By Katie Earlam
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
LONDON, England — They are used to dealing with critical situations.
But now they face a challenge of Olympic proportions.
A total of 28 staff from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) have volunteered to help provide emergency care at London 2012. Frontline clinicians and staff from centres across the Yorkshire area will be part of the 440-strong ambulance team providing emergency assistance at the Olympics.
The YAS volunteers headed to the capital yesterday and will spend three weeks at a range of different Olympic venues including the Velodrome, aquatics centre and Olympic stadium.
They will also support fringe events in Hyde Park and other venues.
Pauline Kiely is a front line paramedic for the YAS and frequently visits the trauma department of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with emergency patients.
Based in Halifax, she said: “We are very fortunate to be involved in the Olympic games.
“I am getting a bit giddy at the prospect of being down there and am so grateful for this opportunity to be part of it.
“During the games, I will doing the same role, within the Olympic park and sports venues.
“Should our services be needed, we may head out to different parts of London to help people.
“Not only is this a once in a lifetime opportunity because of the Olympics, but it will be great to work with people from Ambulance Trusts across the country.
“And we will get to see sport that perhaps we would never have got to see previously.
“We weren’t lucky enough to get tickets for the games, so this is a fantastic way to be involved.”
Pauline is leaving behind her partner and daughter to take on the role, but is hoping they will come and visit her.
She was one of several volunteers who took part in Operation Amber in May - a practise response exercise for all emergency services working at the games.
All of the volunteers have taken part in specialist training with London Ambulance Service (LAS) to learn about their protocols, equipment and operational procedures and will go through four days of intensive training on arrival to prepare them for their stint in London.
This is part of a mutual aid agreement between English ambulance trusts which will see 200 ambulance staff from trusts around the country head down south.
All vehicles will be provided by the LAS.
It is estimated that there will be around a 5% increase in demand for ambulances in London during the Olympics.
YAS Chief Executive David Whiting aimed to reassure the Yorkshire public that service will not be changed in the area.
He said: “As far as day-to-day services across the Yorkshire and Humber region are concerned, it will very much be business as usual during the Games.
“We have planned very carefully to ensure there will be no impact on services here as a result of our staff supporting the Games in the capital”.
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