
A Day in the life of the AIMS Operations Team
When a case comes in to AIMS the Operations team has to respond quickly and efficiently to ensure that they can arrange the best possible care for the patients involved. Luckily with years of experience and the right systems in place, the AIMS team is able to manage almost any situation that arises. We share the story of one of the recent cases that came in and how our Operations Team responded.
Frances wrote that on this particular day they had received a bit of a sensitive case. Only a portion of this case will be shared due to respect for the patients involved but it explains what is so special about what we do here at AIMS.
Frances Delvare in our Operations Team shares one experience of how they responded to a case.
It was a fairly quiet Friday at AIMS, our team was attending to the active Operations cases, and Frances Delvare had arrived late due to a doctor’s appointment. Thankfully, Zameer Rahim had stepped in to hold the fort so that when Frances walked into the office it wasn’t chaos. At about 15h30 one of our new team members, Kirby Modisane, announced that “a new and very tough case” had come in.
The incident had occurred in the province of Mpumalanga, in the Northern part of South Africa. It is a popular travel destination for tourists due to its abundant wildlife and outstanding nature reserves and game parks, including the Kruger National Park, the largest game reserve in Africa which covers 19 633 square kilometres (7,580 square miles). A family of seven people from the Netherlands were travelling in a hired Toyota Quantum vehicle, which included a driver, along the N4 Schoemanskloof Road between Poplar Creek and Montrose. On their journey a terrible accident happened between their vehicle, a truck, and a small “bakkie” travelling behind them. In a devastating turn of events for this family, three of their members were immediately killed, three of them were badly injured and one of them sustained moderate injuries for which, thankfully, he did not require hospital admission. This horrendous accident made news headlines around the country.
Our Operations Team jumped into action like a well-oiled machine. This is always an incredible sight to behold as this is when the AIMS Operations team really shines; managing people’s disasters when they are unable to, with care, compassion, and efficiency. It is what they do best. The injured family members were rushed by ambulance to Mediclinic Nelspruit for immediate medical attention but by 09h36 the following morning our highly esteemed new Team Leader, Thulas Mbokane, had arranged the flight for the surviving family members to be evacuated from Mbombela in Mpumalanga to the Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, which is one of only two Level 1 Accredited Trauma Units in South Africa. This would ensure that they received the highest possible standard of medical care available.
This however, is just the beginning of the case management process for our Operations Team. Once the family was admitted to Netcare Milpark Hospital we managed every aspect of their care to make sure they got the very best medical treatment available.
The AIMS Operations Team will organise the appropriate care and this will include the most suitable treating doctors, the right hospitals, and the organization of sessions with allied healthcare professionals, such as Physiotherapists and Occupational therapists, whether the patient is in or out of hospital. Included in what our Operations Team manages is the organization of accommodation, transport to and from appointments as well as the sometimes-enormous task of managing the flights to return the patient and their family home, wherever that may be, in this case to the Netherlands.