A NSW paramedic has opened up on the ordeals of working on the frontline battling COVID-19, telling how a heartbroken teenage boy said he had infected his critically-ill mother.
NSW had another record high today with 1,290 new local COVID cases.
There were four deaths in the latest reporting period, including the first regional death with a man in his 50s dying in Dubbo hospital.
Senior intensive care paramedic Joe Ibrahim recounted the day he had to take a critically ill COVID patient, a single mother, to hospital.
He said the case "broke their hearts" after the woman's teenage son said he had infected his mother with COVID-19.
He also said wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) during his 12-hour shifts had "taken its toll".
Mr Ibrahim appeared alongside the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at a press conference on Monday morning to describe what he had seen first-hand.
Here's an edited transcript of what he said.
I am an inspector and an intensive care paramedic for NSW ambulance and work on the frontline in Western Sydney.
I have come here today because I wanted to give you a little bit of a perspective surrounding what our paramedics face and do on every single shift. And to echo the message about getting vaccinated.
In getting vaccinated, you are not only looking after your own health but your neighbours, your community and after us, as frontline health workers.
Our role as paramedics is physically and mentally demanding.
One of the most physically demanding things we do is perform CPR. In the current climate, we need to perform CPR in full PPE.
To give you an understanding of what that is, we are wrapped up in a plastic gown that is not breathable, we have a fitted mask that covers our mouth and our nose and often digs into our skin. It is to ensure that the virus does not get into our lungs. We have glasses and gloves on. We wear this for the majority of our 12-hour shift and it takes its toll.
We wear this to not only protect us but to protect our family, to protect the broader community and your family.
When I joined this profession, years ago now, I knew that it came with a level of risk to serve our community. For the very first time though, I am bringing this risk due to this contagious virus home to my wife and my beautiful boys.
I know and take comfort in the fact that vaccinations break the chain of transmission and I am grateful to be vaccinated.
This truly does give me comfort and this is another reason why I stand here today asking you will to go and get vaccinated.
Our primary role as healthcare professionals, particularly in emergency settings is to take care of our patients in their time of need but paramedics are compassionate by nature. That is what draws us to the job. The compassion paramedics show towards our patients does not end there. It often expands to that family and often we are a shoulder to cry on.
I would like to share a case I recently attended to in Western Sydney. I was called to backup a crew that was at a single mother with her teenage son and daughter in the house. And she was deteriorating.
When I got there, I integrated with the team and I provided her time-critical treatment but while doing so, her son made a comment to me and that comment was, "I think this is my fault. I think I have given mum COVID". That stopped me in my tracks and stopped my team in our tracks and absolutely broke our hearts.
Unfortunately, this incident is not isolated. This is what paramedics see on the frontline every single day.
While paramedics are absolutely available to respond to you in medical emergencies and at your time of need, our preference is that you stay healthy and that you do not need to meet me or one of my team and do not need to be in the back of one of our ambulances. As a father, as a paramedic, as a member of Western Sydney's community, I stand here quite emotively, as I am sure you can see, and I'm asking you to follow the rules, stay at home, go and get your vaccines because that is what is going to help us.
On that topic, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge our amazing control centre staff and a moment to acknowledge our support staff that help us deliver to you the resources that are ambulances every and incredible paramedics that, all of these changes and challenges and that they are tied but, you know what, they front up to work day in and day out and give it their absolute all to respond to the community and treat you.
Lastly, I would like to make an observation. The people of NSW are resilient. In times of need, we are here to help each other. I have been privileged and honoured to work in the community in drought, catastrophic bushfires and in floods and in those times, every time in my experience, the people of NSW come together, they turn up, they help each other, they help themselves and they help us as frontline workers. Now, we are calling on you again. We need your help. The way to fight this virus is to get vaccinated. Thank you.
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2021-08-30 04:11:29Z
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