City’s emergency guardians

The city’s medical emergency heroes may not have emerged as the winners of the Centrum Guardian Project but they say the experience of being finalists on the show was nevertheless awesome.

The Centrum Guardian Project acknowledges and showcases the true-life incidents that emergency services personnel deal with every day.

The team from Polokwane, known as Team Reflex, was lauded for a rescue performed in August 2012, when a train collided with a car. A female patient, who was eight months pregnant at the time, showed no signs of life and was trapped in the car.

The team ensured that her baby was born safely.

“The rescue of the miracle baby was something amazing, a story we will keep telling, and the whole experience of being part of the Centrum Guardian Project was an experience to remember,” Michiel van Heerden, basic life support medic for Protoscape Private Ambulance Services, said.

“The show was nice, but the best feeling was when the miracle baby appeared on stage. When I saw her I felt my heart in my throat,” Eugene Schreiber, advanced life support paramedic at EMS Limpopo described.

The other members of Team Reflex were: David Dennison, operations manager at EMS Limpopo, Masilo Meela, emergency care technician for Protoscape Private Ambulance Services, and Davey Matlejoane, basic life support medic for Protoscape Private Ambulance Services.

Health spokesperson Adéle van der Linde said the department remained immensely proud of the work their EMS and rescue services did.

“They will always be heroes in our eyes.”