It was the middle of a boring, quiet midweek nightshift and one of our crews requested a service run to a nearby 24 hour garage. (A service run is when an ambulance leaves its normal area to run an errand of some variety. They are still available for calls.)
“No wonder they want to go to that one,” I remarked. “It’s got a Marks and Spencer’s Simply Food! I bet they’re after Percy Pigs.”
“I want some Percy Pigs!” said the radio op.
“So do I!” I said, rubbing my empty stomach.
“G602, your request for a run to the fuel station is granted,” said the radio op. “But only if you pick us up some Percy Pigs while you’re there. Over.”
We all giggled at her joke, mainly the fact she’d said “Percy Pigs” over the air.
A bit later on in the night, the same crew requested a service run to headquarters to “drop off some important admin”. We agreed – it wasn’t busy and we had plenty of cover in our sector.
“What important admin can an East Central crew possibly want to do at Waterloo at 4 o’clock in the morning?!” grumbled Management.
Fifteen minutes later, the crew marched into the control room and placed two huge bags of Percy Pigs on our desk! We couldn’t believe it! We’d only been joking and they had actually bought us the sweets and driven halfway across London to deliver them! I love ambulance crews sometimes!
Five minutes after they arrived, before we’d even had a chance to thank them (or share the Pigs with them), the South East desk received a call to a cardiac arrest just down the road from Control. Fortunately, G602′s Pig Run had put them in just the right place to reach the call quickly, and off they went. The patient was blued into hospital, and if he lives, it’ll be entirely down to those Percy Pigs.
May 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Wonderful! I love stories like this!
May 16th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Its so easy to forget those trapped in a room making the cogs run smoothly. Great morale boosts and brilliant teamwork is built on moments like this.
May 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
and there are all these people saying sweets are bad for you! good to know treats and sweets can save lives.
May 16th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
No, no, no! Colin The Caterpillars are much better
Yum Yums are also a hot favourite down here in Devon
May 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Excellent! I'm a firm believer in crews visiting Control and vice versa. Helps build understanding and a little gift goes a long long way! or a little cake/doughnuts/small raspberry pigs…
May 16th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Excellent work to the crew.
I did the same thing as a Police Officer. I'd ring Comms and tell them I was going past McDonalds and then took orders over the mobile. Then I'd deliver the food direct to their consoles.
I was looked after in return, no shitty jobs, no suicides or similar jobs that brought so much paperwork with them.
The only problem now, is that my Comms centre is 200km away.
May 17th, 2009 at 9:53 am
i find a visit to neenaw control is always a good idea… we finally get to see the faces behind the voices and get to witness first hand what a job you have! i, for one, despite all the flack us crews give you, couldn't do your job for all the tea in china!
ps – i thought it was always donuts that were the order…
May 17th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
hee hee.. I actually can't stand Percy Pigs, so I'm glad they might be responsible for saving someone's life. In my mind that makes them good for something.
I love stories like this.
May 17th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I love this story!
When I was on the road our comms was 150 kms away, then they moved it so it was 800 kms away, lol, so instead sometimes on nightshift we would buy packets of Tim Tam biscuits for the staff of the emergency department. Happiness all round
May 18th, 2009 at 11:38 am
You forgot to tell us how long the bags of Percy Pigs lasted? In our office they disappear faster than a puddle in a heatwave!
May 18th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Put it this way, there were none left for the day turn!
May 18th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Chronic pain is very severe and this affects people's life, long known to people who suffered from a strange disease, were strong back pains, which were intense and not let them work, as was what they said were the doctor and he prescribed oxycodone for pain, but knew it was a very powerful medicine, and moreover, anxiolytics, and worry that they were doing things that previously did not like eating too much, smoking, etc.. and read in findrxonline that this drug is well and that we must be very careful with their use, and everything must be under medical prescription.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Bah I have colleagues like you that murder the Quality Street every Christmas!
May 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I like this
I have asked our units to do similar things but they never have as yet… maybe one day!
May 19th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Haha brilliant! How nice of them to actually get them for you – and manage to get them to you! I did wonder what all the Percy Pigs tweets were about!
May 20th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Share your views, it is very difficult for people who are not used to medical terms, but it is important to provide the information because many people need to know about it, play an important role and should be proud of it, good luck and suigue this path.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:24 am
Very informative site ….
http://health-news-newyork.blogspot.com/
May 21st, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I can see the front of woman's waffle now.
"Percy Pigs SAVED my LIFE
turn to page seven for my Amazing story"
May 25th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Hi, nice posts there
through’s concerning the interesting advice
May 25th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Grrrr. I wish the police units were as friendly as where I work. One of the cars was up at the centre today, and they walked straight past us without even acknowledging us, let alone saying hello! I wish the rapport was still there sometimes…
May 27th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Completely off topic but something I've been wondering for a while. Hope asking it here is ok. When you get a call does your system not have some way of automatically bringing up directions or a map? A couple of weeks ago we had someone injured at an event I was taking part in and had to call an ambulance. The dispatcher said she was located relatively close to where we were (as were the crew I believe) but didn't know the area and needed directions. I could have seen needing directions to the specific place but what surprised me was they didn't even know of the village we were in.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Wow, talk about product placement. Lucky Marks and Spencers…
May 30th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Brilliant! I do like people to be PEOPLE
BTW I nominated your blog for an award on my own.
May 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
ohh, yu've proper messed with my head now. for ages i thought you were a very gay male in his early 20s. now i find you're a rather attractive female
May 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
The most flattering part of this statement is "early 20s"
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 am
OK, late teens then. but don't push it
June 30th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
[...] bring me Percy Pigs! Technorati Tags: percy [...]
July 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I love percy pigs and now a have a reason for it. What a great story.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Gotta buy some 2moro for someone I know…….. hope she will like them!!!
September 9th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Nice work you are doing.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Awesome! I do like people to be PEOPLE
September 16th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
I need Some Percy Pigs!!!! Suzi, bring some down for us on the 26th if you are coming to the Millwall game!!!!!
September 18th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Nooooo! percy pigs are the must have anywhere!!!!!
June 6th, 2010 at 11:40 am
You've been mentioned in the Independent on Sunday for this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-…