DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – An emergency room (ER) nurse from Candon City, Ilocos Sur, who spent six years as a paramedic with the Abu Dhabi Police’s helicopter ambulance unit, has started undergoing training for riskier tasks ahead, having been assigned to the United Arab Emirates’ National Search and Rescue Center of the National Guard.
Rodolfo Quizzagan Jr. said he will learn how to safely perform winching, where he would be hoisted from a hovering helicopter down to a distressed individual needing rescue below.
“We are scheduled to undergo training for this because it is one of the requirements we need to comply with before we could go to search and rescue missions,” Quizzagan told Rappler in a mix of English and the vernacular.
“I am excited, and at the same time, a bit nervous,” he added.
The search and rescue team is expected to be busy in the coming months, similar to past winters, as they expose themselves to the risk of being stranded or in tight situations.
Career journey
While Quizzagan is still in the line of emergency services, he did not expect that this would be his path.
“My career journey has been one about an unexpected blessing from God because I have never dreamed to be in a specialized field like this, to be part of an emergency medical services team, and with the UAE government at that,” he said.
Quizzagan’s first job upon arriving in the UAE more than 10 years ago was working as an ER nurse at a private hospital in Abu Dhabi.
He then worked in helicopters as an air ambulance nurse with the aviation department of the Abu Dhabi Police from 2018 to December 2023, and was transferred in February 2024 to the National Guard – Search and Rescue/Helicopter Emergency Medical Services section.
Adrenaline rush
Working with the police helicopter ambulance team was an “adrenaline rush,” said Quizzagan.
“Our role was to respond to emergency calls like road traffic accidents or any case of injury that needed to be airlifted. We also did hospital-to-hospital patient transfers. And we were always on standby for medical evacuations,” said Quizzagan, who had done approximately 30 missions with the Abu Dhabi Police helicopter ambulance.
“The adrenaline was always activated during a mission. We’d be on hyper mode. We needed to be alert and have presence of mind. You had that feeling that you needed to do your best in providing medical care to the patient until the helicopter reached its hospital of destination,” he added.
Challenges
Quizzagan said he faced many challenges being the paramedic-on-board when the helicopters he worked on flew to the rescue or accident site, and then to the hospital.
“One is the unpredictability of the patient’s medical condition and how to deal with it on the spot. Another [challenge] is the new-case scenario where no two missions are the same, thereby necessitating different procedures for each,” he said.
“Lastly is that there was only me and a co-paramedic working together on the patient while we were up in the air, unlike in a hospital setting where there were many staff and resources,” he added.
Quizzagan also noted the anxiety an on-call air ambulance paramedic has to deal with while on standby waiting for a call, which is why, he said, “You have to be mentally and physically prepared.”
He said his new job at the National Guard is virtually the same, but with a little more adrenaline. With the National Guard, he’s expected to master winching skills.
A flying ambulance team is comprised of the pilot-in-command, second pilot-in-command, crewman, paramedic on board, and co-paramedic on board.
Previous medical trainings Quizzagan had undergone include advanced cardiac life support, pre-hospital trauma life support, basic life support, and pediatric life support.
The National Search and Rescue Center is based in Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi. – Rappler.com