Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're not just seeing anti social behavior in that location.
We also know over the course of the weekend well
Saint John Ambulance offices have once again been subjected to
some really poor behavior. At about eleven thirty on Saturday night,
after receiving a triple zero call, they attended to an
incident in Molden in Palmerston. Now, when the crew arrived
(00:21):
they had a male who climbed on top of the
ambulance and the officers couldn't get out of the vehicle.
So that was quite distressing and concerning for those paramedics.
Now joining me on the line right now is Andrew
Thomas from Saint John. Good morning to you, Andrew.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Not too bad. Now, Andrew, tell us exactly what happened
on Saturday night with this situation where someone's climbed on
top of the vehicle, the you know, the the ambulance
and the paramedics not able to get out to help.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah. Look, it's unfortunate, you know, But from what we
understand is the crew responded to a case there and
when they arrived at a gentleman that come up to
the ambulance and jumped on the front of the vehicle
and then the crew were trying to ask him to
move off, and then he climbed up onto the roof
(01:18):
of the ambulance and that made it obviously difficult for
our paramedics. They were a bit concerned about what was
going on and obviously they weren't able to leave with
a person on the roof. So police were called and
they responded very quickly to support our crews, and you know,
they were able to take the police and our crews
worked with the police to get the person down and
then to do, you know, look at a bit of
(01:40):
an assessment on him to find out what was actually
going on. But I think, you know, as you highlighted,
this is just another another one in a in a
stream of events where you know, it's putting that sort
of bit of uncertainty into our paramedics about, you know,
responding some of some of the cases and the things
that we're dealing with in the community. So, you know,
(02:01):
and that flows on to the fact that in our
Springs over the weekend, we had a crew responding to
a case and as they arrived in the area of
the case, there was two vehicles that started circling around
the ambulance and now they had the belief that they
thought that the vehicles were going to try and ran
the ambulance. They were unable to get to the patient
that they'd been called to because of that, because they
(02:23):
needed to withdraw. So I think it's unfortunate seeing these
sort of behaviors, and as I said, it is playing
on the welfare and the well being about it.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I bet it is. I bet it would make it
really very difficult in different ways to be able to
do your job properly. I mean, Andrew, as the director
of Ambulance Services, and I know you've been in this
role for quite some time. I mean, are you quite
alarmed by some of the behavior that we are seeing
towards our first responders?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, look absolutely, you know at Saint John obviously, you
know we sort of talk about, you know, with all
of our first responders and all our clinicians within the organization.
It's very much being a small organization, is very much
like a bit of a family, and we all try
to get around and support and look after each other.
(03:15):
And you know, as the director, you know, I feel
that it weighs on me about the well being and
the safety of our staff. And we know that We've
seen too many of our staff be the victim of
both verbal and physical assaults over the years. And you know,
these can continue despite the messaging, despite the work, despite
the changes of laws, you know, and we do everything
(03:39):
we can to try and set up those systems and
training for our staff, but we know that we're sending
them out each day. And while there's only a small,
I suppose minority of people that are looking to, you know,
be disrespectful to our staff, you know, obviously is a
big issue.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It is. It's a massive issue, and it's something that
impacts older man, you know, in terms of how you
feel when you arrive to an incident, when you've got
somebody climbing on the roof of of you know, your vehicle,
or you've got vehicles circling around, you know, your ambulance,
when you're in Alice Springs like this kind of thing.
