MILDURA paramedics say they are confronted with violence, threats and unpredictable aggression when attending to ice users in the community.
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They said ice users were sucking out hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money.
One ice rage patient can draw about 10 medical staff, security and emergency personnel as they undergo medical procedures and take up precious ICU hospital beds.
Local paramedics agreed more ambulance and police resources were needed across Mildura to ensure greater safety for people and personnel.
Mildura ambulance paramedic Jane Campbell said she didn’t know what she would be faced with when attending to a person high on ice.
She said the effects of ice were unlike any other drug she had come across in her career as an emergency department nurse and seven years as a paramedic.
“I’ve had one in the back while I was driving along and we were chatting like normal, then he’s got up and started being aggressive and was trying to open the door of a moving vehicle,” Ms Campbell said.
“Pete’s had one who’s gone to attack him from the back of the ambulance as he’s pulling into the hospital.
“They are volatile and unpredictable. You think you have them on side and then they can just snap – and you’re being spat at or kicked or threatened to have your throat cut.”
However, Ms Campbell said during the past 12 months they had attended to less ice rage patients in the region.
She said she hoped this was due to community initiatives, such as Project Ice Mildura, and rehabilitation programs for ice users.
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