9 A member of staff at CFH has put her medical skills to the test when she was called upon to help a woman who had fallen unwell on board a flight from London to Ethiopia. Fatma Habib, clinical lead at the CFH urgent treatment centre, had booked a last-minute flight to Kenya to visit her father who had suddenly fallen ill, and was flying alone when the incident occurred. “I came to work as normal and then I had a call about my dad and that he was critically unwell,” she explained. Fatma quickly booked a ticket and made her way to the airport without any large luggage, just her handbag, passport and some other items. “I was on the flight for a few hours, and then a flight attendant started panicking and looking for a medical professional. “I put my hand up, but I didn’t know if I could help this person and what sort of medicine or equipment would be available.” RFL staff have paid a visit to the Veolia integrated waste management facility in Southwark to learn more about where our waste goes and to see for themselves the various ways it is treated. The group saw where waste enters the facility in recycling trucks, how it is packed and the conveyor belt used to feed waste into specific machines. They also saw the strong magnets used to extract cans and tins from other recyclables. Matthew Azzopardi, ophthalmology specialist trainee, represented his department on the tour and said he learned a lot about how waste is treated. “In ophthalmology, we are looking at the small pieces of plastic equipment that we use,” he said. “The problem is that when they go to the recycling plant in a general recycling bin, it falls through the sieve at the facility. We have passed that on to the innovation team there who are going to look into how we can address that.” Renuka Umasuthan, head of sustainability, urged staff to consider their choices, both at home and in work, when disposing of waste. Healthcare in the air “We learned a tremendous amount from this visit to Veolia and encourage everyone to have a look into their waste disposal habits,” she said. “Although it is great to recycle, recycling the wrong things can cause a lot more harm than good.” Veolia advised that recycling needs to be clean, dry, and only contain what the trust is currently able to recycle in a mixed bag, such as paper, card, plastic bottles, tins and cans. Mixed recycling bins cannot be used for food, packaging contaminated with food residue, free-flowing liquids, coffee cups or paper towels. Visit Freenet for more guidance on waste disposal. RFL staff who visited the facility Fatma was brought to the woman who had collapsed and was hyperventilating, and was soon able to take her history and learn that she was experiencing abdominal pain. “The blood pressure machine was in the controlled drugs box, where it shouldn’t be,” Fatma said. “It was also very old and I had to try to remember how to use it because it was so long ago since I last had. “The pulse oximeter also was not working and the team had to find batteries for it.” The passenger soon recovered, and Fatma advised the in-flight team of the importance of simple medicines and tools. “I explained that sometimes we just need simple things. I wrote them a list of what should be included in any future events.” Fatma’s father has since improved, and she said she would definitely help if a similar situation were to happen again. “It is something that is part of us as healthcare workers to want to help in those situations,” she said. Where does our waste go?
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