The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) MiniMed Open Lecture Series continues tonight, Wednesday, 27 February, with two lectures that promise to be the most interactive of the RCSI MiniMed series so far.

The lectures are free of charge to the public and will be held in RCSI from 7-9pm. The first talk, entitled the ‘Dublin Fire Brigade Paramedics - Insight into a pre-hospital emergency care service' will be delivered by Paul Lambert, Station Officer and Advanced Paramedic, and Martin O'Reilly, District Officer and Advanced Paramedic with Dublin Fire Brigade; and will be followed by a lecture from Gerri Emerson, Deputy Lab Manager of the Human Assisted Reproduction Ireland (HARI) unit in Dublin's Rotunda Hospital, called ‘Reducing your risk of experiencing subfertility/infertility'.

In her lecture, Ms Gerri Emerson will give an overview on the common types of infertility, how it affects male and female reproductive systems as well as tips on how one can enhance their own fertility. She warns that infertility and subfertility incidence is on the rise. "In Ireland one of the problems in obtaining accurate figures for infertility rates is that there are no records of whether people in the past were infertile or childless by choice, however, an increase is suggested," says Emerson, also a Research and Development Officer in the HARI unit. While sperm quality and number have generally declined in the last 30 years, Ms Emerson explains that, "Infertility has long been regarded as a women's issue however it has been established that a male factor is held responsible in roughly half of all cases of infertility. We hope that MiniMed attendees will leave with the full concept that while infertility is on the increase, by making small changes in lifestyle, each individual can take back control of their own fertility."

Paul Lambert and Martin O'Reilly from Dublin Fire Brigade will open the evening's lectures with an insight into a ‘day in the life' of being both a fire-fighter and paramedic. Often being the first on the scene of an emergency, be it an accident or an inferno, both speakers will talk about life and their experiences in Dublin Fire Brigade. Lambert and O'Reilly, possessing 40 years combined experience, will discuss the benefits of combining fire and emergency medical service (EMS) for patients as well as providing information on range of pre-hospital treatment protocols. This lecture will feature footage from real on-scene incidents.