Ambulance – Time for a New Hero…
Did you watch Ambulance last night? Wow. There are quite simply no words.
As a Brummie born and bred, and one who has had a fair few personal experiences of the ambulance service, saving the life of my father and transporting my sister to hospital after a severe RTA, I have been watching the series following the movements of the West Midlands Ambulance Service pretty religiously.
Each and every week I am completely in awe of the strength, courage and resilience of our region’s paramedics. Last night’s episode however took it to another level and gave us a stark reminder of just how bloody amazing our NHS really is.
I remember the moment the incident at the Belgrave Middleway occurred on the 17th December 2017. I was awake with Neve (fairly standard) when a BBC news alert came through to my phone and at just gone 1am and making national news, it was immediately clear that this was no regular car accident.
For those who aren’t local to Birmingham, the Belgrave Middleway is a busy dual carriageway by the Bristol Road in the center of our city. In the weeks before Christmas, this road would have been absolutely bustling with locals returning from Christmas parties, nights out and date nights.
At 1.15am, a major road traffic accident (later discovered to have been chased by drug fuelled dangerous driving) involving 7 vehicles lead to the deaths of 6 people, and last night we watched the response unfold from behind the scenes of Birmingham’s ambulance crews.
After watching this hour long insight into the lives of those first on the scene I can honestly say I am bloody proud of our national health service, and I urge anyone who questions the commitment and passion these individuals show and their deserving of a pay increase to sit and watch this programme. I will be amazed if it doesn’t alter their view.
In last nights episode we met Tash – a 21 year old paramedic who is one of the first on the scene in the aftermath of the incident. Despite her young age, her ability to lead, stay focused and calm at what must have been one of the most harrowing call outs of her life was incredibly inspiring. We watched her take control of the situation, before calling her Mum in some of the most heartbreaking scenes I have seen. In the days of teens looking up to YouTube stars and the faces of reality TV, I urge you to tell your daughters to take a second look. This is the kind of woman our teens should be aspiring to. This is our new hero.
In her own words ‘If I’m busy I can’t think. If I think, I’ll start to become human. I don’t want to think of this as someone’s mum, child, brother or sister, I just want to do my best to help them’
Whenever we ring an ambulance, visit our hospitals or go to A&E, we never know the last thing these individuals have seen, the lives they have saved, or the lives they have watched slip away in their arms. We don’t know the trauma, the stress and the images that are ingrained in their memories when they try and go to sleep; the what’s if’s and the if onlys. We expect them to get back in their driver’s seat and head to the next job, of which, there are undoubtedly too many.
It’s time our nations paramedics and their supporting staff behind the scenes get the recognition they truly deserve. It’s time for a new hero, and Tash and her colleagues might just be it.
If you missed it, Ambulance is available to view on BBC iplayer here.
