Two Nova Scotia paramedics were assaulted while on call in Halifax Monday morning.
At about 9:30 a.m., Halifax Regional Police received a report of an assault in progress in the 100 block of Solutions Drive, Const. John MacLeod said in an emailed statement.
"Officers have charged a 54-year-old Halifax man for assaulting two paramedics who were in the course of their duties," MacLeod said.
The man is scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court at a late date.
The paramedics weren’t seriously injured, said Michael Nickerson, president of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 727, the union that represents paramedics and LifeFlight RNs.
Today, we learned about an incident that occurred yesterday morning where two of our members were assaulted. We are thankful that our members were not seriously injured. This is just an example of the dangers paramedics face on a daily basis and it is unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/bNcSGvqHbb
— IUOE Local 727 (@IUOEnsparamedic) December 10, 2019
But the assault isn’t an isolated incident.
“It doesn’t happen a whole lot, but it is increasing, unfortunately,” Nickerson said in an interview Tuesday.
The union president pointed to a 2014 St. Michael’s Hospital study that surveyed paramedics in Nova Scotia and Ontario and found “the majority of participants reported at least one exposure to violence.”
“Any call can be unpredictable,” Nickerson said.
“I’ve experienced people pulling knives on me and my partner different times throughout my career.”
Paramedics park away from the scene until police arrive and give the go-ahead, also known as staging the scene, more often than they used to, Nickerson said.
“This is one of the dangers that I don’t think the general public really understands that this happens because it doesn’t happen as frequently,” Nickerson said.
“But we need to shed light on it because it’s unacceptable and it’s not right. They’re there to help people and not get abused.”
