Life-saving work of Order of Malta Tallaght Unit during Storm Emma

By Mary Dennehy

THE Tallaght Unit of the Order of Malta Ireland was activated at 7am on Wednesday last and has since been on duty 24/7 in their 4x4 ambulance  – with these images clearly showing the lengths volunteers took to ensure the safety of others. 

Some of the tasks undertake by the Tallaght Unit in recent days included the transport of blood products, during the Status Red curfew last Thursday, to University Hospital Galway for a patient undergoing emergency surgery. 

Tallaght native David Clarke, Officer in Charge of the Tallaght Unit, told The Echo that members, who are all volunteers, also assisted the National Ambulance Service with emergency calls, helping to access areas that ordinary ambulances could not go.

“Some of these calls included sick children and elderly residents  injured from falls”, David told The Echo.

 “Transporting vital medication to people’s homes who could not access the hospitals and even bringing meals on wheels to the elderly to ensure they did not go hungry.”

He added: “Some emergency calls took a number of hours to reach as most roads where impassable even to our 4x4 and we had to dig our way through the roads with shovels and some skilled driving.

“The conditions at times where treacherous and we had to be careful so that we did not end up injured or casualties ourselves.”

There were times however, that volunteers needed that extra bit of assistance and the Tallaght community did not let them down.