‘Broken Paramedic’ reveals pain of trying to save lives in failing system

This is the human face of frustration with SA’s ambulance services as workers and the government continue to clash over how to fix it. Read it in his own words.

Ambulance paramedic Danny Harnas was so frustrated on returning home after a shift he wrote an essay he called “The Broken Paramedic”.

In it he poured out his feelings at being caught in a system where he could not always give the full care to those in need due to lack of resources.

An ambulance worker for 20 years, Mr Harnas is a “Sprint” paramedic – travelling solo to incidents where he is usually the first responder to arrive, seeing the sick and injured at their most vulnerable.

Sprint Paramedic Danny Harnas. Picture: Mark Brake

“I wrote (the essay) out of pure frustration one night at the end of a shift,” he said.

“People’s lives are at risk and, as a single paramedic for so many years, I see first hand that what the government talks about is not going to work.”

Mr Harnas’s wife, Charmaine, found the essay and sent it to The Advertiser in the hope it would alert the wider community to the mental toll on ambulance officers.

As the Ambulance Employees Union and the State Government argue over resources, rosters and ramping, Mr Harnas has put the human face on the toll the job is taking on frontline paramedics.

He writes how he is proud to serve the community but how sometimes he “comes home at night and cries silently for the loss of a child I barely knew”.

“I think about those families and I listen as they tell me about their loved one, ” he writes.

He recalls comforting “Joyce” after her husband, who had retired that morning, passed away after collapsing.

“She had told me about their plans and their dreams for a life in retirement, a life that would now never happen. The jobs never leave my mind,” he writes.

“I have been there while my patients sadly pass away, despite my best efforts. I am one of the faces of a service that is failing the people of South Australia. I am the one that sees the pain of a mother, father, son or daughter as I try to save their loved one.

“I am the face that they remember when I tell them their loved one has passed away. I am the one that watches a child deteriorate as I wait for a crew to assist and transport to a hospital that takes forever to come.

“I’m left trying to explain to my patients and families why they have to wait for hours for back up crews because we don’t have the resources.”

Mr Harnas says he is expected to function without sleep and meal and bathroom breaks and still make life-saving decisions. “These conditions are unacceptable in any industry – why should they be allowed for ambos?”

The State Government last week offered to employ an extra 70 ambulance workers. However, the union has rejected the offer and is calling for an additional 300 staff.

Treasurer Rob Lucas has urged the union to compromise to help end the deadlock and finalise the enterprise-bargaining negotiations.

The South Australian Employment Tribunal had ordered the SA Ambulance Employees Association into mediation with the government.