Paramedics might be one of the least appreciated medical support staff. And yet paramedics are the first on the scene and are the first to offer medical help in any number of medical situations.
Paramedic Working Conditions
When the weather is mild, paramedics do everything they can to get to the scene as fast as possible and with whatever equipment might be needed.
Now, however, as the winter chill has fallen with a vengeance, there are particular kinds of cases that emerge which paramedics are of course trained to deal with. But what about the unforeseen aspects of bad weather?
- If you have an accident, or need medical attention, you know that paramedics will come. What we don’t take into consideration, though, is how the paramedics are coping in the bad weather. For starters the ice, sleet and snow make the roads extremely dangerous.
- One of the aspects that make paramedics so effective is that an ambulance can carry the necessary equipment, but it can also transport a patient. With icy and slippery roads, getting to a scene quickly becomes all the more difficult.
- So rather than put the lives of paramedics in danger, the paramedics in some areas have opted to use 4X4 vehicles to get the scene.
This specialist car was lined up in advance for just such a need. This way paramedics are able to get to the necessary scene in as a safe a way as possible. The tricky part of this time of year is the number of callouts that paramedics receive.
Over the festive season callouts increase, with merry frivolity going around more seems to go wrong than at other times of year. Which is expected by the paramedics, it only becomes more difficult with bad weather, though, because getting to and from a scene takes longer and is more hazardous.
In the early weeks of the New Year, paramedics from the Midlands issued a bad weather warning to their local community.
- Temperatures were set to plummet with the added warning of heavy snowfall. In an attempt to decrease the number of callouts, paramedics have warned their community to do what they can to stay safe.
- If you must drive, make sure to maintain a safe stopping distance.
- Drink moderately and act responsibly.
- Dress warmly, wear sensible shoes and keep your feet warm and dry.
- And at this time of year it is important to keep a few extra essentials in your car in case of a delay, breakdown or emergency.
But what is being done to make paramedic working conditions easier and safer? The key danger to paramedics at this time of year is the extreme weather which can make travelling between callouts exponentially dangerous. In some counties, special 4×4 vehicles need to be used.
The other thing that paramedics are doing to keep themselves safe is asking you to be careful and responsible so that they only need to be called out to situations that really need their attention. It is the icy roads, the cold and the sheer volume of callouts that put paramedics under increased pressure at this time of year.
