We took our very first one on Thursday 1st December with our Health Advisor Emily Cleaver taking the call in the morning.
Emily has been with us since September, training up and taking calls when our West Midlands advice centre in Birchfield House opened to receive national contingency calls on Monday 31st October.
She said: “My sister-in-law works in the 111 advice centre for West Midlands Ambulance Service and told me that there were positions available. I was a hairdresser before the pandemic and as you’ll have seen in the news at the time, we were badly affected as an industry and couldn’t work. Things never really properly picked up, so I made a decision to look at a career change.
“My sister-in-law told me all about what being a Health Advisor with 111 involved and it sounded really interesting to me. It sounds like a strange thing to say now but until my training started, I didn’t realise how much you needed to know about health and medical conditions to do the job. We are told how to do the basics and I’ve learnt a lot about it doing the job, taking the calls and speaking to our patients.
“I didn’t realise that I’d just taken the first Yorkshire Ambulance Service call until you told me, I suppose I’m a part of DHU history now! Obviously, I can’t go into details about it but it was a fairly routine call, I spoke to them, managed to get them the help they needed at the right place which is always good and I’m sure they’ll be back to full health in no time.
“I’ve not been here long but I’m really enjoying it, my best job so far. We all work together, there’s always help and support available if you need it, I’m learning something new every day and the variety keeps me on my toes. No two calls are the same.”
Thank you to Emily for speaking to us and for being there for our patients and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The first of many calls and another effective partnership.