(04:16):
It weighs heavy on people's minds. And as much as
you try to not let it bother you, and as
much as you try and tell yourself, you know, the
majority of the time you turn up to something and
there isn't a safety concern for you when you're going
to work, it still is something that would be in
the back of your mind that you're worried about.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Absolutely, and we want to make sure that you know,
when our paramedics are turning up to deliver care, you know,
to the people in need. We don't want our paramedics
spending half of their time or their thought processes, you know,
being concerned about what's going on them. We want them
to be able to focus on delivering that high quality
care that we know that they do to the people
(04:56):
in need. And as I said, we've said before, you know,
when you've got one eye looking around the situation and
you haven't got both eyes on the patient, it makes
it very difficult. And we want to make sure that
you know, our staff feels safe, that they're able to
turn up and do the job that they do and
that they love without you know, that sort of you know,
fear of something going on that's going to mean that
(05:18):
they may not be able to come and continue to
do the job that they enjoy.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, well, let's talk about the job and what they
have been called out to over the weekend, because it
looks like it's been really busy weekend for all of
your stuff across the Northern Territory on Saturday about seven
point thirty pm on Trail Road near Freshwater Road. I
understand that there was a pedestrian strike.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah. Look, you know, we keep seeing unfortunately a number
of incidents with carr and pedestrian accident and unfortunately another
one as you said, on Trailer Road. The pedestrian they're
saying some some serious injuries with head and leg injuries
(06:03):
and was taken through to the Royal Darwin Hospital by
our crews there have done a great job in terms
of in that person in the hospital and I'm sure
getting the follow up treatment in there. But obviously just
reminded the people about, you know, being really careful about
keeping that eyes out for pedestrians. We know it's difficult,
you know, as the rain and you know that we're
moving into the wet season, but it's just another impact
(06:26):
of being making sure what we do when we're driving
that we're really focused.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, you really have to be because if someone's
going to step on the road, it's you know, it
could change the life, It can change their life. It
is not a good situation for anybody. We also know
on Saturday that there was an incident involving a car
and a motor scooter in Malden.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, Katie, actually so that just that was actually in
the CBD that game. Okay, apology, apologies, we got some
mis misinformation for you earlier on. But yeah, it was
in Molden and that scooter person that ended up with
some you know, some abrasions as they've come off and
particularly hit the road, you know, But no, we're taken
(07:11):
through the hospital for further treatment, and we just you know,
probably again you know, whether it be a bike or
a scooter or whatever it is. You know, we really
encourage we see these people riding around on scooters and
having the helmet hanging on the handlebars when they should
actually be on people's heads because if you do come
off those sort of things and you hit your head
hits the ground, we know that it can cause some
(07:32):
really serious injuries. So probably just you know, for as
we move into the festive season and we know people
are going to be out and about in the CBD
and jumping on those scooters and getting around, we just
encourage everyone to make sure that they are putting those
helmets on so if something does go wrong or they
come off them, they're are got the best protection possible well.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And sadly we've also seen another fatality over the weekend
as well, this time in Port Keats. Unfortunately one person
passed away on the scene as I understand it, after
a single vehicle rollover.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, now we receive phone calls with that, and in
conjunction with care Flight and the local health clinics there,
a response was made and unfortunately another fatality on the roads.
And you know, from that also there was a we
believe a ten year old boy was playing to dal
and buy care Flight and the retrieval team that went
(08:24):
there with them, and our thoughts go out to all
those people who have been affected by that accident, whether
it be through the fatality or the serious injuries to
the other people. And you know, as we said before,
it's you know, we hope that people are paying attention driving,
you know, particularly as we said, we're heading into the
wet so turn your lights on, where your seatbelts. All
of those positive messages that we look after our community
(08:48):
to make sure that you know, we have as many
people sitting around the table with us for Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, well it is you know, our road toll, our
number of debts on our roads, this year has been
appalling and and I really do hope that people listen
to the message that yourself, that other authorities are really
trying to push forward, and that is to you know,
to not only think about yourselves on the road, but
you know, I think about others as well, And as
(09:13):
you've touched on, you know, you want to make sure
that you've got everybody at Christmas table come Christmas and
that we don't have any further loss of life on
our roads.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
We move into the festive season. You know, we have
all of our eminance cruise working right throughout the whole lot,
and you know, I sort of say each year, you know,
our crews want to have a really quiet Christmas and
we hope everyone else has a fabulous Christmas and that
they enjoy the time and enjoy the festivities. And we
hope that you know that our crews are really quiet,
(09:42):
sit around on station and don't have to go and
do anything, because you know, that would be the best
Christmas present for us, It truly would.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, Andrew, it's always great to catch up with you.
I really appreciate your time this morning as always, and
we'll talk to you again very soon.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
No Brolin thanks Cuttie, thank you,
We're not just seeing anti social behavior in that location.
