Rotary Melbourne has been asked by PP Neville Taylor APM, Rotary Southbank and Chair - Foundation Committee to provide 2 Melbourne Members to the Program. Program commencement for 2020 has not been decided but Mentors need to be available at this stage.
Our Paramedics need our support even more. As a former Mentor for this programme, I can assure you, it is a remarkable year of involvement with Ambulance Victoria and my Mentee is now a friend who I keep in regular touch. She knows I am here for her.
The following item from the "Sydney Morning Herald" encapsulates the anxiety of our 'heroes' at the frontline of this pandemic:
By Author and Paramedic: Benjamin Gilmour April 3, 2020 - Sydney Morning Herald
"The night we encountered our first patients with suspected COVID-19 was surreal. It happened like the flick of a switch.
My fellow paramedic and I walked into an apartment and heard a man coughing violently at the end of a hallway.
Having read the latest COVID-19 updates issued by our employer that evening we backed away. At the ambulance I pulled out the yellow infectious disease kit, sealed with tape. It was the first time in a decade I'd opened it for a reason other than to check the use-by dates.
We put on masks, gowns and gloves, then turned to face each other, triggering a burst of laughter.
We looked ridiculous, but we mainly laughed because we felt ridiculous. Dressing like this seemed excessive and alarming. It would freak out patients. It was cold and clinical: a barrier to connection, to empathy, to reassurance. A surgical mask obliterated the expression of compassion, let alone humour. It was over-the-top, the opposite of how we see ourselves.
Later that night another masked medic, known for his dry humour, said: "If the likes of you and I are wearing this: shit's getting real." He wasn't wrong. As the night progressed we saw two more probable cases of COVID-19.
One was a patient transfer from a small regional hospital to an infectious disease facility. My work partner, always the coolest medic under pressure, was noticeably uncomfortable with the prospect of sitting in a confined space for more than 40 minutes with a patient suffering severe respiratory symptoms after returning from the US.
That was two weeks ago in regional Australia, where I work. Since then things have escalated and most Australians are making both forced and voluntary sacrifices. For many it's unemployment. For me it's a risky job in which I'm far more likely to acquire the disease than others my age – with double the chance of dying from it!"
If you would like to step up and become a Rotary Mentor of a Paramedic when the program commences later in year, please contact Dorothy Gilmour: gilmour.dorothy@gmail.com
