October 28, 2013 2.34 pm This story is over 125 months old

Lincolnshire’s ambulance service to feature on Channel 4 show

TV feature: East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) will feature in an episode of Channel 4’s 999 What’s Your Emergency hit show.
Photo: Ryan McNamara

East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) will feature in an episode of Channel 4’s 999 What’s Your Emergency hit show.

The episode, airing on Monday, October 28 at 9pm, will heavily feature EMAS as it focuses on cardiac arrest.

The programme features on call outs to patients nearing the end of life and the medical, ethical and emotional challenges their care creates, not just for the paramedics, but also for the friends and family who may be left behind.

Paramedics and call handlers explain what they face daily while patients and loved ones reveal the stories behind their calls for help.

Photo: Ryan McNamara

Photo: Ryan McNamara

In the UK, 60,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest every year and only 10% survive.

The ambulance service is increasing the survival rate through quick action and more education.

Selina Conway, a Nottingham paramedic who features on the show giving CPR, said: “It’s violent, I’ve broken people’s ribs before.

“You have to be really forceful with your compressions, you are beating a heart, and you’re attempting to keep that person alive. Everything else can be treated, broken ribs will heal, but if you’re dead, you’re dead.”

She adds: “I’d say the most rewarding part of my job is the patients whose life I can make a difference in, for example delivering a baby or treating a patient who is in cardiac arrest, but on the flip side the most challenging part of being a paramedic to me is caring for the families who have lost someone.”

EMAS is also asking residents to learn how to do Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) so they know what to do if someone is having a heart attack.