Cleveland paramedics ask for protection at their jobs

Cleveland paramedics and emergency medical technicians are now seeking additional protection on the job, even taking self-defense classes.

Cleveland EMS Commander Jonathan Wearstler told Cleveland.com that since January 2023, there have been 30 reported assaults on the healthcare workers.

Wearstler noted that the actual number of incidents is higher because some paramedics don’t report incidents they consider minor, adding that charges were not filed in 11 of the 30 cases, which represent 37% of reported assaults.

“I would like to see the courts take these cases more seriously and prosecute these individuals to the highest extent of the law,” he told Cleveland.com. “It cannot be acceptable to assault our public servants and people who are coming out to help you.”

Wearstler added that the attacks negatively affect the paramedics’ mental health, which, in turn, results in them missing an average of 26 days of work following assaults.

According to the news source, one of these kinds of incidents was recently captured on video, in which a woman attacked two paramedics right after they exited the ambulance. Wearstler said that one of the paramedics lost a lot of hair during the attack.

People who usually attack the EMS workers resort to punching, scratching, choking, spitting, and biting.

“I was punched in the face,” Timothy Sommerfelt, the vice president of the Cleveland Association for Rescue Employees and a paramedic, said, describing his assault within the past year. “We were called by police to the scene for an intoxicated individual, and despite our best efforts to de-escalate, the individual hit me in the face while we were attempting to provide medical care.”

As a result of ongoing attacks, the division, which employs approximately 300 EMS workers, is considering training its staff to defend themselves against attackers, especially since, unlike police officers, they don’t carry a weapon.

According to Wearstler, the goal would be to create “separation so that they can evacuate to a safer location” rather than giving EMS workers weapons.

The recent news came after Ohio nurses called for an immediate and transparent investigation of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s response to a Nov. 6 physical altercation between a father and a postpartum nurse.

“We are advocating not only for the safety, well-being, and fair treatment of the professionals who care for patients across OSU, but also for the patients we serve in the broader community that rely on this institution for high-quality, safe, and compassionate care,” the president of the Ohio Nurse Association, Rick Lucas, said.

During a public hearing before the Cuyahoga County Council, the association also urged MetroHealth’s Behavioral Health Hospital to ensure the safety of its nurses.

“Nurses are asking for the ability to do their jobs without being physically assaulted, without being placed in dangerous situations, without being forced to manage patient mixes that are unsafe,” ONA member Ann Mueller said.

Some hospitals, such as OhioHealth, listened to healthcare workers and installed mental health detectors at public entrances.