As a former paramedic who has now retired from the ambulance service, I felt I had to write in response to the recent letters praising our paramedics (May 7 and 10).

It really was heart-warming to read such nice letters and, in both cases, I am glad they had happy endings.

As people know, working in any emergency service is a very stressful job in which we come across scenes many people will never see in their lifetime.

When I used to attend calls, en route your heart would be pumping and the adrenalin would be flowing.

In many cases we would not know what we would come across until we arrived at the scene.

Obviously, a paramedic's job is to save life and, in many cases, this happened. But there are also endings that go the other way.

I attended calls where both I and my partner have been physically abused while trying to save a person's life and sometimes I have wondered why I put up with it.

On the other hand, I have saved many lives so I have had to look at that as a big plus for me.

All our emergency services do a great job and it certainly cheered me up when I read the readers' letters.

-Steve, Brighton