Red Cross Blogs

Ambulance adventures

By Chris Jefferies
January 2, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Well, 2010 is here! I hope everyone had a happy (and safe) new year and enjoyed the festive period.  These few weeks however have proved to be an incredibly busy time for the emergency services, in particular the ambulance service.

Rising to the challenge as always, British Red Cross volunteers have been playing their part to help the statutory services. Where I live, we’ve been helping the ambulance service out for the past few weeks. Nearly every night (including Christmas eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve) our ambulances and volunteers have been out responding to 999 calls from members of the public.

I’ve recently completed the training required to work on a Red Cross ambulance, so I jumped at the chance to go out and help the lovely British public! I’ve attended many calls over the past few shifts – from intoxicated revellers, to people suffering from chest pain, suspected strokes and the little old lady who simply needs helping up.

Perhaps the job that sticks in my mind the most was not a 999 call, but a patient requiring emergency surgery to save his leg. We were called to transport him from his hospital into a specialist surgical unit. My crewmate, Rich, has been trained in emergency driving so we were able to make our way safely through the heavy rush-hour traffic to reach him.

We found our patient, Dale, and loaded him onto the ambulance. He was stable, and the hospital had given us all his notes and observations. As a result, there wasn’t much for me to do in the back except monitor his condition and make him comfortable. The journey took around 45 minutes; during this time Dale told me his story.

He’d been admitted to hospital after deteriorating over the festive season.  We talked about his family, friends, and how he was coming to terms with the possibility of loosing a leg. Dale was a fisherman so his livelihood (and passion) was at risk. In my childhood I used to be an avid, yet normally unsuccessful, angler. We joked about how he’d probably caught more fish in a day than I had in a year!

We arrived at the surgical unit and handed over Dale into the capable hands of the medical team. Before leaving he thanked us both and shook our hands warmly.  Clinically, we hadn’t done anything significant. However it felt like we had made a difference as he’d had someone to talk to during his stressful time. Emotional support is a large part of our training as volunteers, and quite rightly so.

Happy new year everyone

Please note names, details and other important items have been changed in order to respect patient confidentiality.

Tags: 999, ambulance, emergency services, First aid, new year, volunteers

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