By Holly McGuinness
The first ever International paramedics day is this Friday and the Star Weekly caught up with Paramedicine students and lecturers of Victoria University (VU), St Albans to celebrate.
Paramedicine senior lecturer at VU Dr Brian Haskins said “it’s basically the first time it’s been a worldwide recognition of the value and input paramedics make into the health service.”
Third year Paramedicine student Kimberlie Jusic is eager to graduate and start helping those in need.
“I’m interested in doing it because of the challenge and the diversity, being able to interact with such a broad group of people. To be the person that can make them feel safe on what is probably one of the worst days of their life,” Kimberlie said.
Sean Challis entered the course via a diploma pathway and loves the challenge of paramedicine, “There’s lots of different problems to solve, be that, how do I physically get into this house, how do I get my patient out, how do I find out what’s wrong with them and how do I fix it?
“And at the end of the day, someone gets the help they need and feels better so it’s just that much more rewarding” Sean said.
Kimberlie and Sean will be part of Victoria University’s new program where paramedic students will run free CPR training within community groups and schools in the area.
Dr Haskins is developing the program and urges anyone to take advantage of the life-saving training to bridge the gap while first responders arrive if someone is having a cardiac arrest and requires CPR.
“In reality, if bystanders don’t do anything in the first 10 minutes, there’s very little chance of anyone surviving a cardiac arrest.
“For every one minute delay in CPR, there’s a 10% less chance of survival. And for every one minute delay in defibrillation, there’s a 10% less chance of survival, and the average paramedic response time is about 10 minutes,” Dr Haskins said .
The program is expected to be rolled out in 2023.
