Monday - Finished my First Night Shift

It isn’t a mystery anymore. I’ve been to work and survived. All those questions that were running around your head like “Do people only call for a genuine reason if they have to pay £250 at least for an ambulance?” and “What is a 14 hour night shift like?” All in good time; I know that I will answer all your questions that are running around in your head and probably other ones as well, that you weren’t even thinking about!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned to you the shifts that they work over here. It is the same as the Fire Brigade (Firies remember Aussie Slang for Trumpton/Bucket Heads/Water Fairies) both in England and here work. It is 10 hour days (8 AM until 6 PM) and 14 hour nights (6PM until 8AM). You can see from that, the ambulance service doesn’t count that its nights are particularly busy. If we had done that in Brighton, you would burn out really quickly.

Anyway, at about 4 in the afternoon on Sunday, I’ve realized I haven’t got any clean shirts to wear for work. Luckily it is blazing hot outside, and the wash cycle and drying took all of about 1 hour, and so with the help of an iron and the sunshine, I managed to be presentable for day 1. I did stick all of the other shirts in the wash, and will be ready for my next day at work (which will be Friday Morning).

I didn’t know the score about uniforms, and what we are supposed to wear, so I didn’t wear the shirt on the way to work. That was a stroke of luck, as nobody wears their uniform until they get a call, and then they pop it on, and away they go.

Anyway – it wasn’t long before we (I am working with a decent fellow who has been a paramedic for a while) get our first call, and it was passed as life threatening. The most life threatening thing has got to be me driving with lights and sirens to somewhere I don’t know, with only a little Satellite Navigation System telling me where to go!! We got to the job without much drama, and then off to local hospital.

I won’t really say much about the jobs, only that it doesn’t seem to matter that people are paying, they still want medical attention, and don’t know where to turn to, and use the only avenue they can think of. Our clients (patients, call them what you will) ranged from the very young to the very old and across all socio-economic groups this evening.

The best part of the night was getting all tucked up in a proper bed, and sleeping from 1 in the morning until 6 AM, when we had a low priority transfer between hospitals. Even though I am only new here, I do know from experience in Brighton that these sort of jobs are the ones you want towards the end of the shift, as it doesn’t take much brain power, and keeps you out the system coming up to finish time.

Got to base (Yes it does look like any normal house) at just before 8 AM and gladly gave the keys over to the day shift taking over, and went home. Although I’d managed 5 hours sleep through the night, I did have a little rest when I got home. That little rest lasted until about 3 in the afternoon. I did need some sleep.After waking up, you guessed correctly, beach and I did actually venture into the water. The waves were something else, big, and rolling in on top of each other. It was a lot of fun, and very busy (still part of Australia Day Weekend Holiday). I did eventually get home about 10 PM, after meeting up with some friends for a couple social little drinks after we had been on the beach.