Ambulance guy
Marko Cunningham to the rescue in Bangkok
New Zealander Marko Cunningham sleeps with the dead. At least that’s what his Thai colleagues have been saying ever since he passed out from exhaustion in a temporary morgue. At the time, Cunningham was working round the clock to help victims of the 2004 tsunami. Now he collects the living.
The tragedy of the tsunami left quite an impression on the English teacher. “I logged 2,000 bodies,” he reports. “But the hardest part was dealing with the victims’ families.”
When he returned to Bangkok, Cunningham had a renewed passion to help the living. “I was burnt out, so I joined a volunteer ambulance service. I had only first-aid as background but I began working almost immediately to get my mind off the tsunami.” Sometimes Cunningham has the company of a Thai partner while on call, but he has learned to work alone much of the time, having developed enough medical Thai to get by. To this day, he is the only foreigner working as a volunteer EMT (emergency medical technician) in and around Bangkok.
The city’s publicly funded ambulances are few and they handle less than 10% of the emergency calls; private ambulances are typically unaffordable for many victims. A city of far more people than the official nine million, Bangkok relies primarily on volunteers (including those without first-aid training who use their own vehicles) to negotiate the gridlock of the metropolis and attempt to deliver the injured to a hospital.
When Cunningham hears a call on his radio, he has to be careful not to answer anything outside his vaguely defined jurisdiction of around five sq km, because some hospitals pay illegal fees (around 300 baht) for each patient delivered. Other small and completely untrained groups have sprouted up and some ambulance drivers have found themselves in danger while trying to assist the injured.
Not to be deterred, Cunningham’s life-saving vocation soon became a second job. “I clock a minimum of 40 hours per week with my own ambulance, on top of a full-time teaching job, bringing my hours at work to over 80 per week.” He checks in four nights a week, often answering calls until well into the morning. He then shuts off his radio and heads home to catch a few winks before switching to teaching mode again.
Despite financial trouble (he recently had to sell his Mitsubishi Triton and is now looking for a sponsor for a new truck), Cunningham is optimistic. “I love what I do and I love Thailand, because it is unique… [it has] this volunteer service, which takes care of everything. It’s a tribute to the good nature of the Thai people.”
TEXT BY: KEVIN REVOLINSKI
Sleeping with the Dead is Cunningham’s memoir. For details, visit www.bkkfreeambulance.com
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