A matter of life and death...

A typical day in the life of an Advanced Life Support (ALS) paramedic involves much more than rushing to an accident scene and medically assisting injured people. Northern News reporter Martie Pretorius takes a look at what a day in the life of an ALS paramedic looks like.
It is challenge to get any rescue worker to elaborate about the nature of their job. Many feel talking about their work might jeopardise their employment. Northern News approached the 41-year-old ASL-paramedic, Kobus Lightfoot, from Mokopane who agreed to be interviewed in his personal capacity.
Lightfoot’s emergency career stretches over 21 years of which 13 years as an ALS paramedic. He calls Mokopane home for the last seven years and believes being a paramedic is one of the most challenging careers due to the fact that one gets to encounter the full cycle of life. “This includes experiencing the joys and sorrows of life,” said Lightfoot.
Lightfoot describes what a typical day on duty involves and points out to incidents such as motor vehicle accidents, medical cases where patients need to be treated for asthma attacks, cardiac arrests etc. Trauma cases include injuries which resulted from assaults or victims of gun shots who need to be attended to as soon as possible as time is of utmost importance. Rescues and inter hospital ICU transfers also form part of his daily activities. Administration and training of staff forms a curtail part of the duties of an ALS Paramedic, he explained.
As an ALS paramedic, one needs to take command of an emergency situation.  A paramedic is responsible for the overall management of a scene and the delegation of medical resources on the scene as well as the management and transportation of the sick and injured from a scene to the most appropriate medical facility.
In emergency situations the ALS paramedic needs to take critical decisions in split seconds regarding the management and treatment of the sick or injured on the scene. By doing this, some of the dictions may sound and look inhumane to the general public, Lightfoot added.
Lightfoot said that the Emergency Service in South Africa does not receive the same recognition as in other countries in the world. “Our emergency services are one of the lowest paid careers in the country, although they perform a crucial and dangerous job. It is expected from the emergency services and personnel to render a first world service but in reality this does not materialize due to lack of resources, financial deficit and man power.”
Lightfoot explains that during the career path of an ALS paramedic, he or she is confronted with emotional situations whereby they need to deal with it in their own manner. Unfortunately this causes such a person to become emotionally very hard and unsympathetic.  “This also reflects negatively in one’s personal life,” says Lightfoot while referring to the effect their jobs can have on their family lives. Most paramedics can relate to the inability to show or have the same emotion or sympathy as someone else may. “On a daily basis, we are confronted by death and the deep dark side of life,” he said.
It is the responsibility of each individual to make sure that he or she stays on top of the latest and most modern guidelines in the pre hospital emergency settings. This is been achieved by attending seminars, workshops and CPD programs as required by the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA). Unfortunately, due to financial complications and implications, some of the employers cannot assist their employees with these programs whereby it lead to unnecessary financial implications to the individual.
South Africa‘s ALS paramedics is well sought after in the rest of the world due to the high standard of training. They are independent practitioners govern by the HPCSA. “South Africa loses a huge number of highly-skilled and experienced ALS paramedics who seeks greener pastures in the world due to the huge salary difference compared to the rest of the world,” concluded Lightfoot. “To me my job is not a career but a passion.”