Tony Kelly, leading motorcycle emergency medical technician (EMT) with the Eastern Region Health Board, says it's all about rapid response
I start work at 8 a.m. during the dark winter months. We do an 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift and revert to working the 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. shift during the summer.
The first thing I do when I get to work is check the bike and all the equipment from top to bottom to make sure everything is in good working order. Then I roam around the area on the bike and wait to be called to an emergency.
There are four motorcycle EMTs in operation in the south county Dublin area, with two bikes on call every day.
The programme began as a pilot scheme in 2001 and has been successful in every way. We can cut through traffic easily on the bikes and get to a casualty before an ambulance.
The whole idea is to get to the patient first. It's a rapid response operation.
There have been seven saves from cardiac arrest in the first 18 months since the scheme began, so it's been a huge success.
We carry the same equipment on the panniers and back box of the bike as an ambulance except in smaller quantities.
We have a cardiac machine, a defibrillator that is capable of doing a 12-lead cardiograph that can be faxed via a mobile phone to the casualty department in any hospital around Dublin. We also have a resuscitation bag, oxygen and cardiac drugs to be administered by a doctor.
The bikes we use are Honda Deauville 650ccs, the same bikes the Garda motorcycle unit use.
I wasn't a biker before I joined the team but I was trained very well by the same trainer who trains the Garda unit. I worked on the ambulances for 20 years before applying for this job.
On an average day I would do six to 10 calls, which is about 70 to 80 calls per month.
We're called out to any trauma and we'll also be sent to the bogus calls in order to free up the ambulances.
When you're on the bike you have to concentrate 100 per cent because it can be very dangerous.
I really enjoy my job but when I finish my shift I'm always glad to park the bike, get into my comfortable car, turn on the radio and drive home.