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I asked to work on the first rescue of this shift (a moorhen with a broken leg) because it had been left by the previous shift and I felt responsible to see it to the end. Perhaps this was selfish of me; I wanted to finish on a good note (also for the moorhen!)
Teaming Together
I saw very quickly that the 2 guys on this shift work together regularly. Whilst this narrows the broadening social circle of meeting new colleagues, having a steady work partner apparently works well – and is even encouraged – because you get to know each other well and how each other works.
These 2 are a clear example of that; they know their roles but also have a sense of each others’ personal preferences and their tasks overlap. For example, they both check the ambulance (this is usually only done by the co-driver) and the co-driver assists with route planning. Their seamless teamwork (as well as their sociability) meant they had more time and energy for me.
Admin – not such a hard pill to swallow
Up till now, I’d been looking over the co-driver’s shoulder to see how the rescue administration worked. As far as I could make out, all kinds of details were entered on-site or between rescues on a clunky tablet with an app with thousands of tabs, menu options, pull-downs, sliders, option buttons and anything else an app developer could throw in. Admittedly I didn’t pay much attention to it on my first shift, and for the second I was focussed more on the practical side of things. This morning was such a combination of chaos and clumsiness on the phone/admin side that I really couldn’t follow anything.
I mentioned this to the co-driver and he showed it to me. And it’s so simple! Click the tabs from left to right, each tab has context specific questions with answers from a drop down menu, a few boxes for extra details and submit!
Thanks to his help, I understood the structure of the tablet app in only 5 minutes – much less time than I’d spent with it until now. Somehow I don’t like the idea I’m a structured guy (I’d like to think I’m spontaneous and creative), but at least when it comes to learning things, I do need structure to get on board. Learning point for me.
And also for the co-driver – he was delighted to learn he was a significant part of my training!
Moorhen
We headed out rapidly to rescue the moorhen. She’d been found with a broken leg on the water, and was waiting for us in a shoebox at someone’s house. She twitched, so I figured she was in pain. I put my hygienic blue plastic gloves on as quickly as I could (it’s never quick enough; even the XL size is too tight on excited, sweaty hands ready for action!) and as gently as I could, lifted her out of the shoebox and into the rescue centre box. Towels placed strategically next to her meant she wouldn’t move too much if the ambulance bounced over cobble stones and speed bumps.
This is where I made an idiotic mistake; I’d left my gloves on after handling the moorhen, so I touched door handles, clipboards and the tablet with potentially dirty hands. I cleaned what I could. Another learning point.
House Sparrow
On the way to the rescue centre we received a request from the centralist – picking up an injured house sparrow who’d been found and brought to the vet and the vet called the animal ambulance. Out of the two teams working, we were the closest to it, so it made most sense for us to make a small detour to pick up the sparrow.
It seemed odd because the vet was far away – but it turned out that was because we’d navigated to the wrong vet; one with the same name but in a different place!
The sparrow was weak and didn’t object to being moved into a rescue centre box. And I took my blue gloves off afterwards straight away! 😉
House Sparrow (Yes, another one)
Our detour took some time; enough time for another call to come in for another house sparrow. This injured bird had been placed in a box and left on a house door step for us to collect and bring to the rescue centre.
End of Shift
Bringing the moorhen to the rescue centre (and indirectly, the extra time I had on this shift) took longer than expected, but 2 other birds were also helped along the way which is a good thing. I’d love to know how things went with the moorhen in particular, but the staff at the rescue centre are so busy they have little time to give case-specific updates. Like the animals who are brought there, I need to trust things work out well!
Even now, months after my burnout maxed, I get tired easily and need a 1 or 2 hour snooze to get me through the day. At 15:30 I was absolutely zonked! But I’d helped many animals and met a couple of great new colleagues so I left for home with a good feeling, the prospect of a late lunch, and a bed! 🙂
