Day in the life of a paramedic

FOR most people a morning would start with warm sun rays filtering through the blinds, a cup of coffee and a loving good morning message from a special person, but for KZN EMS Advanced Life Support Paramedic and Media Liaison Robert Mckenzie, countless messages about motor vehicle collisions and blue code incidents.

In this four-part diary, Mckenzie shares some insight on a typical day in the life of a paramedic.

Part Two

(Last week’s report ended when Robert received a call to attend to a house fire and it is thought an elderly lady has died).

‘On the way to the case I’m reminded of the diversity of the people we encounter. I notice some people milling about, others standing around a parked car listening to music, some dressed for church and waiting for their lift.

It was still early and cool, so there were also a few athletes, which ranged from runners to a small group of teens in their karate clothes.

‘Just after the turn-off trying to find the scene, I stood down as another ambulance crew had already reached the scene but, sadly, the lady had passed away. An unattended candle left burning during the night was the suspected cause of the fire.

New direction

‘I was dispatched to another case – this time a medical case about 30 minutes away. On the way listening to the two-way radio as the other ambulances were arriving at their scenes, quite a few were made exempt as there were no patients.

‘Closer to the scene I had to get directions from ambulance crews who were more familiar with the area. Navigating in the rural areas is nothing like the urban areas, very few roads have names and if they are named they are unmarked, without street numbers, and while some of the houses have a five digit number painted on the side, there doesn’t seem to be any logical numerical relationship between the numbers.

Directions are normally in the form of land marks, like community halls or spaza shops.

Making headway

‘I finally take the right turn-off and am told I need to pass two schools on my left to find the scene just before a blue shop.

Shortly after my turn the road turns to gravel and I’m reminded why our response vehicles are 4×4 bakkies and not the sports cars that some paramedics in the cities have.

‘A few kilometers down, I suspect I may have gone too far. I ask for directions from a taxi driver, who doesn’t know the name of the shop I am looking for, but he assures me I have proceeded too far.

‘The driver was inadvertently right; the emergency call management centre had been in contact with the family of the patient, who said they saw me drive past.

So I turned around and proceeded back in the direction I had come from.

This time I managed to see the sign, ‘Lucky Shop’, which was, in fact, a red shipping container and not a building as I had been expecting.