Paramedics: Lights and Sirens
After leaving the SADF in which the author was an Ops Medic, he joins the Johannesburg Emergency Services (JEMS) and takes us on a trip that spans a twenty four year period in various services around Africa. The story starts with an insight into the emergency services environment and goes on to describe the day to day trials and tribulations encountered out on the streets and in the skies of Johannesburg and covering the complexities of working in remote sites. Controversial issues such as the CADS – Computer Aided Dispatch Centre – which caused severe damage to the integrity of the JEMS, the Café Zurich bombing and the viewing of the wreckage of the Helderberg disaster and more are covered in this entertaining, yet informative, read. The book tells of many of the calls attended to by the author both on the road as a paramedic and as an instructor with the Ambulance Training College and the Flight for Life helicopter service. It portrays not only the frustrations against bureaucracy but also reveals the victories and the defeats in the fight against death, the sadness, the humiliation and the humour in working in such a diverse service.
Media Reviews
Chris Steyn (University of Johannesburg - Department of Emergency Medical Care) reviews this personal account of life as a paramedic, spanning a period of change in South Africa and emergency care from the mid - 1980's to recent times.
Steven Webb's book is one of very few attempting to document any aspect of pre-hospital emergency care in South Africa and this fact alone makes it worthy of reading. It is mostly a collection of personal accounts, relating to a time period in the eighties and nineties when Webb worked as a paramedic and Inspector in Johannesburg.
There are also some personal accounts of emergency care experiences outside of South Africa in Webb's more recent history.
Mixed in with the memories of life in the fast lane of emergency care are other fragments of information that attempt to educate the reader about various aspects of pre-hospital work; the context, the qualifications, The Health Proffessions Council, the vehicles, the law and even the Star of Life.
There are many interesting stories and anecdotes, reflecting the frenetic world of emergency care before, during and immediately after the transition to democracy. Some of these stories describe typical emergency cases, however many are intimately connected to the context of a country caught in a groundswell of political violence and tension at the time.
Webb writes in a gritty, down to earth manner recounting his memories of suicides, accidents, overdoses, bombings and assaults among others. He also provides some interesting insights into the infrastructural and administrative side of the emergency services in Johannesburg, insights which make one wonder if the passage of time has really changed that much about how these services are managed and run in some respects.
You may not always agree with what is written, or the way in which it is written, but Webbs memories of emergency care at a time when the field was really evolving into a formalised profession constitute an important record of the way things were. The people, teachings systems and practises recounted in the book formed the foundation of today's pactise of emergency care and it is interesting to be reminded of this background throughout. I found myself at times absorbed by the nostalgia of the bygone era contained in the many stories, and at times reflecting on how our notions of emergency care practise, science and ethics have changed since then.
Sometimes it is difficult to draw distinctions between Webb's attempts to inform objectively and to simply tell a story that needed to be told. His skill lies in telling his stories in a way that is believable and authentic, a style that sometimes seems misplaced in the transitions to factual information which occur in several places throughout the book.
Sadly, I found the penultimate chapter of the book disappointing. In communicating an authentic account of the 'guts and glory' of emergency care in Johannesburg earlier in the book, Webb's writing is persuasive. However it is not when attempting to convey the idea that the recent evolution in the education of emergency care workers results in something other than the practice of emergency care. There are a number of errors, incorrect assertions and omissions in this part of the book which result in a biased and misinformed view of what the degree programme in emergency medical care is intended to achieve, and what fate awaits those with short course qualifications in the future.
Notwithstanding this critisism, I enjoyed reading Webb's book and the stories he recounts about what must have been (and probably still is) one of the most challenging emergency care environments in the world. Our understanding of what it meant to be a paramedic during such an important formative time for emergency care in South Africa would be much the poorer without his devotion in committing these memories to paper.
This review appeared in the Emergency Care Society of South Africa's quarterly publication, Sanguine Vol 1
Steven Webb's book is one of very few attempting to document any aspect of pre-hospital emergency care in South Africa and this fact alone makes it worthy of reading. It is mostly a collection of personal accounts, relating to a time period in the eighties and nineties when Webb worked as a paramedic and Inspector in Johannesburg.
There are also some personal accounts of emergency care experiences outside of South Africa in Webb's more recent history.
Mixed in with the memories of life in the fast lane of emergency care are other fragments of information that attempt to educate the reader about various aspects of pre-hospital work; the context, the qualifications, The Health Proffessions Council, the vehicles, the law and even the Star of Life.
There are many interesting stories and anecdotes, reflecting the frenetic world of emergency care before, during and immediately after the transition to democracy. Some of these stories describe typical emergency cases, however many are intimately connected to the context of a country caught in a groundswell of political violence and tension at the time.
Webb writes in a gritty, down to earth manner recounting his memories of suicides, accidents, overdoses, bombings and assaults among others. He also provides some interesting insights into the infrastructural and administrative side of the emergency services in Johannesburg, insights which make one wonder if the passage of time has really changed that much about how these services are managed and run in some respects.
You may not always agree with what is written, or the way in which it is written, but Webbs memories of emergency care at a time when the field was really evolving into a formalised profession constitute an important record of the way things were. The people, teachings systems and practises recounted in the book formed the foundation of today's pactise of emergency care and it is interesting to be reminded of this background throughout. I found myself at times absorbed by the nostalgia of the bygone era contained in the many stories, and at times reflecting on how our notions of emergency care practise, science and ethics have changed since then.
Sometimes it is difficult to draw distinctions between Webb's attempts to inform objectively and to simply tell a story that needed to be told. His skill lies in telling his stories in a way that is believable and authentic, a style that sometimes seems misplaced in the transitions to factual information which occur in several places throughout the book.
Sadly, I found the penultimate chapter of the book disappointing. In communicating an authentic account of the 'guts and glory' of emergency care in Johannesburg earlier in the book, Webb's writing is persuasive. However it is not when attempting to convey the idea that the recent evolution in the education of emergency care workers results in something other than the practice of emergency care. There are a number of errors, incorrect assertions and omissions in this part of the book which result in a biased and misinformed view of what the degree programme in emergency medical care is intended to achieve, and what fate awaits those with short course qualifications in the future.
Notwithstanding this critisism, I enjoyed reading Webb's book and the stories he recounts about what must have been (and probably still is) one of the most challenging emergency care environments in the world. Our understanding of what it meant to be a paramedic during such an important formative time for emergency care in South Africa would be much the poorer without his devotion in committing these memories to paper.
This review appeared in the Emergency Care Society of South Africa's quarterly publication, Sanguine Vol 1
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