Near Drowning Victim Remains In Intensive Care At John Hunter Hospital

BY IAN CROUCH

A 67-year-old man remains in a critical condition in the John Hunter Hospital after being pulled unconscious from the surf at Dixon Park Beach.

He was seen standing on a sand bar about 20 metres from shore at at 10.30am on Thursday before he was spotted floating face down in the water.

The man had been in the water for under a minute when lifeguards pulled him from the surf and began CPR.

Paramedics arrived a short time later and managed to restart his heart using adrenaline - they've praised the efforts of the lifeguards, saying it demonstrates the importance of carrying out CPR as soon as possible.

Low Resources Putting Hunter Paramedics in Danger

BY LAUREN KEMPE

The Health Services Union is calling on the state government to provide more protection for Hunter paramedics after another attack from a patient.

The latest incident occurred on Sunday morning, where a 19-year-old man allegedly bit a local paramedic on the arm, drawing blood.

New South Wales Police and two paramedics were called to a Muswellbrook home proceeding a concern for welfare report.

Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes, says the Premier needs to seriously consider paramedic safety as a priority.

'It;s very simple. The Premier needs to stop quoting about a $5.4billion surplus, and start employing paramedics who can actually change peoples' lives, and resource the ambulance service to a level where paramedic safety can be guaranteed.'

The incident follows a similar attack at Belmont in April this year, where a man assaulted one paramedic and threatened another who were both assisting a pregnant woman.

Mr Hayes says these kinds of incidents are very common, and paramedics deserve significantly more protection.

'The ambulance service is grossly under-resourced, we say a figure of 800 - in fact, it's more like 1,000 extra paramedics that are required. It's really an important issue that needs to be consistently raised about paramedic safety.

'I think it is really important for the community to very clearly tell the government that paramedics need to be protected while they're protecting others.'

The 19-year-old male patient is expected to be charged with assault.

Image Credit: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/vic-paramedics-highest-trained-lowest-paid

Woman fighting for life after two car smash

BY JESSICA ROUSE

A woman is fighting for life at the John Hunter Hospital after a serious accident in Wallsend this morning.

Emergency services including NSW Ambulance Paramedics, fire crews and Police Rescue were called to Lake Road at Croudace Road just before 9am following reports of a two car collision.

The 45-year-old female was trapped in one of the vehicles for some time before she was released.

CPR was performed at the scene before she was rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

As of 11am, one of two southbound lanes are closed on Lake Road at Croudace Road.

Calls for a summit to discuss Paramedic safety

BY JAMES WARD

State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery, has urged the Government to hold a summit to discuss the safety or lack of for Paramedics across the state.

Ms Hornery has spoken a number of times in Parliament about the issue dating back to 2013 with the tabling of the Notices of Motions but has again pleaded to the Government after a series of attacks on Paramedics in recent months.

Along with Ms Hornery, The Health Services Union has called for the summit after assaults on Paramedics have risen in the last year.

"There have been increasing levels of injuries to Paramedics so I'm asking the Government again to make sure they pay attention to my concerns about the lack of safety for paramedics and to host the summit," Ms Hornery said.

"Hopefully no more accidents occur before the government acts, the government need to pay more attention to the health and safety of our Paramedics and listen to them."

Paramedics have and will continue to care and attend to community matters but Ms Hornery wants more safety implementations put in place to prevent hard working Paramedics from being assaulted on duty.

"I'll continue to lobby for the Paramedics in the Hunter, they have a very important job and they don't deserve to be assaulted in line with their duty," Ms Hornery stated.

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