Ambulance on TV

Alex sees his paramedic mentors on TV, starring in the BBC's "Ambulance".

Summer is over, I’ve moved back to Chelmsford into my new rented house and Year 2 has begun! It was amazing to have some time off; spending time with family and friends has distracted me away from the sirens and green uniform for a while which has been nice.

"Ambulance" TV show

A few weeks ago the first episode of ‘Ambulance’ on BBC 1 premiered on prime time TV. There were 10 of us ARU Student Paramedics crowded around a small TV in our accommodation tuning in to see our mentors being filmed. Yes, that’s right – Scott and Andy was my housemates’ crew for placement! It was incredibly strange seeing all the paramedics I’ve done jobs with, now on the screen. Pete, the Advanced Paramedic Practitioner (APP) also attended the Fall From Height I went to on placement. I remember seeing the film crew at hospital once, and of course, I left the house in such a rush that morning I didn’t do my hair – thankfully I didn’t make the cut…

Finding out about a patient we attended

Shani and Dave, from episode 2’s Nightshift were out of Camden, which was my first station. They are such lovely people and I was very proud to see them in action. Despite being all glitz and glamour, there were a lot of us ARU Student Paramedics that in fact attended Peggy after she fell off her chair. To learn that she passed away a few days after my colleagues attended to her saddened us. We don’t tend to catch up on our patients, as soon as they go through the doors to hospital is quite often the last we hear about them. Kathleen – the 91 year old with dementia that was a ‘frequent flyer’ with the ambulance service was also attended to by a few of us. Dementia is a horrible illness that unfortunately has no definite cure at the moment.

Family viewing

Of course, my entire family had sat down to watch the program to see what my boasting was all about. My gran even rang me after episode one and asked if I could move back to Wales after seeing the double shooting and multiple stabbings on the telly; I couldn’t help but chuckle.

London sure is a dark place – but as Francis the dispatcher said in episode 2: "It’s not so much that London destroys my faith in humanity, but it does test it".

Alex studies Paramedic Science at ARU. You can find out more about this and other degree courses at one of our Open Days.