Samur's emergency doctor, José Antonio Jiménez Fraile, (Madrid, February 2, 1958), went to his job this Wednesday at the Casa de Campo zero base, in Madrid, as he had done in the last 28 years, but today He is going to perform his last watch in the service.
In this extensive work experience, as one of the most veterans of the service in Samur (which started in 1991), he has treated more than 3,600 seriously ill people with cardiorespiratory arrests, strokes, heart attacks, severe trauma strokes, comas... Only between 5% and 10% of those treated at the scene of the accident, despite all the health efforts of the emergency service, have been able to die up to seven days after the event, a period in which follow-up is carried out.
"Every year, I have treated about 130 very serious people in accidents," estimates the veteran doctor. And he adds: "then there are other less serious accidents, which of course I have also had to assist," he points out.
During these years, Jiménez has experienced first-hand the latest catastrophes that occurred in the capital: since the 11M attack, 20 years ago; to the various ETA attacks, including the accident of the Spanair plane in 2008, in which 154 people of the 172 who were on board died. But Jiménez's daily life was to help people in traffic accidents, after family disputes, shootings or fights between young people from different gangs in different neighborhoods of the capital.
This Wednesday, upon arriving at work, his colleagues paid him a great tribute for his dedication and extensive work experience. "He is very loved in the service," says Beatriz Martín, one of the spokespersons for Samur.
"One of my last services, which has remained most etched in my retina, was saving a 25-year-old young man who had murdered his wife and their 5-year-old daughter in the Madrid district of Carabanchel in November of the year. past," he points out. "It is very hard not to be able to do anything to save the life of such a small girl and her mother; and furthermore, I had to rescue the boy from cardiorespiratory arrest, even though he was a criminal." "These cases of vicarious violence are painful." to care, but my profession leads me to do everything possible to save people's lives," he points out in a sad tone. And he remembers that a colleague rebuked him, "I quit, but my profession leads me to have a head on my shoulders, even if ethical problems arise later," he points out in a telephone interview with La Vanguardia. "Another thing is," he says, "what the judge later decides based on his actions."
Of the 11 M attacks, where he was at the foot of the canyon at the Santa Eugenia station and on Téllez Street, next to the Atocha Station, and of the airline accident, he remembers with horror "having to go to the mortuaries" . And he continues: "Assigning corpses to families and then having them treated by psychologists was not an easy task." Of course, he remembers that when he returned home his son gave him a huge hug "he had seen me on television and then people considered us heroes for our work." Later, he was part of the 9/11 crisis cabinet that the central government set up to report what happened.
Also, Jiménez has beautiful memories of his work, like a Nicaraguan boy who jumped from a third floor. "I intubated him, I took him out of respiratory arrest and after a long stay at the Niño Jesús Hospital he saved his life. I monitored his recovery and a few months later I went to see him at his house and took a photo with him. That moment of reunion It evokes a lot of affection in me," he says, smiling.
Jiménez began working as a doctor on August 2, 1983 at the City Hall, with Enrique Tierno Galván as mayor of the capital. "I worked for several years in the public health division of the Madrid City Council." Later, in 1996 he joined Samur, a unit in which he has held various positions, from head of human and material resources section; to head of section, direction and coordination, to head of guard division, where he has remained for the last 12 years. "When I started at Samur - he remembers with some nostalgia - we were 200 workers, now we are 1,000. At that time, there were 30 or 40 vehicles and now we have close to 200, including ambulances and emergency cars." But in his opinion, the most striking thing is that "28 years ago we had between 25,000 and 30,000 notices a year and now there are around 170,000 annually."
