22 December 2023 , 12:53
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For many of us, the festive period means sitting down with loved ones and friends, enjoying a laugh and good company while swapping presents and jokes in our warm homes.
But for some, the day can quickly get out of hand if they have too much to drink or possibly fall over new toys left on carpets or burn themselves getting the turkey out of the oven. Enter the emergency services who, for them, December 25 is just another day until they finally clock off and go home to their own families. A paramedic, who has asked to remain anonymous, has now shared some tales of life in an ambulance on Christmas Day and what they face out on the road.
They said: “Christmas Day is now just a normal working day for us, just with more tinsel and lights. Before we would have some down time and spend it with our friends on other crews and celebrate. People didn’t call you unless they really needed to. Now they don’t. We go job to job to job which can be difficult. We get a half hour break, whether we are on an eight, nine, ten or twelve hour job. You barely get time to throw some food down your throat.
“It can be interesting. It’s a lot different from when I first started. We weren’t as busy as we are now. People’s expectations were different. The reasons they call us are different. Twenty years ago we were called because of normal trauma injuries. Today we’re called because of mental health, social services issues, anything.”
The paramedic revealed jobs on Christmas can range from trauma injuries from falling to people fainting because they have overeaten, the last roast potato or Brussels sprouts putting them into an actual food coma - a condition known as post prandial hypotension.
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The paramedic added: “People can be happy to see you. Christmas Day we can go to anything from somebody falling over on their new bike or scooter to a domestic argument. “People have too much to drink. People have too much to eat and faint. They have a large meal and they just faint.”
Tragedy can also fall throughout festivities with teams facing nightmare scenarios when others are having happy days. They added: “The saddest job I went to was when I was working by myself covering a large area. An old lady passed away and was found by a neighbour. I was dealing with that when her family turned up to pick her up for Christmas Day."
The trouble that emergency services can encounter from people who have taken too much alcohol or even drugs is another issue of irritation, to put it mildly. The paramedic said: “You’re far away from your family on Christmas. People say that’s what you signed up for when you join the emergency services. I didn’t sign up to be shouted at and abused."
But then, there are brighter moments too: “A happy job is delivering a baby on Christmas. That’s always a nice one and brings a bit of a smile, the mum is happy, the baby is happy, we’re happy. They are few and far between. In this day and age it is very difficult to find a happy day. We are constantly exposed to trauma. People call us when they are in pain, hurt, injured or in crisis. It’s difficult not to bring it home sometimes. I have seen some horrendous things but I have also seen lovely things.”