Meet the husband and wife lifesaving duo
THE role of a paramedic for North West Ambulance Service is stressful on its own.
But try saving a life in the knowledge that millions of viewers will be sat at home watching you. And try doing all of the above with your husband working right next to you. That scenario has become a reality for Andrea Hardy.
The paramedic, from Stockport, stars with husband Glynn in the latest series of BBC’s award-winning documentary, Ambulance.
Andrea told the Express about switching career in her late 30s, how her own grief inspired her to become a paramedic, and answers the question on everyone’s mind – what it’s like to work alongside your other half.
Andrea spent most of her career working as a sales manager and had no medical background or training. Following a bad day at work, she was told something that stuck with her: ‘It’s not a matter of life or death.’
“I just thought, what if I could do a job where it was actually a matter of life or death,” she said.
At the age of 38, and with two young children, Andrea quit her job and went back to university, where she trained to become a paramedic.
Four years later, she began working for North West Ambulance Service in Wythenshawe. That is where she met her now husband, Glynn.
He has been a paramedic for 12 years, and the show sees them working together, facing challenging callouts.
It’s some people’s worst nightmare, but Andrea says she loves working alongside her husband. “It’s good fun. We’re essentially getting paid to spend the day together,” she said. “We think very alike clinically, but in personality, we couldn’t be more different.
“I rush around constantly and Glynn is really laid back, so we complement each other working together.”
The first show of the new series saw Andrea and Glynn deal with a particularly difficult job – a 78-yearold woman thought to be suffering from sepsis.
She refused to go to hospital, despite them both insisting she should.
The case particularly resonates with Andrea, who tells the camera about the tragic loss of her mother when she was just 19.
“My mother was 38 when she came down with a sudden headache,” she said. “She died from a brain haemorrhage six hours later. I just wish that my mum had got to be an old lady and that we could have had the worries about nursing homes.”
Suffering her own tragedy has made it easier to deal with patients and grieving relatives, Andrea says. “I went on a job recently where a woman in her 30s had died suddenly. I saw the father walk upstairs to tell his children and it just reminded me of that time.
“You never get used to breaking bad news. Every case is upsetting in a different way, but life experience is the most important thing you share with people.”
The abuse suffered by paramedics at the hands of the public is a shocking but fairly regular part of the job, and Andrea is no exception.
She had to undergo surgery on her wrist after she was assaulted by a patient who had been abusing substances.
“When something like that happens, it does make you more on edge,” she said. “It can be a dangerous job, and the decisions I make about fast I drive the ambulance, to the situations I put myself in – are all based on my kids at home.” Andrea lives in Heald Green with Glynn and her two children, Erin who is 13 and Noah, 12.
She has missed sports days and Christmas plays due to the demanding nature of the job.
This year, she will be working a 12-hour shift on Christmas Day.
Andrea says she agreed to take part in the series to make her children proud. “It’s not the kind of job where you can take your children to work for the day, so this was an opportunity to show them,” Andrea said.
“They are really excited to watch it. It was a bit daunting but once I was on a job, I didn’t feel like I was being filmed – it was quite natural.
“I wasn’t going to behave any different just because I had a crew filming me, but it’s a brave thing because you are putting your practice up for scrutiny by millions of viewers.” »»Ambulance airs at 9pm on Thursdays on BBC 1.