Shocking new numbers have shown a 30% spike in ambulance callouts for mental health/suicide attempts, with under-14-year-old callouts jumping nearly 80% since 2019, the year of the Labour party’s so-called ‘Wellbeing budget’.

While trauma-related callouts were down due to government lockdowns, overall there was a spike from 553, 286 to 606, 503, nearly 10% more than the previous year.

This alarming spike in callouts caused considerable issues in operations. St John Deputy Chief Executive for Ambulance Operations Dan Ohs stated that “This prolonged significant demand is compounded by a challenging work environment due to COVID-19 and longer times for ambulance crews to complete 111 call-outs due to additional safety precautions that must be taken both at the scene, during transport and at hospital.”

Mr Ohs was frank in his grave concerns for the para-suicidality evidenced in the young:

“We continue to respond to very distressed and vulnerable patients but the most disturbing trend out of these types of incidents, is the number involving patients aged under 14. This age group had a 36 percent increase in 2021 (up 49 patients to 186 patients) compared to the previous year (137 patients) and was 77 percent higher compared to 2019 (105 patients).”

In 2019, the Labour government released their 2019 Wellbeing budget, which headlined as “Taking mental health seriously”. In contrast to international talks promoting the Labour party as “taking mental health seriously”, the devastating figures just released suggest that Ms Ardern’s government is actually facilitating an environment that is increasingly damaging to mental health, especially children’s.

With little clarity to a pathway out of the government lockdowns, red light shutdowns, discrimination mandates, and recent targeting of children along with possibly more and more boosters required, mental health seems to continue being dangerously vulnerable.

Also of note were two spikes that conflict with the government narrative.

Various Labour party politicians have extolled the virtues of repressing Licensed Firearm Owners and launching government confiscations, claiming that such has made New Zealand a safer place. However, massive spikes in gang numbers and shootings have illustrated the opposite of what the Ardern government promotes itself to have done.

Also, the other increases such as Chest pains, Breathing problems, Stroke, Heart problems, Allergies/medical reaction, Choking can be found under adverse reaction lists internationally, with even the New Zealand Ministry of Health admitting that they have under-reported these risks.

The Daily Examiner has requested further information from St John regarding these spikes.

In the meantime, St Johns has readied themselves for the coming year, with Mr Ohs commenting:

“We’ve seen the impact of the Omicron variant in other parts of the world and it’s just a matter of time before we experience a widespread outbreak here in Aotearoa. St John is well adept at responding to patients with infectious conditions and we have several contingency plans underway to lessen the impact it might have on our capability, including bolstering our recruitment and training efforts to bring on board more ambulance officers,”

Noticeable escalating callouts were for:

Chest pains: 15.5% increase
Breathing problems: 14.4% increase
Stroke: 12.6% increase
Mental health/suicide attempt: 30.0% increase
Heart problems: 12.8% increase
Other: 9.4% increase
Allergies/rash/medical reaction/stings: 13.8% increase
Choking: 15.1% increase
Stabbing/gunshot wound: 14.3% increase
Eye problems/injuries: 20.3% increase

Full list and Press Release can be found here.