Paramedic Sarah will be seeing in the New Year helping patients across Derbyshire this year.
Having worked over Christmas for the last six years, Sarah Soubry, 37, is looking forward to a change for 2022 and being able to celebrate Christmas with her family on the 25 December.
She said: “The one thing I am most looking forward to is eating Christmas dinner on actual Christmas day and not being stuck with leftovers!”
For Sarah, having Christmas day off means spending time with family and most importantly, watching her niece and nephew open their presents in person.
However, one person who will be missing is Sarah’s partner, who is one of the many paramedics working for EMAS on Christmas day.
“It is a shame that my partner isn’t off on Christmas day, however we are planning on celebrating on 23 December together. Hopefully one year we will get Christmas off together!”
Although it means time away from loved ones, working over the festive period is something which Sarah enjoys as part of her paramedic role.
“The run up to Christmas and New Year is always usually quite nice as everyone is in an excited and happy mood.
“It is always nice to go to patients and see the different array of decorations from house to house. We all try make the most of Christmas and New Year by decorating the ambulance with some tinsel and sharing the odd tin of chocolates.
“While you may think we get the wild and wonderful jobs over the festive period, it is actually pretty normal with nothing out of the ordinary. However we know what it means to families for us to be there for their loved ones when they are seriously unwell, especially at this time of year.”