Women on Fire
http://www.fireonline.co.za/index.php/fire/2014-03-31-08-48-08/169-women-on-fire/397-women-on-fire-kim-william

Womens month article that appeared as a feature in the Fire on Line Magazine for August 2014

F.I.R.E. Online

Fire Raiders is a diverse company that has its sole focus as serving the Fire, Rescue, and Disaster Management Departments throughout South Africa, Africa and the Middle East.

Women on Fire: Kim Williams

In: Women on Fire

19 Aug 2014

Kim Williams

Operational ALS Paramedic

See her blog at: http://cityparamedic.blogspot.com/

Why the passion for EMS?

Growing up on a farm I always helped my dad with all the veterinary work and I loved been able to help to save another living thing. My dream was to become a trauma doctor but due to circumstances I ended up being an Advanced Life Support Paramedic instead, something for which I will always be grateful for. I have always had a love affair with the big red truck and on the farms I would join my dad and his crews to fight the veldt fires we would encounter with our wet sacks and sticks with our rubber beaters attached. My job was to run to the barn and wind up the fire alarm before jumping into the Land Rover to go fight the beast; it was what I was born to do!

How did you get into the EMS?
I started my medical career as a Sports & Rehabilitation Therapist and would travel with various SA teams both locally and abroad. My level 3 first aid was not enough and I decided that it was time to become a paramedic. I went on to complete my BAA at Wits, with EMS legend Allan Paolini and was mortified to find out that I still could not put up a drip and after all this I was still not a paramedic!
I then joined the local fire department and on 2 February 2000 I became a reservist stationed at Roosevelt Park Fire Station in Johannesburg. I was hooked and so began my nine-year journey to become a paramedic. In 2009 I joined the City of Johannesburg Fire Department on a full-time basis as an Instructor at the Medical Training Academy in Florida Park. I loved teaching and was proud to have played a part in producing some really good AEA’s for the city.

I spent a couple of years there and my office had these really huge windows overlooking the helipad and engine bays of the fire station below and I would watch green with envy as the fire engine and other vehicles responded to calls, feeling very left out of all the action. I knew I had to go back on the beat or slowly die!. Two years ago I made the decision to return to operations and realised just how much I had missed the action and my passion as a trauma junkie was once again quelled. I have been with the fire department for a total of 14 years and could never work anywhere else. Helping the poorest of the poor is where my heart and passion lies.

Tell me about your career path?
I have been involved in prehospital medicine in one way or another for nearly 25 years. I started off as an active reservist (AEA) for nine amazing years. Qualified through the University of Johannesburg as an ALS Paramedic, and then joined the department full time as an instructor. I qualified as an Education, Training and Development Practitioner and an Assessor. Currently I work as an Operational ALS Paramedic Stationed at Fairview Fire Station, covering five fire stations (Malvern, Fairview, Central, Berea, and Brixton).

What message do you have for new recruits?
Being an EMT firefighter is dirty work, it’s dangerous and it’s physically hard, so lose the attitude, the false nails and fancy hair. Attitude kills, false nails burn in a fire and you cannot perform CPR on an infant with long nails, fancy hair causes your helmet not to fit properly and you will burn. You need to be fit to keep up with the men and don’t ever lose your femininity, be proud of being a woman of passion and action. Learn to work side by side your male counterparts earning their trust and respect. Don’t expect special treatment from the men, you earn the same salary as the men and carry the same qualifications so you are expected to be able to do the job. There are patients and heavy objects that the men too cannot pick up on their own and need help so do not be embarrassed to ask for assistance. When you show respect towards the men you work with they too will respect you.

Who were your mentors?
The first of many was Mr Allan Poulini who taught me everything I know about being a paramedic, especially how to think on my feet and to manage big scenes. He was very hard on me but he toughened me up for the job and today working in the inner city I am grateful for that “tough love”. I am one of his few students that he did not make cry! On the fire side, Platoon Commander Riaan Cloete and his “c” shift crews of “Tolla” Gardner and “Sakkie” van Aswegen, trained and finessed my fire and rescue skills and PC Cloete has to be one of the best incident commanders I know and I learned so much from him. He also helped me when I put the first all-girl team together to take part in two World Rescue Championships and a National Championships and would spend hours helping to train the ladies with all the LMVR tools and equipment.

Your best and worst experience in the service?
Working in the inner city is an entirely different ball game.The worst is when drunken parents fight and throw their children out of the window, falling to their deaths.Grossly mutilated bodies and horrific murder scenes are the order of the day. I have had guns pulled on me, have been groped on my private parts, threatened rape, physically shoved around and have had to duck more than once while bullets where flying. One particular 24-hour period springs to mind I was working on the fire engine during our first day shift and around 09h00 we received a call for a new born baby in a plastic bag which had been suffocated. Again at 11h00 we were called for another baby this time found in a dustbin, this baby had been strangled. At around 14h00 we received a call for a four-year-old that had fallen 13 storeys to his death. We then went home and arrived for our second day shift and received our first call of the day for a young girl who had been brutally raped then thrown out of a building several floors up. It was a horrid 24 hours.

My best call - when I save someone!! Recently I was standing outside one of the clinics in Hillbrow talking to my ambulance crews when a taxi pulled up with a child in the back seat. I could see immediately that the child needed resuscitation. My crews started CPR while I ran inside the clinic to summon the doctor and get a stretcher. The doctor was new and inexperienced (his own words!); the clinic was not prepared for resuscitation so I had to bring all my equipment and drugs from my response car. It was strange running the resuscitation in the clinic! She had ingested organophosphate poison and we got her back twice and eventually after an hour of not giving up and advanced care, she stabilized. We then transferred her to a bigger hospital and she went home a week later, fully recovered!! I often wonder what would have happened if we had not been there at that exact moment in time.

What challenges have you had, being a woman in a man’s world?
I recently was a guest speaker at the 7th Annual Women in Law Enforcement Conference where I spoke about this very topic. I opened my speech with the following “do your men listen to you because you carry rank or because they trust and respect you as an officer.” A lot of the men feel that women do not belong in the fire department and make no bones about it. I have worked really hard with my crews in the city and I believe respect is a two way street and needs to be earned. I am the only female paramedic working in the city and none of the other services will venture deep into the inner city.