A PARAMEDIC says working on the front line is like a ‘horror film’.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, took to social media exasperated at the continuing number of time-wasting calls from people with Covid-19 symptoms who did not need an ambulance.
And the medic – who has been working 13 hour shifts and has a one hour commute each way – desperately appealed to people to help those on the front line by following government advice and staying at home.
They said: “Raw, honest truth from the front line, we are exhausted, so much so I could sit and sob for hours. I’m too tired to eat, and even struggling to get undressed.
“I adore my job but this is like a horror film. If the public were seeing what I’ve seen they wouldn’t leave the house for a month.
“We are attending job after job to patients with coronavirus symptoms, many who really do not require an ambulance.
“Meanwhile the ones who really need us are dying in intensive care units as this virus has sent them into respiratory failure.”
The medic welcomed prime minister Boris Johnson putting the country into lockdown in a bid to tackle the virus.
They added: “I am mentally, physically and emotionally drained. I’ve seen people my age struggling to breathe, heard patients ask doctors if they are dying and I’ve seen the devastation this virus is having in families as it kills their loved ones.
“Please listen to what the prime minister is saying, don’t socialise.
“What happens when all your ambulance staff get it, when there are no emergency services left to save the lives of your loved ones because we ourselves are left fighting for our own lives on intensive care units because we were so low and exhausted from work that this virus takes over our body.
“We are out working every hour God sends and unable to visit our own loved ones because we fear carrying the virus home from work and killing our own family.
“Meanwhile, we continue to work on the front line alongside our colleagues and will work until each and every one of us starts dropping like flies.
“Until this happens you’ll find me at work, attempting to try and save the lives of those people who catch this horrendous thing.”