Kieran Henry: Station team leader with the Southern Health Board Ambulance Service in Cork
I work a mixture of days and nights, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. When I work the day shift, I alternate between being station team leader and crewing an emergency ambulance. I have been working in the emergency services for 11 years now.
When I am working as station team leader I start the day by ensuring the ambulances are stocked and ready for the crews. I let the lads know which hospitals are on call and pass on any other relevant information such as road closures around the city. During the day we have five crews. Three come on duty at 8 a.m., one at 9 a.m. and another at 10 a.m.
In the morning I also do administration work such as rostering with the ambulance officer, attend meetings with the emergency department or go to event management meetings with the other emergency services to plan for upcoming concerts, matches or events.
I usually stay in the station for the 12 hours of the shift but am also available, with a response vehicle, to attend any incident. This happens if there are no ambulances available to respond to it or if it is a serious accident and the major incident plan is implemented.
I also do in-service training and am involved in the training of new trainees. It's my job to ensure the station is adequately supplied with equipment, drugs and gases. As station team leader I deal with any day-to-day queries and compile reports.
When I am on the front line I work with my partner John. We take it in turns to be the driver or the medic for the day. We respond to a variety of calls including collapses, seizures, assaults, road traffic accidents, maternity call- outs, attempted suicides and cardiac arrests. We bring them to the relevant emergency department and hand them over to the medical staff. Then we clean up and replenish our stock and equipment and wait for our next call out.
Obviously we come across some pretty horrific situations and sometimes we have to deal with relatives, which can be very hard on everyone. We get a lot of drink-related calls and sometimes we are verbally abused and occasionally physically assaulted. We also come across domestic incidents and a lot of suicides, which can be very tough.
Every situation is different, and the job can be very rewarding. I enjoy it. There is great variety and you have no idea where you are going to end up on any shift. You never know what is around the corner. We can go from some of the wealthiest parts of town to some of the most socially deprived areas.
It is very challenging, but it's nice to be able to make a difference. When people ring an ambulance they are usually in a dire situation. It's great to later meet someone in the hospital when they are making a recovery.
The job sometimes calls for a lot of decision making. We have a good relationship with the other emergency services. We also do patient transport service as well.
At the end of a shift I am absolutely exhausted. I have a good relationship with all the lads in work and we have a good social life. I also give resuscitation training to various groups and am involved in Club Cork, which is a two-day training course for clubs and pubs around the city.