CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Vice Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda has created an emergency medical response unit as part of the disaster preparedness program of the provincial government.
“The call of the governor is to be ready,” said Dr. Jose Antonio “Jay” Rivera, a neurosurgeon who was appointed as executive director of the newly-created Pampanga Emergency Medical Response Unit (PEMRU), during the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) meeting at the Capitol’s Executive House here on Monday.
Rivera said the PEMRU, based at the Ricardo P. Rodriguez Hospital Annex in nearby Bacolor town, became operational just last July 16 during Typhoon Glenda. Rivera, who is also chief of the Provincial Health Office’s (PHO) Head Injury Unit, a charity unit created by Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda in 2011, said the PEMRU will also assists the province in times of outbreaks and epidemics like dengue.
“We are just here to supplement (the PHO), like if ever they need a pediatrician, we have a volunteer specialist who is a private practitioner but is willing to help,” he said. Rivera said, “We have a full staff of doctors and specialists and we have four teams available.”
He said there are seven doctor-specialists in the PEMRU – Anaesthesia, OB-Gynecology, Ortho, Pediatrics, Pedia-neuro, Infectious Diseases, Neurosurgery and General Surgery. He also said some of the nurses from different district hospitals have already volunteered to the PEMRU.
“Right now, we are training policemen and barangay tanods on how to respond to medical emergencies because we consider them our first responders,” said Rivera. He added that patients will be brought to the Rodriguez hospital where doctors can attend to them immediately.
“Mayroon pong titingin na doctor kaagad sa Rodriguez (There will be doctors who will examine them at Rodriguez),” Rivera assured. Even as they are focused on disasters and calamities, Rivera said industrial accidents in big companies as well as falls and electrocutions will also be their forte.
Rivera said PEMRU is on 24/7 to respond to any medical emergency. Ambulances strategically stationed near Lubao, one near Macabebe and another at the Rodriguez hospital will be on standby, he said. Meanwhile, Rivera said Vice Gov. Pineda is planning to have a “unified communications systems” and in the next few weeks “we will be coming out with a more extensive program.”
In the meantime, Rivera said PEMRU can be reached at the Rodriguez hospital telephone numbers. “I would like to enjoin everyone to support our endeavor with the vice governor,” he said.
