“BEHIND THE LIGHTS” – A FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO THE INSPIRING PERSONAL STORIES OF FRONTLINE EMERGENCY PROFESSIONALS.

A video docuseries highlighting the challenges faced by the dedicated operators who maintain composure and compassion in the face of adversity every time they go to work. Are there untold costs for the people we turn to in life’s critical incidents, or are those human beings just built differently? My aim is to find out what goes on behind the curtain.

My name’s Nick. I’m an Intensive Care Paramedic working in Australia.

When I was a kid growing up in a small country town in the 90's, my next door neighbour Steve was a Paramedic. I used to watch that big Ford F150 pull up in their driveway after his shift finished and lose my mind. Sometimes he used to let me sit in it and turn the lights on. I used to think to myself, "this guy is actually Batman."

I think Steve may have been my first ever real hero. Steve will never know this, but it was him that inspired me to undertake my role as a Paramedic in 2011.

Fourteen years later, I work alongside so many people that I admire, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams such as prehospital emergency care, aeromedical operations, law enforcement, hospital emergency departments, resuscitation and intensive care units, social and support workers, fire and flood rescue operations, and disaster management operators.

However, this show isn't about me, it's about my colleagues - a broad group of courageous, hardworking people operating in highly unpredictable and difficult situations.

Unsurprisingly, working within such fields demands a high level of mental, physical and cognitive performance. This requires individuals to maintain a very high level of knowledge, training and skill to ensure that when those phone calls come in, community members on the other end will receive the best available assistance.

Unsurprisingly, these roles can sometimes be highly emotionally and mentally taxing. In recent years there has been a major shift in the social climate toward maintaining good mental health and resilience, however for many years these concepts were either critically misunderstood or overlooked entirely. I have experienced these challenges myself first hand, and have become increasingly passionate about supporting genuine, open discourse and providing insight into what is often hidden to the public; what really goes on behind the scenes when you call for help on what could easily be the worst day of your life.

To that end, I intend to create a video/podcast series called “Behind The Lights,” interviewing the people that occupy these roles. I’ve found a group of people who have enthusiastically agreed to get involved and participate in an ongoing dialogue as part of the project - emergency and aeromedical doctors, nurses and midwives, critical and intensive care paramedics, emergency call takers and dispatchers, police officers, fire and rescue specialists, social workers and palliative care staff to name a few. All of these individuals have a wealth of experience and stories which can highlight the triumphs and challenges they’ve encountered in industries known for vicarious trauma, long and variable hours in shift work, and daily exposure to high stress situations.

In starting this project, I hope to create an informative and intriguing series that will appeal not only to those who work in these fields, but also to the general public who may not realise how the people in these teams show up every day and do what they do.

My aim as the host is to be a good listener and facilitator, and to provide a platform for inspirational people to tell a story in a safe and relaxed setting of their choosing, where nothing is off the table; to have a conversation not steered by outside influence or political agenda - a unique forum to examine the human factors behind those often referred to as “heroes.”

To be clear - the aim is not to highlight “worst days ever” for my participants or examine gaps in support systems or institutional failure; instead, I will treat this as a unique opportunity to sit down with these people and learn what inspired them to work in a frontline service, what their job entails, explore memorable moments, and to what extent it affects them, their family and their colleagues on a daily and long-term basis. I want to know how they stay motivated and passionate, and the strategies they use to maintain longevity in their roles.

So - why the GoFundMe page? To get this off the ground there’s a certain amount of outlay in the setup - cameras, audio recording gear, lighting, data storage, set building gear and film editing equipment. The aim is for this to be a professional-quality show that the viewers of all backgrounds will be engaged in, and will initially require a helping hand from some friends in the videography and production industry to polish the content.

I'm excited, motivated, and ready to get started. Thank you for taking the time to read this - any small amount of generosity would be very much appreciated!

- Nick