AS Coursework

This is a piece of coursework I have done in my first year of college. I was inspired before we were given the brief by the sight of an old lady being put into an ambulance via a gurney, I had never seen this before, and as I joined the on-lookers from my bus stop, I had a range of feelings and words flowing through my head, and I decided to write them down. And fortunately I could put these feelings to good use in my coursework. I hope you enjoy it, I absolutely love reading it and I'm the one who wrote it!

Monologue of a Paramedic

Set in an old style flat, obviously decorated by someone from the 50’s. A man in his late twenties is dressed in a green uniform with yellow lettering ‘PARAMEDIC’, he is sitting in a flowery armchair that matches the fading wallpaper. It’s night. A couple of dim lamps are lighting the room.

You never know who’s going to be next. What you’re going to see next. An old lady slips in her bath tub, children getting hold of knives…it gets out of control when a parent is absent. Emergency after emergency. People who never stand a chance-to idiotic people causing mischief and wasting our time. If someone would
sort them out then…

He rises from the aged sofa and kicks it in anger.

…Then others would suffer for a shorter amount of time. (Calm) My job is to help people who need it, not for time wasters with a bloody paper cut.


He sits back down in a sigh.

I mean, it’s just common sense isn’t it? I would have thought so, but maybe it’s because I am a paramedic. I have this view, because it’s my life. Yup, this is my life. This never ending chain of pain and misery. Me and the suffering and injured. Is this world really fair? No. I don’t think so. Not anymore.

He rubs his fingers into his temples. He realizes he has some blood on his hands; he uses a wipe to clean it off.

Well, I obviously had my doubts of course. I never thought of it as all luck and happiness, where the sun always shines and nothing bad happens. I know that bad things happen. That bad things happen to good innocent people everyday. I see it with my own eyes. (He clasps his hands together in his lap, leans forward on his knees) I saw it earlier today. You see, I live with my Ma. We’ve lived together for a while. I moved in to be able to look after her; I gave up all of my spare time, my life, to make sure that nothing, nothing would happen to her. (Sighs) My dad, he died seven years ago. After he died, I decided that I wanted to be able to prevent others from dying, from suffering. I felt guilty, and I didn’t want to. I wanted to be able to help my Ma in the future… (Trails off)

(He watches himself twiddling with his thumbs; he cocks his head to one side and squints.)

I take care of her when I am not taking care of others. And today I came home from my overnight shift. To find (his voice breaks) to find my Ma bent over the countertop in the kitchen. One hand clutching her heart in pain, the other like a claw dug in on the counter. Her mouth molded into a silent scream of pain. Agony. I felt the panic inside: What do I do? What can I do? I always know what to do? CPR? The Heimlich maneuver? Do I need an AED? Check her pupils? The colour of her tongue? Time went by in that slow motion way they do in action films. I hate to relive that moment. My moment of doubt. This is my Ma for Christ’s sake?! My own flesh and blood. I know what happens next. She’s only weak, not strong enough to survive a heart attack. Ha, It’s a common thing- a heart attack. But it changes from a person you’ve just met, to someone you care about, you love them. They’re your world. She’s my existence, without her…what do I have left to do? Having to dial an ambulance, to have help because I actually need it. Having to cover up my fear and panic. Having to carry her down the stairs. She’s staring into my eyes, I saw her hope. Hope, that I could fix her. Fix her? Is fixing her putting her in an ambulance? Feeling helpless as my instincts render me useless in this situation. There are on-lookers poking their noses in to see my Ma vulnerable. My Ma, a human being for God’s sake, not an animal. Wires strewn about, across her limp body. Is this trying to fix her? It’s stressful for her. In this process her heart attack developed over the stress of useless medical information. It confused her. Alienated her. All I could do was watch others attempt to take care of her. Because I couldn’t. This was the breaking point of my career. Of my life.

He breaks down into angry sobs then pushes against the furniture in a rampage. Lights out.