St John WA ambulances in Mid West upgraded to be 5G compatible

St John WA ambulances in the Mid West have received important 5G technology upgrades to ensure paramedics can appropriately respond to remote emergencies.

In total, $117,000 was invested through Mitsui E&P Australia (MEPAU) and Beach Energy, with smartphones provided and Wi-Fi enabled for 18 ambulances in the region.

The money was part of the organisation’s ambulance communications upgrade initiative from last year, aiming to look to the future of telecommunication in Geraldton and the Mid West.

It comes as Australia’s major providers have started to cease their 3G services across the country.

St John WA ambulances responded to 9258 emergency calls in the Mid West and Gascoyne last year, and relied on stable network connectivity in order to reach remote parts in the event of an emergency.

The organisation’s chief executive Kevin Brown said it has been a success for the region.

“We are working with other regional sub centres to switch to 5G as Telstra moves towards turning off its 3G network as part of our Statewide charitable commitment to closing the gap in health in rural and remote areas,” he said.

“We have rolled out 5G Samsung X5 mobile phones to every country sub centre to ensure our regional response team is reliably connected to our State Operations Centre while providing the best possible out-of-hospital care.”

Meanwhile, MEPAU chief executive Ken Yamamura said the funding was important to help ambulances respond to emergencies.

“By funding a communications system upgrade for every single ambulance in the Mid West, every ambulance will maintain reliable and continuous communication when responding to an emergency incident,” he said.

“This supports hard-working St John volunteers and paramedics to focus on what matters most – providing life saving services for the Mid West community.”

Beach Energy’s biggest shareholder is Seven Group Holdings, which controls Seven West Media, the owner of The Geraldton Guardian.