Tales from My Stethoscope: True Stories from a South African ParamedicEntertaining. Touching. Shocking.Sit down and buckle up as you read these true stories of the streets from a paramedic's point of view.In Tales from my Stethoscope, Bruna, an Advanced Life Support paramedic with more than 25 years' experience, takes you behind the scenes of accidents, sudden illness, shootings and human revelry gone wrong. You'll experience the fun and excitement of Johannesburg on a Saturday night ... but you'll also go to the lonely places where old people suffer in silence and children aren't properly cared for.You'll read about running a clinic on a mine in deepest Africa and being the resident paramedic on a geo-survey ship plying the waters around the globe. You'll fly helicopters over cities praying that the patient survives, and you'll be there in the middle of farming country helping to amputate a leg caught in a harvester.If you can stomach the drama, the blood, the grief, and the quirky humour used to get through harrowing situations, you'll get to the end of these tales with a deeper understanding of the human condition and renewed admiration and gratitude for those who listen and act when we call out in distress. |
Contents
The Saturday Night Show | 9 |
Becoming qualified | 20 |
The enigma of the bystanders | 39 |
Casualty theatre of the absurd | 46 |
People are living there | 57 |
The very young and the very old | 75 |
The trauma of trauma work | 101 |
Working in a greater team | 116 |
Some things remain a mystery | 133 |
Where the job can take you | 144 |
Epilogue | 168 |
Common terms and phrases
accident Africa ambulance arrived asked attend beautiful becomes began blood body breathing building casualty child close comes course crew dead doctor don’t door drive emergency equipment face feel felt floor front give hand happened head heard helicopter Hillbrow holding hospital huge human injury inside it’s land later leave lights live look managed minutes missing mother needed never night noticed once paramedic parked passed past patient person police radio realized remember response road scene seen shift Show side sister sitting situation smell someone Sometimes sound South standing started station stopped story sure tell things told took train treat trying turned waiting walked wall watch woman wonderful