The "Jonah" effect

Apparently, my reputation precedes me. I have a habit of attracting very poorly people to my ambulance. It's known as the Jonah effect. For some reason, last night Jonah went from being my middle name to become my first name...

Many outside of the Ambulance Service will be reading this and thinking that surely that's exactly what should be happening, but let me tell you that it's just not the case. I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of calls that are received by the LAS are calls which could be dealt with in other ways.

But back to the point at hand. When I informed the person who was to be my crew mate for last night's shift that we would be working together, his instant reaction was something along the lines of "Oh oh...I'll make sure everything's properly stocked!" Nice, huh? But evidently wise thinking.

To have the reputation of a Jonah at work is not a good thing. It means that everyone's a little scared of catching the disease with which it seems I've been smitten. I like to look at it another way. I like to think that at least I get to put all my training, experience and expertise to good use.

So to my patients from last night, from the gentleman (and that's not sarcasm) who'd been shot, to the two patients with heart problems, to the lady who ended up in theatre last night, to the ambulance crew involved in the RTA, to the poorly (and sometimes drunk) diabetics, I'm sorry for being such a Jonah. But I hope that you're all the better for the experience...