Council staff join St John Ambulance to raise awareness of safe drinking - The Coventry Observer

Council staff join St John Ambulance to raise awareness of safe drinking

Coventry Editorial 26th Nov, 2016   0

COVENTRY council officers saw firsthand the affects of having ‘one too many’ when they joined St John Ambulance on a Friday night out on patrol in the city centre.

As part of Alcohol Awareness Week, officers joined the charity’s Coventry Alcohol Triage Service (SJACATS) team on the night shift last Friday (November 18).

With two St John Ambulance staff working in a fully equipped ambulance, they hoped to see what staff had to deal with as well as spread awareness of safe drinking across the city in the run up to Christmas.

The first call of the night saw the team with an intoxicated young person, who was taken to hospital.




St John Ambulance then traveled to Far Gosford Street to responded to reports of a heavily intoxicated and unresponsive female, who was taken to hospital for further treatment.

The crew then travelled back to the city centre to treat a patient outside a nightclub, who had suffered a head injury which had resulted from an assault.


Highlighting the importance of Alcohol Awareness Week cabinet member for public health and sport, Coun Kamran Caan said: “We want the public to understand the recommended limit and know the risks that come with unsafe drinking.

“Alcohol awareness week will gave the opportunity to get some important messages out there about staying safe and knowing your limits.

“This collaboration with St John ambulance also gave us the opportunity to help raise awareness of a very important service that works hard to help keep people in the city safe.”

Commissioned by Coventry City Council and Coventry and Rugby CCG, SJA staff are on standby with a fully equipped ambulance, from 11.30pm to 3.30am on Fridays and Saturdays to respond to calls relating to alcohol or drug use within the CV1 post code area.

Now in its third year, SJACATS has helped 413 patients have been treated, most of them have been between the ages of 18 and 22.

And thanks to the treatment they received from staff, more than half of them avoided needing hospital treatment.

Coventry council supported Alcohol Awareness Week to help raise awareness of the new Government guidelines of 14 units per week for men and women – equivalent to seven pints of average-strength (4 per cent) lager or four 250ml glasses of average-strength (12 per cent) wine.

The council also created the Wasted campaign, to raising awareness of safe drinking across the city and on social media.

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