HEADLINE:

[PODCAST] Buckle up: We take you on a Friday evening ride with a paramedic in Soweto

BLURB: Here’s how paramedics are fighting for their own lives so they can save yours.
Paul McNally reports for the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism.

The Western Cape health department reports there were 60 attacks on ambulance workers in
the province last year, and the City of Johannesburg says there were 27 in the city alone.

Our reporter, Paul McNally, went for a ride with a paramedic team in Soweto on a busy Friday
night to see for himself.

This report is voiced by Masego Rahlaga.

ACTUALITY 1: <BEEPS> 5147. 0504

FADE DOWN - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 01:
We’re riding with paramedic Maria Mazibuko.
We’re heading towards a call for an elderly woman who has suffered a stroke in her home.
But on the way we’re pulled over to assess another incident.

FADE UP
ACTUALITY 2: <BEEPS> Ah, control, take note, I’m at Pimville, but I was stopped by a
gentleman here, that also required an ambulance. They’ve got a patient with seizures…
FADE DOWN

SCRIPT 02:
We are in the first responder vehicle.
Assured that help will come for the other patient that Mazibuko has mentioned, we set off to our
stroke victim.
But Mazibuko is sceptical about what awaits us.

FADE UP
ACTUALITY 3: We’ve just recently learned of a paramedic who was shot. While they were
treating a patient and they got shot. That was a couple of weeks ago? Yes, yes. So, you
worry because they are colleagues at the end of the day. We do the same thing.
You worry if I’ll go home safe. I’ll get to see tomorrow. But you are here because it is a
calling and you love what you do.
FADE DOWN - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 03:
And as we get closer to the patient, we realize Mazibuko is scared because the call could be
fake.
It could be a set up to lure us into a home.
There might be no stroke victim.
Instead, robbers could be waiting for us on the other side.

ACTUALITY 4: So is there a way to assess now if it is a real call or not a real call at this
point? At this point, no. There is no way to assess. And what are you feeling? At the
moment I’m just calm. Probably because it is easier when you have someone with you in
the vehicle. Okay, usually you’re alone. Usually I work alone in the car. So there will be
that form of, okay, am I going to be safe. The fear of am I going to be mugged. But you
find comfort in knowing that when you get there you hope that they need you and
nothing will happen to you.
FADE DOWN - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 04:
If a call is in an area designated as a red zone, the paramedic team is meant to receive a police
escort.
But cars and cops aren’t always available.
And without the police by their side, workers are left vulnerable.

ACTUALITY 5: Because we carry morphine. We carry adrenaline. We carry all these sorts.
So they will take bags. You will be treating a patient and you turn back and your bag is
not there anymore. Those are meant for patients obviously. Those are meant for patients.
Also it feels like there is a possibility that if you take too long the family might turn on
you? That has happened. You take too long. You get there and they can be violent. They
tend to be violent. I went to one call and it was a family member banging on the car.
Saying that, but they said despatch send you a long time ago. Where were you. I stayed
in the car and I said control I can’t leave. There is a gentleman here doing one, two, three.

SCRIPT 05:
There has been an appeal to the metro police to accompany paramedics.
But some say if emergency workers are armed it makes them more of a target.
Critics argue criminals will be drawn to not just stealing drugs, but guns as well.
In December last year, the president of the SA Emergency Personnel Union, Mpho Mpogeng,
called on all the organisation’s 7000 members to arm themselves over the festive season.
But this has been met with widespread derision.

ACTUALITY 6: And do you think you can put anything in place that can prevent these
things from happening? A bullet proof car will only work when you are in the car. Right.
But what about when you go to a squatter camp, you walk into the squatter camp. The
roads in there are small. The car can’t actually go. The squatter camp here, near Bara.
You can’t go in with a vehicle. You need to put it at a safe distance and walk in there. But
you are carrying a lot. But should I be the first responder. I need to take everything in.
You’re like piled up? I’m piled up. And now if I am approached by a hostile person to run
back to the car is far. That bulletproof is not going to work for me.
ACTUALITY 7: FADE DOWN - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 06:
Mazibuko puts her foot down on the accelerator and we turn into the road where our call is
situated.
It’s residential, but the road is empty.

ACTUALITY 8 - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 07
Mazibuko parks the car.

ACTUALITY 8 CONTINUES: <door slamming.>

SCRIPT 08
She loads up her gear and we walk through the gate.
Still, no people to be seen.
We hold our breaths, expecting hoodlums.
There’s a palpable relief when the sick woman is presented to us.
This isn’t a set-up.
This woman is slumped on a couch and has lost movement in the left hand side of her body.

