CAPE TOWN - “The pandemic has instilled fear and uncertainty in our minds,” said Althea Serelina, an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) call centre official at Tygerberg Hospital.
EMS call centre officials serve the public 24 hours, seven days a week and 365 days a year.
Today marks one year since the first positive case of the Coronavirus was confirmed in South Africa.
Serelina, whose job is to be the link between the public and emergency response teams, said since the pandemic started in March 2020 they have received a total of 6 99 790 calls and 288 241 incidents were responded to by the EMS response team.
“It has been a challenging period to everyone because we had to embrace the new normal and change how we would normally do things. A counsellor is brought on site every second week, for staff to have confidential sessions and which has been helpful,” she said.
Not only has the pandemic affected the EMS staff emotionally, Acting Centre Manager at EMS Tygerberg Call Centre (TCC) Nick Newman says the pandemic prompted them to implement new ways of doing things and to bring in transformation and innovation.
“A high volume of Covid-19 calls came through to the TCC during this challenging period. Staff had to work extended hours due to an increased amount of positive staff cases at the TCC. This brought on a staff shortage. The staff members were emotionally, physically and mentally drained, but they persevered,” he said.
Additional staff members have also been employed as contract and seasonal workers to assist with the increased demand. A provincial Covid-19 hotline has also been implemented, which has brought great relief to the TCC team and EMS auxiliary staff, Newman said.
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