Phil Hoey, pictured above with Paul Milde, was our Guest Speaker today. Phil, who is well known to our Club and is considered a good friend, is Wagga's best known Paramedic. He has previously given us instructions on CPR and how to use a defibrillator.
Being a Paramedic, Phil told us is both challenging and rewarding. Because he has been an Ambulance Officer since 1975 and most of this time has worked in Wagga, he is very well known and therefore mostly encounters a friendly face when he goes to a call out. Prior to becoming an Ambulance Officer Phil worked in the NAB in Cootamundra.
In his 43 years with the Ambulance service he has seen massive changes. "What we are doing now as Paramedics, Doctors were not doing in the 1980's" Phil recounted that in his early days he was not allowed to take blood pressures and a Doctor who saw him with a stethoscope told him he would have him fired. Luckily he was not successful.
Phil has done every course available and is now highly qualified. Every ambulance in Wagga is fitted with a defibrillator as they are in the rest of the State. One of the greatest innovations is the electric hydraulic stretcher. Because people are getting bigger and some morbidly obese, officers are unable to manage them as they once could. The automation of stretchers has meant less back injuries and more dignified and comfortable treatment for patients.
A normal day for Phil brings any number of challenges. From speeding to a cardiac arrest situation to transferring patients from outlying towns to Wagga Base. Phil said that in emergencies he an drive at 170 ks on Lake Road, go the wrong way through a roundabout and park anywhere in his ambulance. Wagga has around 70 to 80 out of hospital cardiac arrests per year. Not everyone can be saved. He said victims get no warning and they need a defibrillator to give them a chance of restarting their heart. Phil paid credit to the club for our efforts in getting a large number of defibrillators made available throughout our city. The job entails a lot of driving and often he is so busy he doesn't get time to eat.
Phil gave us an insight into the seamier side of Wagga when he told us that there are things he sees and hears about that would horrify the average citizen. Mental health is a real issue and especially the use of ICE. ICE addicts are very dangerous people in Phil's experience. They can present pleasantly one minute and then suddenly become aggressive. If and ICE addict has to be sedated it can take up to four or five police to hold the person down while a sedative is injected through their jeans. They will then continue to struggle violently and scream for up to six minutes. "It would shock you if you knew who is using ICE".
Where there are drugs or domestic violence, paramedics do not go in without police support. Paramedics can sedate against a person's will under the mental health act. Phil was involved in four such cases in one shift on the weekend.
Assaults by drug effected individuals on paramedics are common and it is a growing problem. Two officers were assaulted her in Wagga last weekend.
Phil gave us a couple of pieces of advice: if you are approached by a person who is agitated and demanding your wallet tell them that you don't have one; and his other piece of advice; do not climb on ladders if you are over 60.
President Paul thanked Phil for his insights and members warmly applauded a well loved Wagga Icon Phil Hoey.