ACTUALITY 8 CONTINUES: <moving the lady>

SCRIPT 09
Mazibuko checks her over.

ACTUALITY 8 CONTINUES: <beeps> Facial asymmetry. Vitals at the moment

FADE DOWN

SCRIPT 10
The patient is hauled into the ambulance and we follow behind in our first response car.
We’re taking her to The Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.

ACTUALITY 9: FADE UP
So we are heading into Bara now? Yes, we are heading into bara
SLOWLY FADE DOWN

SCRIPT 11:
Mazibuko reckons our patient is going to be okay.
We can’t record inside the hospital so we wait in the car.
Mazibuko believes that the rate at which these incidences are occurring, is escalating.
And data confirms this.
Leanne Brady is a researcher for the Emergency Medical Services at the Western Cape health
department.
She also works for the Health Policy and Systems Division at the University of Cape Town.

ACTUALITY 10: We are now collecting data on these incidents. We didn’t before. So is it
escalating as our data strategy is improving or is it really escalating. If you speak to
people on the ground many paramedics will argue – before they were protected in the
neighbourhoods that they worked in. They weren’t seen as targets. So people on the
ground really feel like that has changed. There was a kind of respect? When you say they
were protected then they were seen as a no-go area? Exactly. People would look out for
them while they were recessing someone. And they feel like that has changed.
FADE DOWN

SCRIPT 12:
Brady says some communities in the Western Cape are trying to find solutions.

ACTUALITY 11
For example, in public dialogues in Tafelsig we’ve seen people coming together,
grappling with what could be done differently. So, we have women living down the street
from the clinic asking what they can do to support, how they can make sure that the
paramedics are kept safe when they know that they are coming. We have people who
have signed pledges to keep paramedics safe.

<sounds of car radio>

Mazibuko: Control, please take note. The patient has been handed over at Baragwanath.
I’m available for our next call.

CONTINUE UNDER AND THEN FADE DOWN

SCRIPT 15:
Where we are going to be called to next will determine how safe we are.
Mazibuko says the hostels are the scariest.
She decides to drive past one.

ACTUALITY 12
So, we are going to pass at Nancefield. It’s one of the hostels. Where you will find most
of your shootings coming from. It’s a red zone. It’s a red zone. That’s where we will go
with SAPS. And when it’s a shooting we don’t compromise. No SAPS, no entry, because
the person firing the firearm could still be there. Is this the worst place to be called into?
This is the worst. When I get a call that it is Nancefield hostel… I normally just pray first.
So, that’s the entrance there. Jees, it’s like pitch black. Very dark. Yeah <sounds of
radio>

SCRIPT 16:
A call suddenly comes in.
It’s an assault.
The police are already there.
We’re told there’s a crowd.
Mazibuko says it could be a case of mob justice.
She drives fast.

ACTUALITY 13
<sounds of sirens>
FADE DOWN - CONTINUE UNDER

SCRIPT 17:
Our adrenaline is pumping.
We’re worried about an angry mob turning on us.
People who don’t want to see the man they’ve beaten up, helped.

SCRIPT 18:
We see the police van far off at the end of the road.
There’s a crowd.
As we get closer though, it seems calmer.
We move into the front yard and a man covered in a blanket is lying on the porch.
He looks to be in his forties.
Two dozen sombre people are fixated on the man.
There was no mob justice.
The police had been called by mistake and rumours spread.
In reality, the man had a seizure and collapsed, bashing his head as he hit the floor.
Mazibuko tends to her patient.
But it’s no good.
She’s brought the ECG machine.
It tests if someone’s heart is working correctly.
But Mazibuko doesn’t need it.

ACTUALITY 14
<sounds of getting back into the car>
Okay, so that one was a declaration. So, normally that would be toughest. You know.
Just having to leave and you have to tell the family that a family member is no more. How
do you feel about it?
I don’t like it. I don’t want to lie to you. I leave home and think if we had been despatched
earlier. You know when you listen: we have called in at six o’clock. And we got the call at
half past eight. They called in at six o’clock. Yeah, they are saying they called in at 6 ‘o
clock.

OUTRO:
A paramedic worker, Maria Mazibuko, ending that report by Paul McNally.
The story was voiced by Masego Rahlahla.
The sound production for this podcast, was done by Danny Booysen.
Until next time, I’m Mia Malan.