We also know over the course of the weekend well
Saint John Ambulance offices have once again been subjected to
some really poor behavior. At about eleven thirty on Saturday night,
after receiving a triple zero call, they attended to an
incident in Molden in Palmerston. Now, when the crew arrived
(00:21):
they had a male who climbed on top of the
ambulance and the officers couldn't get out of the vehicle.
So that was quite distressing and concerning for those paramedics.
Now joining me on the line right now is Andrew
Thomas from Saint John. Good morning to you, Andrew.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Morning.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Not too bad. Now, Andrew, tell us exactly what happened
on Saturday night with this situation where someone's climbed on
top of the vehicle, the you know, the the ambulance
and the paramedics not able to get out to help.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah. Look, it's unfortunate, you know, But from what we
understand is the crew responded to a case there and
when they arrived at a gentleman that come up to
the ambulance and jumped on the front of the vehicle
and then the crew were trying to ask him to
move off, and then he climbed up onto the roof
(01:18):
of the ambulance and that made it obviously difficult for
our paramedics. They were a bit concerned about what was
going on and obviously they weren't able to leave with
a person on the roof. So police were called and
they responded very quickly to support our crews, and you know,
they were able to take the police and our crews
worked with the police to get the person down and
then to do, you know, look at a bit of
(01:40):
an assessment on him to find out what was actually
going on. But I think, you know, as you highlighted,
this is just another another one in a in a
stream of events where you know, it's putting that sort
of bit of uncertainty into our paramedics about, you know,
responding some of some of the cases and the things
that we're dealing with in the community. So, you know,
(02:01):
and that flows on to the fact that in our
Springs over the weekend, we had a crew responding to
a case and as they arrived in the area of
the case, there was two vehicles that started circling around
the ambulance and now they had the belief that they
thought that the vehicles were going to try and ran
the ambulance. They were unable to get to the patient
that they'd been called to because of that, because they
(02:23):
needed to withdraw. So I think it's unfortunate seeing these
sort of behaviors, and as I said, it is playing
on the welfare and the well being about it.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I bet it is. I bet it would make it
really very difficult in different ways to be able to
do your job properly. I mean, Andrew, as the director
of Ambulance Services, and I know you've been in this
role for quite some time. I mean, are you quite
alarmed by some of the behavior that we are seeing
towards our first responders?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, look absolutely, you know at Saint John obviously, you
know we sort of talk about, you know, with all
of our first responders and all our clinicians within the organization.
It's very much being a small organization, is very much
like a bit of a family, and we all try
to get around and support and look after each other.
(03:15):
And you know, as the director, you know, I feel
that it weighs on me about the well being and
the safety of our staff. And we know that We've
seen too many of our staff be the victim of
both verbal and physical assaults over the years. And you know,
these can continue despite the messaging, despite the work, despite
the changes of laws, you know, and we do everything
(03:39):
we can to try and set up those systems and
training for our staff, but we know that we're sending
them out each day. And while there's only a small,
I suppose minority of people that are looking to, you know,
be disrespectful to our staff, you know, obviously is a
big issue.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
It is. It's a massive issue, and it's something that
impacts older man, you know, in terms of how you
feel when you arrive to an incident, when you've got
somebody climbing on the roof of of you know, your vehicle,
or you've got vehicles circling around, you know, your ambulance,
when you're in Alice Springs like this kind of thing.
