FOCUS

Proud to be a paramedic.

This image was captured in hope to demonstrate that no matter how busy, how chaotic or how everything else around us is falling apart, we have to remain calm, in control and focused. Some skills are learned, some practiced but some are natural ability. I am proud to be part of a slightly unhinged yet highly skilled and caring team.

I have admiration for my undervalued and underestimated colleagues. There is always good press surrounding the fire brigade, we however are constantly bad mouthed. The public have no idea how under staffed we are, how under funded we are and how, no matter how much of a beating we take, turn up for work everyday and provide over and above what we are expected to do.

Many of us are injured in the course of our duty, we are physically and mentally drained at the end of a shift. Many of us suffer mental health issues from the sights that we see on a daily basis. Pound for pound we see 140% more serious trauma than the armed forces and have to live with the effects but you never hear us complain about PTSD we simply march on until we are unable to function in "normal society"

I know I can speak for all my colleagues when I say we don't want banners, flowers and chocolates but a pat on the back or a simple thank you goes a long way.

Please just remember if you should ever need us and (disgustingly) have to wait a hour for our arrival... we may not have had a break for 10 hours, we may have driven 40 miles to get to you, we may have just cleaned our stretcher of brain matter from an 8 year old child who was run over and died, yet we still arrive with a smile on our faces and provide you with the highest quality of service we can all the while with the vision of this disfigured 8 year old in our minds, the screams and sobs of the broken parents in our ears and the crushing doubt of "could I have done more?" burning in our chests.

We are not robots, we are flesh and blood with feelings and emotions please allow us to do our jobs without abuse.
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