A group of female air ambulance medics from across the UK are teaming up to tackle the Great North Run on 8 September.
20 female runners from eight different air ambulance services have signed up to take part in the iconic half marathon, which is a 13.1-mile route from Newcastle to South Shields.
The “Fem in PHEM” group was put together by Emma Gray who is a critical care paramedic with Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
Emma, who has previously completed the Great North Run, decided to get in touch with other female air ambulance medics to see if they would like to join her in taking part in this year’s half marathon.
One of the people she contacted was our paramedic Hollie Smith, who has never taken part in the Great North Run.
She said: “Emma is from up here originally and has done the Great North Run before and remembers how good of a day it was. So she had the idea to get a group of women together from all the air ambulances to complete the Great North Run together as part of “Fem in PHEM” (females in pre-hospital emergency medicine).
“To be completely honest I’ve always hated running and I always thought the Great North Run would be something I would never ever do. But here we are.”
Hollie, who is from County Durham, has worked at GNAAS for two years and said that one of the highlights of her job is serving the community she’s grown up in.
She said: “I have absolutely loved my time at GNAAS. The people I get to work with from charity staff to the operational crews and pilots are all truly incredible human beings and I’m so lucky to be part of this team.
“There are definitely certain jobs that stand out to me, and I’m always really hopeful that our patients will come back in to see us when they’re feeling better. You do sometimes wonder how they’re getting on, so when they come back to see you with their families there’s really no feeling like that one.”
Hollie will be running alongside some of her GNAAS colleagues, including paramedic Jemma Kirby, Dr Vicky Ashton, Dr Laura Duffy and Dr Greta Pells, and they will be raising money for our charity.
In total 20 women have signed up to take part in the Great North Run and an additional ten women will be completing the New Forest Half Marathon on the same day.
Hollie said: “It’s a really great way to showcase the numbers we have for females in pre-hospital medicine and bring all of the air ambulances together whilst also being able to raise money for our own air ambulance charities.”
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