Head of emergency medical services, Dr Shaheem de Vries, says, "EMS staff are faced with very difficult decisions every day – life and death decisions. For many in the emergency services, some of the bravest and most courageous of these decisions is also the one they make the most often. That is, the decision to come to work."

"This is a consequence of what has become a daily threat to EMS providers who may, when responding to a call, be stabbed or shot at by criminals intending to rob them of any valuables they possess," adds Dr de Vries.


"It’s hard enough to deal with knowing that your decisions can make the difference between life and death, but to know that you have to make these decisions in a situation where you yourself could be at risk is virtually untenable," Dr de Vries says.

"The EMS staff are incredibly brave people, and we, and the citizens they serve, want to acknowledge and thank them," Dr de Vries adds. "The injured person and the attackers are from the same community, which means that an attack on an EMS is an attack on that community."

"We hope that by telling the stories of real survivors, the perpetrators of the attacks, as well as the community at large, will come to understand that, when they attack the EMS, they are attacking their mother, their father, their brother or sister, daughter or son," says FCB Cape Town chief creative officer Mike Barnwell.


For more information, visit www.fcb.co.za. You can also follow FCB Cape Town on Facebook or on Twitter.