Anne told us, “Before I was a paramedic, I was a nurse for 14 years. For the last 10 years, I worked in the accident and emergency department where I used to deal with a lot of NWAS crews. That made me more inquisitive about their role and eventually made me want to work in pre-hospital care to try to make a difference to people before they got to hospital.”

Now fully immersed in paramedic life, Anne tells us what the role involves. She said, “No two days are ever the same when you are a paramedic. A day in my job role could involve helping someone off the floor if they have had a fall, to trying to bring someone back to life if they have suffered a cardiac arrest, or even assisting a mum who is delivering her baby.”

Anne enjoys her job and reflects on what she loves most about it. She told us, “My favourite part of the job is knowing I have helped someone when they needed me the most. Another good part of being a paramedic is the people you get to work alongside. You make friends for life in the ambulance service.”

As much as there are good points to being a paramedic, Anne wants to highlight that it can also be difficult. She explained, “The most challenging part of my job, still after many years, is having to inform someone their relative has passed away despite all my efforts. It never gets any easier.”

Thankfully, there are more ups than downs to being a paramedic and Anne shares with us what makes her chuckle the most when she attends patients. She said, “Patients I attend often ask for a prescription for medication or for a sick note for work and are quite surprised when I say I am unable to do that.”

Anne would encourage anyone who has dreams of being a paramedic to really think about the job role before committing. She added, “I would always encourage people to think about what the job role entails, as it’s not just about blue lights and sirens. It’s about having the ability to be patient and understanding, as well as being able to talk to people of various ages. Above all, you must be compassionate and caring, if you have that then you have what it takes to be a paramedic.”

Paramedics within NWAS provide excellent, quality pre-hospital clinical care when responding to patients across the region.