If you’re in danger, you’re just a phone call away from help. This is because frontline workers put in a tireless effort to keep us safe, happy, and healthy. But do we really know just how important they are, or just how hard they work? Do we really give them enough credit?
To find out more about frontline workers, we interviewed Barry Dore, a retired senior firefighter with over 30 years of experience, and Camilla Rogers, a NSW flight nurse. They know what it’s really like to work on the clock and under the pressure of saving lives.
So what do frontline workers do for us? Camilla Rogers, whose work includes transporting people from remote parts of NSW to hospitals, described, “living in the city, working in the country. We look after unwell people and try to make their day better.”
Most of us think that emergency work is simply putting out fires, catching criminals, and using first aid. But it turns out, you need to be incredibly skilled to do these jobs.
“I had to be a registered nurse and a registered midwife at the same time. So all up I had to have 9 years experience,” said Camilla.
Frontline jobs also require remarkably different hours to the regular 9-5. Barry worked forty-eight hours every eight days, while Camilla works part-time with three ten-hour shifts a week. This sounds exhausting, but it must be worth it, because Australia has one of the highest living standards in the world.
Time is also crucial in managing an emergency. Barry told us that firefighters need to be on the scene within six minutes. “They’ve determined one of the critical time factors is six minutes. Things are much more difficult or intense if we don’t arrive within that time,” he explains.
We’ve already heard how hard frontline staff work. But what would a day in their life look like? Well Barry told us that he starts a night shift at 8:00pm and finishes at 6:00 the next morning. In this time he usually does any of the following, stocktakes of the fire trucks, physical training, checking the building and the town’s fire hydrants, rest periods, and of course, putting out fires. “Any time a call comes, we’ve gotta drop everything and rush to the job,” he says.
Sadly, these incredible workers often go unnoticed. Imagine a world without frontline workers. As Camilla Rogers told us, “If there weren’t any flight nurses up in the air, patients would not receive the right level of care.”
If there were no police officers, so many crimes would be swept under the rug. Without firefighters, bushfires would completely take control of Australia, and without paramedics, people could be left in dire medical conditions for hours without proper care.
Do we really give these real-life heroes the credit they deserve? For a job so vital, do we celebrate them the way we celebrate sports players or pop stars? We need to stop thinking and start doing.
But how can we help? Raising awareness is a great place to start. By just reading this article, or sharing it with a friend you are helping to give these amazing people the thanks that they truly deserve. So next time you see a frontline worker, take a second to recognise and thank them. Because they do everything they can to keep this country safe, happy and healthy.
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