[Bethlehem 28 December 2011 18:00]
The ER24 Bethlehem crews definitely went the extra mile this evening following an accident on Paul Roux Road on the outskirts of Bethlehem.
A grandmother and her two grandchildren, a young man (18), and a young lady (14), were allegedly on their way on holiday to Cape Town when a truck collided into the back of their car. A puppy and another dog immediately jumped out of the car and ran off out of fright. The two youngsters immediately set off on foot after their pets and when paramedics arrived at the scene the grandmother could only give them a contact cell phone number and the direction in which they had run off in.
While one set of paramedics assessed the shocked grandmother and treated her for minor injuries, three of the other paramedics set off looking for the two other potential patients and their pets, only having intermittent cell phone contact with them due to bad signal in the area.
After walking approximately 5 kilometers down the train tracks the young man and girl were found. Unfortunately, only one of their dogs was with them and they had no idea where the other one was. Paramedics then treated the two for minor injuries and took them along with their grandmother and puppy to the Phekolong Hospital. Paramedics explained that a train had pulled into the Bethlehem Station shortly before the accident had happened, and the two young people were fortunately not in any immediate danger being on the train tracks.
The puppy would need a home for the night as it could not stay with the owners, so one of the paramedics volunteered to keep the puppy and care for it until family members arrived tomorrow to take over.
Not only have they shown true dedication into saving the lives of others, they have shown care for something that may not be in their every day line of work.
The 3 patients and their puppy are believed to be going to make a full recovery.
Vanessa Jackson, ER24
