Paramedics got more than they bargained for recently when they were called to two unwell COVID patients.
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Associate director clinical operations with the Western Sector of NSW Ambulance, David Horseman, gave examples of the conditions that paramedics work under in an effort to help the public understand what they are going through.
"Just a few weeks ago a crew was called to a (Dubbo) residence where there were two COVID positive patients that were quite unwell and when they arrived, they did find two patients that were quite unwell," he said.
"But there were also 14 other people in the house with varying symptoms that they had.
"It can be unexpected what the paramedics are turning up to. They triaged and sorted out what they needed to do with these patients and contacted the Local Health District to bring out some mobile testing to make sure we were able to either transport or leave them in the community."
Across the state, NSW Ambulance call takers are receiving a call for an emergency once every 25 seconds, something Mr Horseman said is a big increase on what they would normally see.
But there is more than just COVID that paramedics are dealing with.
"We're still responding everyday to normal, everyday emergencies," Mr Horseman added.
"We had a gentleman in his 50s on Saturday who suffered a cardiac arrest when he was driving along and crashed into a wall.
"Bystanders at the time were amazing and sprung to action. They extricated the patient from the vehicle, they commenced really affective CPR and some very quick thinkers were able to source a defibrillator to give this gentleman some shocks which essentially saved his life.
"Our paramedics arrived and continued on with the shocks, transported this patient to hospital with a pulse and was breathing. They later transported the patient to Orange Hospital and he was sitting up talking to us. That's the reason why we do the job we do. We love to help the community but at the same time our community can help our paramedics."
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