LCpl Elder: serving on the front line against COVID-19
One of the first women to join the Infantry, Reservist Emma Elder has been supporting ambulance services during the coronavirus pandemic
LCpl Elder is not only an Army Reservist in the London Regiment but is a recently qualified emergency care support worker with the East of England Ambulance Service.
She balances her commitment to the Reserve Forces with training as a student paramedic at St George’s University of London, which is in partnership with the London Ambulance Service.
In March this year, Lance Corporal Elder was mobilised with the London Regiment as part of the COVID-19 Support Force, but as the situation developed, she was very quickly offered a full-time role with the East of England Ambulance Service. After being released from military mobilisation, she started work for the Ambulance Service as an emergency care support worker, responding to urgent calls on a frontline ambulance, attending unwell patients, providing back up for other crews, and undertaking urgent hospital transfers.
She says:
“I was offered the position with the East of England Ambulance Service because as a student paramedic I already have two years experience of working on emergency ambulances. It was a short transition to take up this role and boost numbers on the frontline. It feels great to be able to put my training to use at a time like this. The support from the public has been overwhelming too; there’s a great atmosphere of community out there.
“I think that this pandemic has really shown how important every job role is in society. Thank you to all the key workers out there supporting us”.
LCpl Elder originally joined the Army as a combat medical technician, but last year she became one of the first female soldiers to complete the reserve combat infantry course and transfer to the Infantry. Since then, she has deployed on many training exercises as an infantry soldier with the London Regiment, including to the Falkland Islands.
The London Regiment is the only Reserve regiment in the Guards Division, and provides highly trained infantry soldiers to reinforce operations all over the world. Since its foundation in 1908, the regiment has answered the call of duty for every British conflict, major and minor, from the trenches of the First World War to the streets of Baghdad.
Read the stories of other Reservists serving in the Armed Forces:
https://medium.com/voices-of-the-armed-forces/covid-doctor-reservist-phd-student-743e67f6e38?
