Emergency medicine doctor Keith Kennedy is at his home, tidying away his child’s breakfast when an alert comes through his phone. It is the third one in an hour, letting him know of a person who is in need of medical assistance.
“Someone has a cut in a coffee shop, they’re 20 years of age,” the message states.
In his spare time, Dr Kennedy responds to serious incidents and life-threatening medical emergencies, receiving messages through the National Ambulance Service.
“If I was free and available I could go there, wrap it up, give them pain relief and maybe they could refer themselves to a minor injury unit,” he says.
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The south Dublin native is one of three doctors who volunteer in Dublin with emergency medical response charity Critical to take pressure off the ambulance service and improve the speed of emergency response in their community.
When a notification comes through and he is available, he will get into his Critical care response vehicle – which costs an average of €150,000 to put on the road – often arriving first on scene, before the paramedics.
“In the back of my car, I have a monitor which is high spec, so I can kind of monitor as much as you probably would in an emergency department. I have a hand-held ultrasound which works on an iPad or your phone and it will let me look into lungs or heart or find a difficult vein for cannulation,” he said.
“I have a ventilator that I can use and then I have a range of medications, similar to what an advanced paramedic would have with a couple of extras like full trauma kits, splints and those sort of things.”
Dr Kennedy took up this role in July, and has since responded to 50 calls. These covered a range of issues including traumatic injuries, falls, traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, chest pains and strokes.
He was part of a multi-agency operation in August when a casualty fell 12m from Shanganagh Cliffs, providing medical care at the scene and travelling in the rescue helicopter with the patient.
“I find calm in chaos. I think most emergency physicians, to a point, are like that. I have had call outs for people who are four months old, to someone who was 99 years old. I’d say about 50 per cent are trauma and 50 per cent are otherwise,” he says.
“I had a young chap with a dislocated kneecap. He just needs a painkiller, put back into place, splinted and an x-ray. But rather than waiting for an ambulance, it was a particularly busy night that night. I was able to help him, put in some disposable splints and he went into his own mum’s car and she brought him to the emergency department.”
The pressure on the ambulance service is part of the reason why such a service is required, he said, with demand for the ambulance service increasing 25 per cent nationally since 2019.
The HSE has set targets to respond to 75 per cent of “purple calls” (life-threatening cardiac or respiratory arrest) and 45 per cent of “red calls” (life-threatening illness or injury, other than cardiac or respiratory arrest) in 19 minutes.
Figures for the first six months of the year show it has exceeded its red target, with 46 per cent responded to on time, while it is below target for purple at 72 per cent.
Given he already works a demanding job, why did he decide to volunteer? It is something he has always done, after getting involved with St John’s Ambulance when he was 10. But he also believes it is particularly important now given his qualifications.
“I would just feel bad to know that one of my neighbours needed my skill set and I didn’t know,” he said.
“I live in an area of transition. There is a lot of people in their 80s who bought the houses originally, and there’s lots of young families. They’re kind of the most vulnerable groups and I live in a very good area; I’m lucky to live here. So I would just feel bad not looking after someone.”
