Point Cook paramedics will be among the first in the state to try out body cameras designed to improve safety when responding to volatile medical emergencies.
From this week, paramedics from the Point Cook and Sunbury ambulance branches, and from St Vincent’s and Epworth hospitals, will wear cameras in a six-month trial that will record incidents where paramedics feel they are at risk or have been threatened.
The cameras are activated when a paramedic presses a button on the device twice, and records both the incident at hand and the 90 seconds before the button has been pressed.
The trial will be rolled out over June and July to 27 branches that have experienced the highest incidence of violence, involving up to 550 paramedics and about 150 cameras.
Premier Daniel Andrews said that in the past financial year paramedics attended more than 5000 emergencies where they were exposed to violence or aggression – an average of 13 cases each day.
“These body-worn cameras will allow our ambulance paramedics to collect the footage that is necessary to prosecute anybody who does the wrong thing,” Mr Andrews said.
MICA paramedic Dale Armstrong said he’s lost count of the number of times he’s been threatened during his 16 years with Ambulance Victoria.
Mr Armstrong said on one occasion, a patient’s family member had pushed him back into the house and “kept me basically a prisoner in the house until police arrived”.
On another occasion, a patient pulled a knife on him while on a train station platform.
“For me, one of the biggest anxieties I have being a paramedic is occupational violence and aggression towards me.”
