Launceston paramedics beg people to stay home and save lives

A pair of “pretty exhausted” paramedics at the centre of Tasmania’s coronavirus fight are begging people to stay home and save lives as they work overtime on their days off to meet demand.

Launceston paramedics Natalie Koning and Sydney Pitt say they are exhausted after working 12-hour shifts.

A PAIR of “pretty exhausted” paramedics at the centre of Tasmania’s coronavirus fight have detailed the gruelling nature of their job.

Launceston ambulance workers Natalie Koning and Sydney Pitt took to social media on Monday outlining the tireless work they had undertaken over the past week in “unprecedented times”.

Ms Koning’s post expressed concern about the recent closures of Burnie’s North West Regional Hospital and the North West Private Hospital, saying: “there are more than 1000 staff in quarantine and some have COVID-19”.

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“That means the Launceston General Hospital will be the only large emergency department in the whole North, North-West and North-East of Tasmania,” she said.

“Yes, that means we, the paramedics, and my fellow patient transport officers will be driving you all around the state to access care.

“We have no extra staff — we are facilitating this by working overtime on our days off, on top of the shifts we already do.

“So I’m begging you, please stay home, save lives.”

Paramedics Natalie Koning and Sydney Pitt outside Launceston General Hospital. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Ms Koning told the Mercury that paramedics weren’t just being made to treat and transport patients.

“After we transport potentially positive COVID-19 patients, we then have to clean the ambulances,” she said.

“After all the trips, this can add four hours to a shift. We really need cleaners. It’s so tiring, and cleaning adds so much to our workload.”

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Ms Koning said she feared how emergency department patients would cope with no available hospital in the North-West.

“The thing that concerns me most is that with the hospitals closed, if a mother needs to deliver a baby, it might have to be delivered in the back of an ambulance. A person suffering a heart attack normally could go to a North-West hospital to be given medication to break up a clot. Now you’ll have to be taken to Launceston,” she said.

“There is going to be some quite sick people who are not going to be able to get the care they need.”

Ms Koning said she and Ms Pitt on Monday finished a 12-hour shift after four days’ work.

Health and Community Services Union secretary Tim Jacobson said Ms Koning and Ms Pitt’s post was a message “that hopefully will tell the real story of this situation and the effect it has on the workforce”.

“Paramedics are concerned not only for the community’s welfare but for their colleagues as well.”

Health Minister Sarah Courtney said additional “aeromedical support” had been provided to the North-West, as well as 10 additional GP practices that would be opened on Monday and Tuesday, and further Ambulance Tasmania resources deployed.