South Carolina drivers. That’s what’s tough for Holly O’Connor, one of six Australian paramedics recruited in a new statewide program to help alleviate a crisis of staffing for rescue workers.
O’Connor, who grew up in Western Australia, said getting used to Charleston’s drivers has been one of the most difficult parts of adjusting to the Lowcountry, particularly when zooming through the streets behind the wheel of a 5-ton truck with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
She and fellow recruits came from all parts of Australia to serve as the inaugural cohort for the program, with Charleston County serving as its first location in the state.
“Other drivers are really unpredictable,” she said with a charming lilt that sounds exotic — and definitely not Southern. “Instead of pulling over to the right lane, like most people do, there will always be one that just stops, and you’re left there like, ‘This is not great.’ ”
And it’s worse downtown, her paramedic partner Auston Dunn, a local, added, where streets are narrow and pedestrians can be just as difficult to navigate around.
O’Connor and Dunn get to work at about 7:30 a.m. and start with truck and system checks. Once they’ve confirmed everything is in working order, they clock in and take calls until 8 p.m. And when calls arrive, the two flip on the lights, hit the siren and get rolling.
“It’s actually a lot of fun,” O’Connor said. “Dispatchers here use the same system we use back home. There are slight differences, but the premises are the same. You answer the phone, confirm the location … It’s a very strict script. The answers they give determine the protocols for the response.
“It can be really hard to find the location sometimes, though,” she added. “Especially if it’s in a mall or a big park somewhere.”
Charleston County EMS Communications Director Katilin Jordan, who previously worked in the county’s dispatch center, is particularly passionate about some of those difficulties.
“One lady called and said, ‘I’m on a beach in South Carolina,’ and all I could do was look at my computer screen,” she said. “Thankfully, now we get a better location from the tower and data on the handset.”
But don’t get them started on the wonky-drawn county lines that make it tough to know whether someone needing help is in Charleston, Berkeley or Dorchester county.
Typical American experiences
After arriving in May, O’Connor said she had about six weeks of financial support from the county to get settled in. That meant getting a Social Security number, a South Carolina driver’s license, a car and housing. At least she already had the job.
“It was an absolute pain,” she laughed. “This country was hard to get sorted in. I waited a week or two for the Social Security numbers, then tried to get a phone plan but couldn’t because I didn’t have credit. I said, ‘OK, how do I get credit?’ And they said, ‘Well, you could get a phone plan.’ ”
She also arrived with 10 years of driving history with no accidents, none of which helped her get a license here. To take the driving test in the first place, you need a car that’s registered in your name or otherwise insured for you. But without the credit to get an auto loan, that’s easier said than done. She ended up financing through an international company.
“Five of us walked into the DMV to apply for a license, and all of us walked out with different outcomes,” she said. “One of us came out with a full license, no issues. One of us was told our documents weren’t correct. One of us was told our documents were fine, but we were missing one, and someone else, they didn’t even look at the documents at all.”
O’Connor said that having those experiences — which all worked out in the end — will help them guide any future recruits that come in from abroad. The next batch of Aussies is expected later this month in Charleston. Other counties and states are looking to follow in Charleston’s footsteps.
Didgeridoos and don’ts
O’Connor says it’s been fun being an odd-one-out since moving to the United States.
“It always makes me laugh, actually,” she said. “I love finding out what people think about Australians. I have been asked six or seven times if we get music in Australia and what kind of music we’re allowed to get. … Auston will be sitting in the truck, hiding his face, and I’ll tell them, ‘We only get the didgeridoo renditions.’ ”
She, of course, gets asked about kangaroos, too, and that’s expected, she said. She’s also been hit with several Crocodile Dundee references “about the knife and the dingos,” she laughed.
But some of the cultural differences go deeper.
“One thing that surprised me was that there’s not really much in the way of public transport, despite Charleston being so tourist-driven,” she said. “I would have thought that since the city relies so heavily on tourism, it would have a bit more robust transit system.”
And working in health care, she’s seen firsthand the differences between the systems in the U.S. and Australia.
“We have Medicare, but it’s different from your Medicare,” O’Connor said. “Everyone is eligible for it at different levels, and it covers you if you can’t afford private care. … Coverage depends on priority and urgency. If you’re over 65, it’s free, and high-priority ambulances you won’t get billed for.
“Here, I’ve definitely had callers ask how much it will cost to get an ambulance and then say, ‘Nevermind, I don’t want it. I can’t pay for it,’ ” she added. “That’s not an easy thing to deal with, especially when they really need the ambulance. But if your two decisions are your life or your money, and if that’s all the money you have, it’s hard.”
More to come
With the next batch of recruits soon to come, O’Connor said she’s excited for what comes next from this program to her home in Western Australia, which is almost exactly on the opposite side of the world geographically.
“You find some really interesting ideas of things that some other places are doing better and other places aren’t,” she said. “It really gets you away from that idea of, ‘Oh, we’ve always done it like this. This is what works.’ And as much as we bring here, we’re taking so much from here back home to our model. That’s the real benefit of this.
“The logistics and background operations here are fantastic in supporting on-road crews,” she added. “The guys in logistics here do so much for us, and there’s a kind of transparency between the on-road crews and the dispatching system they use. … It’s something we’re looking at doing back home.”
And it goes the other way around, too, O’Connor said.
“Charleston County is always looking for ways to improve,” she said. “I think that’s one of the biggest things you need in health care, especially in a service where you are responding to an emergency. When you’re always looking for ways to improve, you’re only going to go up.
“The county has been really supportive and obviously a huge part in making this whole thing happen,” O’Connor said. “They’ve built a fantastic foundation that will allow for the kind of growth and innovation in health care we really need. It’s really just the start of something new.”
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