The Manchester Arena terrorist attack – two UNISON members’ stories

Adam Williams was in a corridor with a patient at the Salford Royal hospital when he heard news of an explosion in Manchester. Twenty minutes later he was at the scene. As a paramedic with the North West Ambulance Service, Adam has been trained for this type of incident. But it was still a shock when he arrived. The sound of the scene is what hit him first. Screams of panic and pain, alarms, sirens from police cars, ambulances and fire engines. He saw people wounded and confused: “It was devastation.” “It was devastation.” The hazardous area response team, police officers and other paramedics were already at work, so Adam and his colleague grabbed their equipment and made themselves known to an officer. They were quickly given their first patient; a teenage girl with substantial injuries. She was losing blood quickly so they put her on a stretcher and Adam got into the back of the ambulance with her to try to stem the bleeding. With sirens blaring they drove to Manchester Royal Infirmary, but one minute away from the hospital she went into cardiac arrest. Adam has been a paramedic for less than a year. He completed his training in the West Midlands in June 2016, but before that he was working at the North West Ambulance Service for four years, as a technician and in the control room. He says he fell into becoming a paramedic: “I did a degree in politics then got a job in the ambulance control room to save some money to move to London.” Luckily for Manchester, he ...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: Magazine manchester Manchester Arena north west region public service champions UNISON north west Source Type: news