Nee Naw Real Life Dispatches From Ambulance Control By Suzi Brent
I’ve been involved in first aid and medical event cover in various roles for my entire adult life (I was 14 when I got my first First Aid Certificate), I’ve also stopped to offer assistance when coming across emergencies in every day life. I’ve called ambulances, in and out of work hundreds of times and taught all ages how to make a “good 999 call”.
Suzi Brent is one of those voices on the end of the phone (although she’s now an allocator rather than being a call dispatcher so has less contact with “the public”). She has blogged about her work for almost five years at www.neenaw.co.uk under the Pseudonym Mark Myers, starting with the nightmare scenario “one under” (someone under a train), this one thankfully with a happy outcome. Suzi Brent also has the dubious honour of receiving one of the first calls to the London Ambulance Service about the 7th of July bombings, before the enormity of it all had unfolded.
In March Suzi Brent had her first book published, Nee New Real Life Dispatches from Ambulance Control. It’s an amazing collection of stories from her working life which will make you laugh, make you proud of the efforts of people to help strangers and cry at overwhelming tragedy which I did more than once. I defy anyone not be moved by the eloquent and moving way that Suzi tells some of the emergency calls she’s been involved in taking. She writes with a lovely style that makes her very likeable and natural way. I found her book hard to put down and read in almost one sitting, broken only by getting food, cups of tea and taking Sheppie out for a walk. Every page sharing more of a world which few get to experience properly, even those who work in pre hospital emergency medicine.
This is a book which everyone should read, especially if you ever think you’ll need to call an ambulance (in fact read this blog entry even if you don’t think you will need to: The 10 Commandments of Dialling 999). If you are wondering about the name, Suzi chose it because Nee Naw was the sound of the ambulance on it’s way to an emergency.
This book comes thoroughly reccomended and is definitely a must read, buy a big pack of chocolate biscuits and make a pot of tea. Oh and of course don’t forget the tissues. You can buy Nee Naw Real Life Dispatches From Ambulance Control from Amazon.
You can find Suzi on Twitter http://twitter.com/neenaw.
This review was originally in my blog on 28th March 2010 and has been updated.
Sadly Suzi Brent has had to stop blogging, she announced this to the world in her last post Goodbye NeeNaw.
QR Code for This Page