(04:16):
It weighs heavy on people's minds. And as much as
you try to not let it bother you, and as
much as you try and tell yourself, you know, the
majority of the time you turn up to something and
there isn't a safety concern for you when you're going
to work, it still is something that would be in
the back of your mind that you're worried about.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Absolutely, and we want to make sure that you know,
when our paramedics are turning up to deliver care, you know,
to the people in need. We don't want our paramedics
spending half of their time or their thought processes, you know,
being concerned about what's going on them. We want them
to be able to focus on delivering that high quality
care that we know that they do to the people
(04:56):
in need. And as I said, we've said before, you know,
when you've got one eye looking around the situation and
you haven't got both eyes on the patient, it makes
it very difficult. And we want to make sure that
you know, our staff feels safe, that they're able to
turn up and do the job that they do and
that they love without you know, that sort of you know,
fear of something going on that's going to mean that
(05:18):
they may not be able to come and continue to
do the job that they enjoy.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, well, let's talk about the job and what they
have been called out to over the weekend, because it
looks like it's been really busy weekend for all of
your stuff across the Northern Territory on Saturday about seven
point thirty pm on Trail Road near Freshwater Road. I
understand that there was a pedestrian strike.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah. Look, you know, we keep seeing unfortunately a number
of incidents with carr and pedestrian accident and unfortunately another
one as you said, on Trailer Road. The pedestrian they're
saying some some serious injuries with head and leg injuries
(06:03):
and was taken through to the Royal Darwin Hospital by
our crews there have done a great job in terms
of in that person in the hospital and I'm sure
getting the follow up treatment in there. But obviously just
reminded the people about, you know, being really careful about
keeping that eyes out for pedestrians. We know it's difficult,
you know, as the rain and you know that we're
moving into the wet season, but it's just another impact
(06:26):
of being making sure what we do when we're driving
that we're really focused.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah. Absolutely, you really have to be because if someone's
going to step on the road, it's you know, it
could change the life, It can change their life. It
is not a good situation for anybody. We also know
on Saturday that there was an incident involving a car
and a motor scooter in Malden.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, Katie, actually so that just that was actually in
the CBD that game. Okay, apology, apologies, we got some
mis misinformation for you earlier on. But yeah, it was
in Molden and that scooter person that ended up with
some you know, some abrasions as they've come off and
particularly hit the road, you know, But no, we're taken
(07:11):
through the hospital for further treatment, and we just you know,
probably again you know, whether it be a bike or
a scooter or whatever it is. You know, we really
encourage we see these people riding around on scooters and
having the helmet hanging on the handlebars when they should
actually be on people's heads because if you do come
off those sort of things and you hit your head
hits the ground, we know that it can cause some
(07:32):
really serious injuries. So probably just you know, for as
we move into the festive season and we know people
are going to be out and about in the CBD
and jumping on those scooters and getting around, we just
encourage everyone to make sure that they are putting those
helmets on so if something does go wrong or they
come off them, they're are got the best protection possible well.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And sadly we've also seen another fatality over the weekend
as well, this time in Port Keats. Unfortunately one person
passed away on the scene as I understand it, after
a single vehicle rollover.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, now we receive phone calls with that, and in
conjunction with care Flight and the local health clinics there,
a response was made and unfortunately another fatality on the roads.
And you know, from that also there was a we
believe a ten year old boy was playing to dal
and buy care Flight and the retrieval team that went
(08:24):
there with them, and our thoughts go out to all
those people who have been affected by that accident, whether
it be through the fatality or the serious injuries to
the other people. And you know, as we said before,
it's you know, we hope that people are paying attention driving,
you know, particularly as we said, we're heading into the
wet so turn your lights on, where your seatbelts. All
of those positive messages that we look after our community
(08:48):
to make sure that you know, we have as many
people sitting around the table with us for Christmas Day.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Yeah, well it is you know, our road toll, our
number of debts on our roads, this year has been
appalling and and I really do hope that people listen
to the message that yourself, that other authorities are really
trying to push forward, and that is to you know,
to not only think about yourselves on the road, but
you know, I think about others as well, And as
(09:13):
you've touched on, you know, you want to make sure
that you've got everybody at Christmas table come Christmas and
that we don't have any further loss of life on
our roads.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
We move into the festive season. You know, we have
all of our eminance cruise working right throughout the whole lot,
and you know, I sort of say each year, you know,
our crews want to have a really quiet Christmas and
we hope everyone else has a fabulous Christmas and that
they enjoy the time and enjoy the festivities. And we
hope that you know that our crews are really quiet,
(09:42):
sit around on station and don't have to go and
do anything, because you know, that would be the best
Christmas present for us, It truly would.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Well, Andrew, it's always great to catch up with you.
I really appreciate your time this morning as always, and
we'll talk to you again very soon.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
No Brolin thanks Cuttie, thank you,
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