it was pretty frightening to find myself in the midst of it,” she shared.
Ms Schumacher says that event has encouraged her to formulate a plan if an ambulance is unavailable again.
She describes it as being very frightening overall because people are led to think that triple-0 will always be there for them, that the reaction time is instant and that ambulances and paramedics will always respond when needed.
The alternative reality means that people need to realise the personal responsibility of thinking and planning ahead.
Not enough operators to manage calls, says union
The Ambulance Union frequently discloses that there are considerable delays in emergency calls being answered by the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), and Ms Schumacher’s experience is not alone.
The Union describes calls having been unanswered for upwards of 20 minutes and instances of aged care residences dialling the police for assistance with a cardiac arrest instead of waiting on hold for an ambulance.
Danny Hill, a Union secretary, highlights that low staffing amounts at ESTA are at the root of the problems.
Speaking about demand at its highest, Mr Hill says that the system just cannot cope. While the level of calls has happened prior, and will continue to occur, Mr Hill says there just isn’t enough staff to cover all the needs of ESTA.
ESTA has spoken out about the increase in demand for emergency services, and the consequence of increased wait time and delays in getting to emergency calls, describing the situation as “unacceptable”.
“Our triple-0 operators care deeply about the service they provide and the community they serve. We are always distressed if anyone has to wait,” an ESTA spokesperson commented after a busy night.
“Because of the level of demand last night, the call answer time for several events was outside ESTA’s target range for emergency ambulance responses.”
They added, “Since COVID-19, triple-0 ambulance call demand has increased by about a third, rising from a daily average of about 2,200 last October to about 3,000 now.”
Yearly report highlights standards failures across the spectrum
Yearly reports for ESTA and Ambulance Victoria were tabled in parliament recently, with two out of 214 reports released on what is dubbed the government “dump day”, when numerous government departments and services table their yearly reports.
Data starkly shows that 77% of code 1 emergencies were responded to within the standard of 15 minutes, from Ambulance Victoria’s yearly report. Additionally, the life-threatening cases, marked as priority 0, only saw an 81% response rate falling within the standard of 13 minutes.
The report detailed how the issues with time and delay were not limited to call response time but also upon contact with hospitals.
Melbourne’s major hospital yearly report highlights numerous cases not falling within the 90% standard of transferring an ambulance patient within 40 minutes, including:
A further concern saw multiple hospitals unable to hit the target of not having any patients present for longer than 25 hours in the emergency department (ED).
Of those hospitals that had patients stay longer than 24 hours, Sunshine had a total of 390 patients past that window in their ED, Monash Medical Centre had 58 patients and Werribee Mercy Hospital had 47.
The report also details how ESTA dispatchers were unable to meet key targets, with only responding to 86% of priority 0 and 1 calls within two-and-a-half minutes.
The report puts forward that a 15% upswing in calls to emergency personnel over the last financial and COVID year is a significant factor behind the delays.
During question time recently, Martin Foley, Victoria’s Health Minister, spoke of looking forward to the health system in Victoria being able to return to a state of equilibrium and normality.
“I look forward [to] when this global pandemic is out of the way … to get again into that space of partnering with Ambulance Victoria, with our paramedics, to get us back to that world-class standard,” Mr Foley addressed parliament.
Obviously the states are not bothering with building more hospitals and putting their voting taxpayers first. With so many people coming into our country and using our free health services as well it is crazy to think we can sit stagnant while people’s health deteriorate and some people die waiting. More people moving here means more hospitals, medics, doctors,ambulances and resources roads, schools, buses, housing. So many Australians not being able to afford a home. More public housing is also in desperate need. Our governments lie and say we are fine. Well. They are lying. And need to look after this booming large population growth that they all seem to want but don’t do anything about. Disgusting this country!