St John’s Director of Ambulance Services Andrew Thomas says there was an intruder at Casuarina Ambulance Station on Saturday night, forcing crews to retreat to safety, with an ambulance also vandalised at the Palmerston Hospital, taking it off the road

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is always a busy weekend for our Northern Territory
police as well as our paramedics, everybody on the front
line really and I will delve it a little bit
more deeply into some of the police press releases that
have come out over the course of the weekend a
bit later this morning, but in some disturbing news, we
know that on Saturday night, staff were forced to retreat

(00:20):
to safety in the building in the Saint John Building
and activate the juussalarm after an intruder jump the fence
at the Casarina Ambulance Station behaving erratically. Now joining us
on the line to tell us more about the situation,
Andrew Thomas, the Director of Ambulance Services. Good morning, Andrew, morning,

(00:41):
Katie mate. What happened on Saturday night at the Casarina
Ambulance Station.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, look, a bit of an incident there and obviously
distressing for our cruise. Where I was in the early
hours of Saturday morning or Saturday night into Sunday morning.
It was around three am. We had some crews there
when a person went to jump the fence at the
station there and managed to get over and then sort

(01:08):
of was you know, acting in a way that the
crews that were there felt in threat, so they went
into the building and called the police, and obviously they
came and managed the situation with our with our our
staff there and what else. And you know, as I

(01:29):
said it, obviously, you know, having that person come onto
the station area and jumping a fence and want of
us to get in and then coming up and being
sort of quite in the face I suppose of the
crews that were there, and you know, obviously you know,
caused them some distress, and uh, you know, obviously, you know,

(01:50):
I think the staff sort of feel as though the
stations may be a bit of a safe space, and unfortunately,
you know, have that happen. Obviously, you know, it's disappointing,
and you know, I believe the police have taken the
actions with the gentleman.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
It's bloody scary. I mean, like to put it really bluntly,
it's scary. The staff are there, they should be able
to feel staff inside there, they should be able to
feel safe, I should say, inside their workplace. I mean,
is there any like, is there any indication that this
person was trying to target staff or is it just
sort of a weird incident.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
No, look, we're not from what we can sort of gather,
we're not short sure. I do know, you know, the
police are looking into it. But yeah, as I said,
there just seems to be the person was a bit
of ratic and getting quite sort of agitated towards our
crews and then jumped the fence and sort of came
over and you know they went back inside. But yeah,
I just said, it's really disappointing, and you know that

(02:47):
sort of behavior as occurs, and again it's just another
thing that impacts on the well being of our staff
and they're doing an amazing job getting out there and
delivering that care. And as you said, the front line
staff across the territory doing amazing work. And you know,
these type of incidents just go to impact on the
ability to us to deliver services. And you know, on

(03:10):
the same night out at Palmerston Hospital there we have
a group carry a four will drive ambulance to get there,
which gives us our response to go into those locations
where a normal ambulance won't go. And we had that
vehicle along with I believe a number of staff from
the Palmeston Hospital's own personal cars were all vandalized and

(03:30):
that's now left that vehicle completely non operational. So obviously no,
so we'll have you know, we've got we're doing things
behind the scene to make sure that we can respond
and have a foll will drive to respond. But you
know that vehicle out there again has been damaged. You know,
obviously it takes it offline and whateverlse and it's just
those sorts of things that just impact on that ability

(03:53):
for us to respond to the community at need.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
But also you know, like it's it's it is deplorable
that they done that to your vehicle. But then you
also think to yourself, you know, people out there working
at the Palmerston Regional Hospital then they go to get
in their car and it's damaged. It actually makes me wild.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, look, you know, I mean, I suppose the positive
out of it is that in both of these instances
no one was injured. But you know, obviously it just
it adds to that sort of layer of concern that
the staff have. It's just it puts something in the
back of their head when they're at work and you
know when and the things that our staff are dealing with,

(04:33):
you know, we want them to be focused on being
able to deliver that high quality care rather than being
worried about their own safety.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Absolutely, but you want them to be able to do
their job without any kind of fear in the back
of their mind that somebody is going to, you know,
to hurt them, that someone's going to damage their car
or their work vehicle. You want to just be able
to go and do your job and feel like you're
safe doing it.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, And it's unfortunate we keep talking about this and
as I said, it's an ongoing issue and unfortunately, you know,
as I said, it detracts away from, as I said,
the really good positive things that our staff are doing
and the key that they're delivering to the community across
the Northern Territory.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Mat, let's talk about some of that work that has
happened over the weekend. It looks as though you guys
have been quite busy. I mean Friday night at Howard Springs,
a twenty one year old man transported in a serious
condition after crashing his motorbike.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah. Yeah, Look, our crews went out there and that
serious incident there with the motorcycle there's come off at
speed and unfortunately he didn't have the appropriate safety year
on and that patients there so offered a serious head
injury as well as multiple other injuries and abrasions, and
he was transported through to the Royal Dara in a

(05:55):
serious condition. And he's still there, I believe, and will
be needing that extra for treatment. And then that followed
on with on that humpty dew On Sunday night at
seven thirty, a fifteen year old male while riding a
dirt bike hit a wash out at speed and fortunately
this time, you know, he was wearing a full safety

(06:16):
year but still ended up with leg, leg and hip
injuries and again he was transported through to Darwin. Both
of those cases were extremely well managed by the cruise
and you know, and we hope that the two riders
themselves make a good recovery. But it just reinforced that,

(06:36):
you know, when riding a motorbike, you know, you need
to be wearing the right gear and try and stay
up on the two wheels.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Yeah, spot on. Well Andrew Thomas, director of Ambulance Services,
good to speak with you this morning. Please pass on
you know our yeah, our well wishes to all the
staff obviously that would have been pretty upset by what
had happened over the course of the weekend. I'm sure
I know that they are the utmost professionals who continue

(07:03):
to do their jobs regardless of the outside influences that
impact them. But you know, it's not nice to feel
as though you're being targeted. All you've got someone trying
to jump the fence at your place of work.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
No, thank you, Gardian. I'll definitely pass that on to
the cruise and I'm sure they're be willful grateful for
the appreciation being provided by yourself and the listeners.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, thank you, Thanks so much for your time this morning.
We'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Thanks Codie, thank you.