News from our Sector Ministers  

 

Julie Aylward

Chaplain, SE Ambulance Service

What a privilege and joy it is to be a volunteer chaplain to the staff of the South East Ambulance Service in Thanet. I am now used to wearing their green uniform! (all very different to my previous role as a Prison Chaplain!)

Once a week I go to the Make Ready Centre and am available to all the staff there: those out in ambulances before and after shifts, senior staff, the guys who clean down and restock the ambulances, and the mechanics who keep the ambulances on the road. Each playing a vital role in serving our local community when they are in need of health care some in life-threatening or life-ending situations, and some with very mundane issues.

Most weeks I sit in the various rooms and just listen to what’s been going on in work situations and their home lives. Some very mundane, some absolutely horrific.  I generally meet between 20 to 30 people each visit. One week it will be a quite general session with people but one week it can get very deep.  I also hear the gripes about various aspects of the organisation and can sometimes alert senior staff to issues.

I make cake to take in every few weeks. If I don’t take some in I am told off but I am also told off by the dieters when I do take some in!

I also have the privilege of occasionally accompanying a crew during their shift which can be between 8 and 12 hours (more if they are late off) all with just one thirty-minute break! I get to see the things they must deal with day to day: the gratefulness of patients and relatives as well as aggression and ungratefulness! Watching them Blue Lighting through traffic is quite scary but also frustrating when people do not move to get out of their way, even though they could. The care and compassion with which they treat patients is incredible, even right at the end of a long shift. Thankfully, all the calls I have seen have been quite straightforward but the stories I have heard can be quite gruesome!
 

Prayer points

• For all those out on shift everyday: for resilience, patience, and strength
• For all those who work together at the station to literally keep the show on the road
• For the patients, relatives and under-pressure hospital staff
• For all the chaplains in SECAMB as they seek to care for and support the staff