Who is Professor Hallux?

Professor Hallux is a scientist who is really curious about everything to do with the human body!

With the help of Nurse Nanobot he wants to find out everything he can about medicine.

We’re going to be exploring Professor Hallux’s Map of Medicine to help us learn all we can about it!

Listen to this clip all about ambulances and paramedics…

What is a paramedic?

A paramedic is a healthcare professional that gets called out to medical emergencies.

They are not doctors but they are very highly trained to give medical care to the people they visit.

You can recognise paramedics as they usually wear a green uniform like this…

Paramedics are the people who come to medical emergencies after somebody calls 999.

They are trained to treat people when they get to an emergency but if the person needs more medical attention from doctors then they will take the person to the hospital really fast in the ambulance.

Ambulances

Ambulances are how paramedics get to wherever the medical emergency is.

The normal ambulance you’ll probably recognise looks like this…

They’re brightly coloured so other cars on the road can see them coming and get out the way! They also have flashing lights and a siren so everyone knows they’re on their way to an emergency and then everybody can get out of their way.

The paramedics who drive ambulances are specially trained to be able to drive really fast but also safely so that they can get to an emergency really quickly.

Are there any other types of ambulance?

Yep!

You may have heard of the air ambulance? This is an ambulance that’s a helicopter!

They can use these helicopter ambulances to get to really big accidents where a lot of people need help or they might use them if someone needs medical help but they are somewhere you can’t drive to like a beach or up a mountain.

What makes an ambulance special?

We already know that they have sirens on them so they can get to and from the hospital really fast but what makes them really special is all the equipment they have inside them which makes them like a hospital emergency room on wheels!

Here’s some of the stuff you might find in an ambulance…

Defibrillator

This is a machine used to shock a person with electricity to get their heart beating again after it may have stopped.

First aid box

This has loads of great bits and pieces in it that paramedics can use to help people.

You might even have a first aid box in your house actually – it’ll be the one with the plasters in it.

Oxygen tanks

This is a tank of oxygen that paramedics can use to help someone breathe if they are having trouble. They connect a mask to the tank and the person can breathe the oxygen straight out the tank through the mask.

IV drips

This is a set up that lets paramedics put certain things directly into your body like medicines.

They have the thing going into your body in a bag that is connected to a tube which goes into your arm thanks to a needle.

Your mission is to complete this quiz…

Click here if you want to find out more about Professor Hallux’s Map of Medicine