Israeli Paramedic Visits Hart
Tuesday, 07 September, 2010
A paramedic from the Israeli Ambulance Service went along to the Trust's Hazardous Area Response Team base in Birmingham recently to find out what life's like on the other side of the world.
Sarah Cascella qualified as a paramedic for Magen David Adom Ambulance Service in October 2009 and is based in Kiryat Gat. During a normal day, Sarah responds to 15 rocket attacks and consequently regularly deals with patients with serious trauma injuries.
The Trust's Hazardous Area Response Team paramedics are specially trained to respond to major incidents involving hazardous materials such as chemical leaks, large fires and explosions. They are also equipped to safely locate, stabilise, treat and rescue casualties from dangerous environments such as collapsed buildings or crashed vehicles.
HART Paramedics Brendan O'Sullivan and James Dinneen spent the morning with Sarah on Thursday 26th August at the HART base.
Sarah got to see the range of HART vehicles and the different types of equipment the paramedics use when dealing with incidents. The trio also spent time swapping stories about incidents they've attended and talking about the similarities of their job.
Sarah said: "It was wonderful to share experiences with Brendan and James. It was interesting to see the equipment they carry, especially the kit to deal with multiple patients. It's great to see that though we're from two very different countries, we work in the same way."
Brendan said: "It was great to meet Sarah and even though we work so far away from each other, our job is the same.
"When she told us that she goes out to so many rocket attacks a day, I was astounded. It made me appreciate what we do day to day as paramedics here in the West Midlands, how different it is for her and how much more difficult and dangerous of an environment Sarah works in everyday compared to us."
