For many emergency services, New Years is one of the busiest nights of the year. NU.nl spoke to them about their experiences. Although some have experienced that the night can get out of hand, they like to work into the new year. “It’s one of the nicest services.”
Anesthetist Xavier: “The fireworks are incredibly beautiful from a trauma helicopter”
Xavier Moors, anesthesiologist and heliologist at Erasmus MC, immediately signed up on 1 January for a service during the following New Year’s Eve. “It’s one of the nicer shoots,” he says. This is due to the frenetic pace: Moors therefore starts work at 7pm and continues until 7am the next morning. “And then we’re actually always busy. If you declare available again, you immediately get a next pass.”
During this turn, Mori sometimes faces different situations than usual. And this doesn’t just have to do with fireworks victims. For example, Mori tells of an old and new service where he only helped the children.
Moors hopes the weather will permit a exit in the trauma chopper. “The trauma helicopter flies well above the fireworks. When you look down, it looks incredibly beautiful.”
Ambulance driver Pieter: “Better a few minutes late than in danger”
Ambulance driver Pieter (his real name is known to the editors) in recent years has begun to look at New Year’s Eve differently. “Partly as a result of my work.”
Pieter has already worked six or seven times during the end of the year. “Do you have service as usual or does it completely get out of hand and you drive all over the region.” He mostly sees drinking problems on this night. Fireworks also play a role. Not only with the victims, but also with the work itself.
“What happens very often is that we get called five minutes after midnight. Then you have to go through all those streets, while everyone lights their Roman candle.” Pieter is always very attentive. “We’d rather be a few minutes late than put ourselves in danger.”
Pieter hopes the end of the year goes well this year. “Everyone will light the fireworks again, they can set fire to half of Scheveningen beach… It’s always disappointing how many people are permanently disabled after New Year’s Eve.”
Captain Wilbert: “We didn’t feel safe at all”
The turn of the year from 2019 to 2020 started out as “a normal evening with a few small fires” at Ede, but it got out of hand at one point. Commander Wilbert Kusters’ fire crew was hit by fireworks when the crew turned up for a fire in an RV.
“We didn’t feel safe at all,” she recalls. “You also heard the guys in the back of the car saying, We’re not going out here. We’re not giving our lives for an RV.” After waiting a while, the firefighters left. “Our presence there has only resulted in assaults.”
Events have left traces on Kusters and his team. However, he points out that this is a unique experience in the 28 years he has been with the fire department. “It’s not like this is New Year’s future.”
Kusters thinks it will be quieter this time and still enjoys working with New Years. “It remains a special night to work. Local residents wish you a happy new year and offer you donuts or champagne. We are mostly greeted positively.”
ER nurse Nancy: ‘More patients due to alcohol and fights’
Nancy (her surname is known to the editors) is working the night shift in the emergency room (ER) of the Terneuzen hospital this year. In addition to the regular patients, she sees many alcohol poisonings and people injured in falls and fights during the end of the year. She also very occasionally sees injuries from fireworks. But people with serious injuries are taken to specialized hospitals.
“For me and other colleagues, it’s a service like any other, except you only let the home front play in the new year,” says Nancy. But do the best with colleagues. Let’s toast with a soft drink.”
The ER nurse thinks it will get busier now that after two years of corona measures, people can celebrate again. “But you can adjust to something, it always turns out different than expected.”
Dog handler Jasper: ‘I’m good at frenzy’
For dog handler Jasper (his surname is known to the editors) it could be the fourteenth or fifteenth year that he has to work. “I became a police officer because I tolerate the hectic pace of police work very well. New Year’s Eve is perfect for that.”
As a dog handler for the police in the northern Netherlands, he supports his colleagues closely. “He IS inextricably linked to whether there are violent incidents at the end of the year.”
Jasper is afraid of heavy fireworks. “Once I happened to be standing by a fire and a firework exploded in front of me, at eye level. Then I thought: It can go so fast.”
In view of the end of the year, dog handlers organize a fireworks exercise in December. “My dog Bløf has been with us for a few years, he is no longer impressed by fireworks. In fact, I think they make him more active and sharper.”
According to Jasper, it’s a guess at what will happen this year. “The upside is that the coronavirus measures have been gone for a while and everyone has lost some energy by now. It’s been quiet so far. But maybe it’s also the calm before the storm.”
After the end of the year, NU.nl will talk to these social workers again about how their end of the year went.
