On a knife edge

SPRINGVALE paramedics are under siege from junkies and knife-wielding emergency patients – and they want it to stop.
They revealed to the Star this week how one man produced a carving knife and chased them from his home after an emergency call-out to help him.
The paramedics blame a growing drug culture for the increase in violence against them and are now taking action.
Springvale paramedics Cecilia Wilmot Griffiths and James Bailey this week appealed to the community to understand paramedics were there to help.
They said cases of designer drugs ICE and GHB where users had no idea what ingredients were used had resulted in a number of violent call-outs.
Upon arrival they said drug users noticed their uniforms and ‘saw blue’ likening them to police.
“They can be very difficult to manage,” Ms Wilmot Griffiths said.
“They’re hyper-excited and stimulated, and are bloody strong.
“We are just out there trying to help them and they can’t see that.”
Ms Wilmot Griffiths said alcohol was also to blame with most emergency call-outs tainted by alcohol-fuelled aggression.
Both she and Mr Bailey said paramedics would no longer attend brawl scenes outside night spots unless police were present because they feared being attacked.
“It’s the unpredictable nature of it all,” Mr Bailey said.
“We all really need to be aware that we could be in danger.”
The pair say the worst incident of violence they have experienced happened last month when a man in an ‘altered state of consciousness’ required emergency assistance.
“We were assessing the man and appeared to have developed a good rapport with him,” Ms Wilmot Griffiths said.
“But very suddenly he seemed to turn aggressive and he kept saying he didn’t want our help.
“He got up from where he was and went into the kitchen and then approached us with a large carving knife.”
The shocked paramedics fled the house without time to even grab their equipment.
“He strode towards us with a purpose, in a threatening manner,” Ms Wilmot Griffiths said.
Mr Bailey said he had completed a course to help deal with aggressive patients and had heard from colleagues that family members of relatives who had died in-transit to a hospital were exacting revenge on paramedics.
“People have been setting up paramedics when it has not been our fault at all,” he said.
Ms Wilmot Griffiths said drug and alcohol users needed to understand that paramedics weren’t out to judge or prosecute them, instead they wanted to help.
Both paramedics blamed a lack of respect for people in uniform as well as drug and alcohol abuse for the problem, but said there was no easy solution.
“Society’s expectations have changed and we all need to start showing respect and tolerance towards each other,” Ms Wilmot Griffiths said.
“It is hard to say what we can do,” Mr Bailey said.
“You can introduce a tougher law but that doesn’t necessarily make it safer because things will still happen.
“The general public has to remember we are the good guys.”