I'm Doctor Chris Hook. I joined Magpas Air Ambulance earlier this year, and I’ll be on shift this Christmas Day.
Usually I’d be spending time with my family and friends; taking part in all the traditions, donning my reindeer jumper and sitting down to a big Christmas dinner. However, it’ll be very different this year.
My team and I will still try and cook a meal in the small kitchen at the operations base, but we also need to be ready to drop everything, leaving the second the emergency phone rings–as it usually does just as we’re about to sit down. Coming back to cold food is part and parcel of the job!
Working this Christmas is important to me. No one expects that they’re going to need Magpas Air Ambulance that day. We could be called to someone who’s been caught in a road traffic collision on their way to visit family. We could land in the middle of a field when someone’s been taken ill on their traditional Christmas Day walk. We could end up in a family home... We’re the last guests people expect to turn up that day.
We’re trained to always provide patients with the best possible medical care whenever we’re called; but I think we’re even more acutely aware of the consequence of our actions when we’re treating patients on Christmas Day. When tragedy strikes around Christmas, it feels particularly poignant. What is supposed to be one of the happiest times of the year can very quickly become the worst.
But as a team, we’re here to give patients the best possible chance of survival and recovery by bringing hospital-level care to people in their ultimate moment of need—whenever and wherever that is.
Of course, it’s sad not to be with my own family on Christmas Day, but I’m willing to give that up in order to keep other families together.
There’s a whole team at Magpas Air Ambulance working throughout Christmas to be there for anyone who needs us. None of which would be possible without you incredible people who support us and donate their money to this cause. You’re a crucial part of the team too.
Wishing you the best of luck, and a happy, safe Christmas.
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