Graeme Jones is a paramedic and a helm at Penarth RNLI
THIS Christmas Graeme Jones will be working every day from December 23 to Boxing Day. Graeme, 44, is a full-time paramedic and a Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteer
The first time I speak to Graeme on the phone he is with a patient. He has been working a shift with the ambulance service and was expecting a call from a doctor. He apologises for not being able to speak, and we re-arrange for the following day.
“Working over Christmas as a paramedic is very strange. I try to get out of it as much as I can but sometimes you can’t,” he tells me. “It sucks, but you’ve just got to accept it.
“You get the build-up to Christmas that everyone else has, and then Christmas morning, you get to work, they wish you a happy Christmas and if you’re lucky someone might cook you a nice breakfast.
“You check your vehicle then you’re out on your first job straight away, It’s just like any other day of the year. You’d think it would be something different but it’s not.”
Graeme, from Penarth, joined the ambulance service in 2003 and became a paramedic in 2008.
For paramedics, Christmas day can be just as busy as any other.
I ask him to describe a typical Christmas day shift.
“Christmas morning is usually kind of quiet,” he says.
“We often have to deal with some of the people who’ve gone out on Christmas Eve night.
“From lunchtime onwards, it’s usually the elderly we have to help. Grandparents come around the house, overindulge, and collapse.
“It quickly becomes just like any other work day. So the magic of Christmas goes a little bit.”
Graeme has to balance his full-time paramedic job with RNLI volunteering, something he says can be very difficult.
He will also be on call for the RNLI this Christmas, which is always busy period for the charity.
Christmas callouts over the last 40 years have skyrocketed.
Over the past decade, RNLI lifeboats have launched over 1,200 times during the festive period, and last year, RNLI volunteers in Wales launched 23 times from the station’s 30 lifeboat stations assisting 20 people.
Graeme has been involved in a number of Christmas callouts during his many years on the Penarth crew.
“People are off work so they might decide to go out on pleasure craft, go fishing or do something they might have done in the summer because it’s a special day. Some of these people might get into trouble.
“Unfortunately, there also seem to be more suicides around Christmas and January than any other time of the year.
“It’s a strange time for some people, they can get quite depressed.”
Graeme first started volunteering with the RNLI as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in school.
“That was when I was 16, and I’m now 44, so that gives you some idea of how long ago that was. After completing the award they asked me if I fancied joining the crew, so I did.”
There are around 30 volunteers at Penarth RNLI, consisting of helms, fully-trained crew, trainee crew, tractor drivers and managers.
The most common Christmas callouts for the Penarth crew are boats breaking down and needing assistance, or people getting cut off by the tide.
“People often want to go out for a nice walk for Christmas day and are unaware of the tides. Especially around the Penarth area. It’s not often but it does happen.
“We’ve got the second highest tidal range in the world here in the Bristol Channel. The tide can rise half a metre in half an hour or less, so it’s very easy to get caught out.
“A few years ago on Christmas morning, around 11am, my pager went off, so I went down to the station.
“Somebody had been spotted from the cliffs in difficulty.
“When we got there we found that it was just some debris that had been washed down the channel. It was a relief that it was nothing but in some ways it was frustrating that we were called out for nothing.”
Christmas time can be difficult not just for those working or on call, but for their families as well.
Graeme says: “It’s tough, but they’re kind of used to it. They just accept now that some years they won’t see me. This year, I’m not going to be seeing my family at all.”
As a helmsman you have to make important decisions. If anything happens, it’s down to you
Graeme is a lifeboat helmsman, which means he is responsible for everyone onboard. This brings with it a lot of pressure.
As he explains: “You are in charge of the boat and of the search, the whole situation.
“Decisions you make can influence the rescue.
“I could be called into the coroner’s court and asked ‘Why did you decide to do that?’ It’s a high level of responsibility.”
RNLI callouts can involve great risk for the crew. Graeme tells me about an incident which happened eight years ago when the RNLI Penarth was tasked with searching for a missing man off the coast.
The crew launched late at night in storm-force conditions. Crews from Barry and Weston-super-Mare as well as a coastguard helicopter were also involved in the search.
“We couldn’t see the waves because it was so dark. I was driving the lifeboat and I was quite nervous.
“The lifeboat is about eight-and-a-half metres long and I had to fully accelerate just to get to the top of the waves because we were almost becoming vertical.
“The person had been missing for several hours, we were stood down, and I had to battle back through the waves to the shore.
“The helicopter stayed with us until we had returned safely.”
Graeme and his crew made it back, only to discover that the missing man had actually been in the local pub the whole time.
Graeme balances two very stressful jobs which involve a great deal of responsibility.
I ask him how he unwinds: “I don’t! That’s the honest answer.
“It helps that I’ve done my ambulance job for so long now. When I hand the keys back in at the end of the shift, I can switch off, and that’s it. My job is done for the day.
“it’s just become like any other job, that’s the way I treat it.
“I go to the gym, I’ve got good friends, I focus on my family. I’ve got a daughter who’s a big part of my life.
“But there are some cases that you do take home with you and you do think about.
“Luckily, I’ve got a good network of friends and colleagues who I can talk to if something’s wrong.”
With two high-pressure jobs to balance, this Christmas is set to be a busy one for Graeme. But he remains optimistic. “Hopefully next year I’ll have a bit more time off,” he says.
- To support the RNLI’s Christmas Appeal visit https://rnli.org/support-us/give-money/give-to-a-special-appeal/christmas-appeal
All photos courtesy of RNLI Penarth
