A NEWLY qualified paramedic is leaving the rolling hills of Oxfordshire for the refugee camps in Greece.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) worker Rose Matheson wants to put her skills to good use by helping those most in need.

The 25-year-old from Oxford has decided to take several weeks of leave in order to support the German charity DocMobile, which provides medical care for refugees in northern Greece.

She said: "I became a paramedic so I would then have useful skills for humanitarian work.

"I am excited about going, I think there will be a lot of parallels with what I do with SCAS.

"The most obvious one is that we do not know what to expect and what will happen on a daily basis.

"A few of my colleagues have already come up to me to ask about how they can get involved and I think it is really important because we have this universal skill, which can really help people."

During her trip to Thessaloniki, Miss Matheson will be helping to drive ambulances and also provide healthcare to refugees.

Thousands of refugees have arrived in the country in recent years due to humanitarian crises in the Middle East, particularly the ongoing civil war in Syria.

She added: "It is not necessarily going to be like the emergency work we do at home, it will probably be a lot of coughs, colds and long-term illnesses like diabetes.

"But you never know what you will come across.

"Although there are some Syrian refugees the majority are actually from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"They have not been granted asylum like a lot of the Syrian refugees have. I speak a bit of Urdu, so I'm hoping this will be a help."

Although this is the first time Miss Matheson will be using her medical skills for humanitarian aid, the desire to help others stemmed from an experience years ago.

She added: "My parents took me to Brazil when I was about nine and I think that experience of seeing real poverty has always stayed with me and made me want to do something to help.

"I think the hardest thing for me on this trip is emotional attachment and remembering I am just there to do a job, to give them medical aid."

Before she sets off on her travels on November 11, Miss Matheson is appealing to her SCAS colleagues and the public for bandages, wound dressings, gauze, disinfectant and splints.

She said: "I'm going to be taking an extra suitcase, so I really want to be able to bring as much as I can over to them."

To donate contact SCAS's communication team by emailing communications@scas.nhs.uk