‘One Call Away’ is a meditation on life, death and the question of existence

One Call Away

Anne Biccard

Jacana Media

This is Anne Biccard’s third book about her life as a doctor, working in the emergency department of a Johannesburg hospital where she faces a daily struggle against the Grim Reaper who she cheerfully refers to as Grim as she keeps a mental scorecard of her victories against him, and her defeats by him. Fortunately, in this book, her victories outnumber his.

Doctors and others working on the frontline in the medical profession have to be able to laugh. Reading this book, you realise that if you didn’t have a sense of humour, you could not survive what is thrown at you. For anyone with any humanity at all it must be one of the most stressful environments that there is. Seeing the ridiculous side of life always helps.

Biccard certainly has plenty of humanity. One Call Away is often very moving, despite its lively writing style and the funny stories that the author tells. We hear about a man who was allergic to his condom; a baby monkey that was brought into the human hospital for resuscitation — which was happily successful — and many others. There is the guy with a twisted ankle who asks: “Shall I sleep with the moon boot” and is bemused when the doctor replies: “if you find it attractive.” There is plenty to enjoy here.

But we are left in no doubt that Biccard’s is an incredibly difficult job. She lives with her partner and her rescue dogs on a smallholding, and she makes it very plain that this is her refuge, a place she can escape to and where she can recharge her batteries. It is not only her patients that she finds stressful — the work environment is not an easy one. And this is in a private hospital. Working in the state system would be immeasurably worse. The South African situation weighs on her, but she is deeply committed to what she does.

To an extent, One Call Away is a meditation on life, death and the question of existence, but presented in an entertaining and lively way. It is only afterwards that the reader digests the serious points that are being made.