▲ All of drivers make way for an ambulance.

Recently, people are growing more and more interest in the concept of ‘golden time’ as a result of the popular TV program ‘Heart is Beatin’. In one episode for example, a patient with an amputated leg needed to be transferred to hospital, and due to the ignorance of drivers not giving way to ambulances, the patient was put in unnecessary danger. The accident illustrated how ‘golden time’ was not being taken seriously in Korea. The Dankook Herald (DKH) looked into the concept of ‘golden time’ and its importance to our society.

Golden time is an emergency medicine expression that refers to the limited time one has to rescue a patient after they have incurred a serious traumatic injury. As the golden time passes, the patients' survival rate begins to drop dramatically, so the golden time period is very important.

Korea has had its fair share of incidences where for instance, fire fighters couldn't rescue patients in golden time, as compared to other advanced countries. This is because citizens are not making an way for an ambulance because they do not understand how critical and emergency situation can be. This puts the patient at risk for furhter complications or at worst, they lose their lives. The primary reason why we cannot meet the societal obligations of respecting golden time is that there is no strong legal obligation for people to help achieve it, and citizens have no moral consciousness towards helping others in Korea. In advanced regions in Europe, they pay expensive penalties when they do not make a way for an ambulance. This strong legal remedy forces people to help the ambulance rescue the patient in a Golden Time.

DKH interviewed two fire fighters Jung Daeyoung (Buk Bu fire department, DaeJeon) and Park Jun-sung (Dong Nam Gu fire station, Cheonan) who regulary experience this problem.

First, fire fighter Jung Dae-young emphasized, “Golden Time is the first 5 minutes after an outbreak of fire or occurrence of injury to a patient. After 5 minutes, the fire spreads more quickly, and the damages also increase. A patient whose heart stops should be administered emergency countermeasures within 4 to 5 minutes for an increased chance of survival.” DKH asked fire fighter Park Jun-sung about our ability to achieve golden time in our country. “Golden Time is not well respected in our country. The reasons are indifference and the lack of established laws to enforce its protection,” he said about national and personal efforts to promote respect for golden time.

DKH asked about the role of 119 until a patient is transported to a hospital. “Each case is different, however the things they have in common are taking a patient in need of emergency care to a hospital for professional treatment, facilities, and equipment. 119 should be able to administer first aid to among other things, minimize necrosis by devascularization, utilize a respirator to avoid cutting off oxygen to the brain and heart, administer rehydration solutions, and use an automated external defibrillator.

Fire fighter Park Jun-sung criticised Korea by saying, “The reason why we cannot respect golden time in Korea is because people are indifferent to the emergency needs of others and we have a weak legal system that fails to address the problem as compared to other advanced countries. The inept laws have led to the low level conscientiousness of the people.” Both of the fire fighters hope this can be improved.

To protect the preciousness of golden time, we need both national level and personal efforts. Recently, the government extend the hand signals which were previously only given to police officers, to fire fighters and introduced regulations that punish people for personal use of emergency vehicles. In addition, the government made further efforts to secure golden time through system improvements and corrections to related laws. Emergency vehicles need a system which allow them to pass, irrespective of traffic lights. Fire departments implement periodic training to improve their ability to rush to scenes more quickly for any emergency. Also police stations need to strengthen traffic enforcement for cars which do not make way for fire engines or other emergency vehicles.

As for personal efforts, making way for emergency vehicles and cooperations is very important. Citizens should cooperate ‘clearing the way for fire engines’ for fire fighters to arrive quickly. First, when ambulances and fire engines approach, citizens should make way for them moving to another lane or pulling over to the side of the road until they pass. If the road has more than one lane, drivers should use the second or third lane, so that emergency vehicles can safely access the first lane to arrive at the scene as quickly as possible. Citizens should also refrain from double-parking and illegal parking, making access to roads by emergency vehicles a smoother process. In addition, when reporting an accident or fire a person should provide an exact location to help respondents reach patients within the critical golden time.

If the efforts of government and citizens are more proactive, Korea can can be a country that does better than any other country. It is most important that we ensure accidents don't happen, but when they do, lets hope we can respond in a manner that saves instead of hampers lives. Let us try to work together to build this kind of country.