‘SEEING THE LONELINESS THIS DISEASE IS CAUSING IS ALMOST AS HEART-BREAKING AS WATCHING A PERSON STRUGGLE FOR AIR’
Sarah Blanchard, 27, is a paramedic in Essex
I couldn’t sleep last night. My last call of the evening was a 43-year-old woman who, three days earlier, had been healthy. After having a cold and a temperature for a few days, she collapsed. Her husband called 999 but, by the time we ran in, her heart had stopped and she had died. I can’t stop thinking about her poor 13-year-old daughter, and how shocked her husband looked when we told him. I worry this might be about to become the new normal.
A crucial part of my job is to calm and reassure the terrified people whose lives we are trying to save. As we speed to the hospital in the back of an ambulance, I hold their hands during what is one of the most frightening times in their lives. What I can’t bear about treating those infected with Covid-19 is having to keep my distance as their panic-stricken eyes search my face for signs of what’s to come. The truth is, I don’t know. Nobody does. Some of the patients I have taken to hospital have got better, some of them have not.
Seeing the loneliness this disease is causing is almost as heart-breaking as watching a person struggle for air. Carers aren’t sending people out to visit the elderly for a friendly cup of tea now, and family have to stay away. A lot of older people are calling 999, worried they can’t breathe, and when we get there, they’re alone and terrified to leave the house – sometimes they have symptoms and sometimes they don’t.
I’m happy with the Government rules on social distancing, as long as people follow them. It’s crucial everyone understands they will put us at risk if they don’t. I’ve accepted it’s not possible to test us all for coronavirus. I don’t need to know if I’ve had it – I just need to know I can trust you to stay at home.