Emergency Medical Services Week – Erica Ley

Whether they be clinicians, responders, administrators or managers Emergency Medical Services (EMS) week is dedicated to recognising the many staff who work for the emergency services. EMS week acknowledges the time and effort these staff put into their careers to assist others and provide care and support to them in their time of need. Many of these providers work in conjunction with one another to provide care, and to develop and expand rescue and clinical knowledge of new and experienced staff. They benefit the community, both directly and indirectly, by providing day to day life-saving services, some of which are voluntary, through an emergency response. In light of EMS week, we caught up with Erica Ley, Critical Care Paramedic (CCP).

Erica is a CCP with the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) and is seconded to Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) as the Air Operations Supervisor for our North Weald Airbase.

Erica has worked in a variety of branches of the emergency services: as a frontline clinician on rapid response vehicles and ambulances, operationally as a member of the Hazardous Area Response Team, she has delivered national training courses with the National Ambulance Resilience Unit, taught and inspired new students studying paramedic science programmes at university level, provides critical care on behalf of the ambulance service, Suffolk Accident Rescue Service and the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services of EHAAT and East Anglian Air Ambulance. Erica is a member of the British reservist armed forces based within a medical unit in the East of England. She has special interests in sports and expedition medicine, having undertaken clinical roles in the UK and abroad covering both of these aspects. She is currently working abroad providing retrieval and transfer care on behalf of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Kosovo.

I am very fortunate to have undertaken a variety of opportunities within a range of healthcare settings and I am privileged to work within such supportive teams. I feel each post has given me wide-ranging experiences which I have then been able to utilise across all of my roles, enabling me to view challenges from a holistic perspective and strive to be a better practitioner. Despite always looking for my next challenge, I thoroughly enjoy the career I have chosen as the opportunities for progression are so diverse”.