Ambulance Safari

Our transportation for the Health Camp was an ambulance provided by Microsoft of Bangalore (pictures attached). It was a regular Ambulance (logo on back if I remember correctly), with sirens and flashing lights, yet there appeared to be no life-saving equipment in the back (with the exception of the 4 Medical Doctors of course). I wondered about this ambulance for a while, but I thought to myself: If I question, the ahhhh….DETAILS….. such as, for example, “Where is the oxygen?”, "Is there a defibrillator?", I would certainly come off as just another “high maintenance American”, so I pondered this “ambulance” set-up silently, let it go, and just enjoyed the ride. I knew the story would emerge later and certainly, it did. This particular Ambulance is reserved for PSYCHIATRIC patient transfers. OK, so this suddenly made sense. (Above are the pictures, and the doctors in transit to our Health Camp.)

As we traveled to the small village where the clinic would be conducted, the roads were very crowded, at times with people just kind of sitting in the road, or lots of people walking, lots of cows, lots of men carrying long pieces of sugarcane or building materials. We had a driver who was just amazing, and the sweetest young guy ever. I will reveal more details about him as these blogs continue. Of course, he was "keen on speed", therefore, he at times turned on the sirens and flashers, though we were just a happy group of volunteers simply travelling to a destination, not in a terrible hurry. The sirens brought attention, and of course I was sitting up front, with an up close view of everyone we passed. As I am a “smiler”, I am sure everyone we passed wondered how we could be in such an emergent situation, with sirens and flashers going, and yet such a cheerful, happy, smiling rider up front. The sirens did work, however, and it was a lot of fun, and no harm done. (Though the villagers for sure had to wonder why I was so happy when someone could be seriously ill, and under the attention of the (non-existent) "crash cart" in the back? Haha).

We were able to use this Ambulance during the entire trip, for the Medical Doctors, Mohan Krishna (the organizer and camp facilitator), the driver, and me, 6 of us. There were many other volunteers, as mentioned in the initial blog (25 or so), that used separate transportation, and we all came together to participate in the Health Camp, where we did have meds, proper equipment, and the doctors, nurses and other volunteers were able to provide exceptional medical attention, while the EMC2 organization was able to collect and utilize data, etc.

Most excitedly, on 2 occasions, we were able to use “The Microsoft Ambulance” to ride through a safari area, once at night, and once in the early morning (6-7 AM). The roads were curvy and the driver was speedy, and it was after all a van, top heavy. I looked over at one point and I think we reached 60 mph. I am still always confounded at why drivers here feel the need to drive so fast.  But HEY, I was a passenger and when someone is offering to drive me, I am certainly not going to complain! I do wonder though about “this need for speed” with the drivers here. I am sure it is deeply engrained from an early age, and I certainly know when to pick my battles in life, and this is not one. Just enjoy the (fast) ride.

So, while on the speediest safaris ever, we did not spot any tigers (my dream experience of course), but we did see some elephants during both times we rode through the area! Was a magnificent experience and very surreal. Pictures attached below, and again, many more blogs to come about this awesome weekend. 

I have just touched the surface of the weekend experience in these first two blogs. 

Stay tuned.....