Firefighting volunteers are being sent out to help ambulances without specialist training and appropriate support, and the jobs are taking a toll on their mental health, a Country Fire Service boss warns.
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Volunteers of the South Australian emergency service have attended about 1000 medical incidents in the past year, including more than a dozen this week.
While volunteer firefighters are routinely exposed to traumatic events, they were frequently attending medical incidents where they knew the casualty, chief officer Mark Jones said.
There was also a big difference between performing CPR and addressing someone's underlying health conditions.
"Our firefighters are keen to play any role which helps them to support their neighbours," Mr Jones said.
"However, it is in these small communities where the trauma of these sorts of jobs hits hardest - our volunteers are regularly turning up to an incident where they personally know the casualty and are having to deal with the mental trauma of this."
The firefighters helping the SA Ambulance Service were doing so outside of the scope of their normal duties, in their own time without pay, and without the same support as paramedics, the chief officer said.
A higher level of training and support would seem to be vital as a starter in the interests of patient safety and staff mental wellbeing, he said.
"I have seen the number of (SA Ambulance Service) assist jobs that our volunteers are expected to attend grow significantly," Mr Jones said.
"This is something that has occurred without any formal agreement or additional support for our volunteers doing an already tough job."
Emergency Services Minister Joe Szakacs said the work to be undertaken was firmly focused on full-time, paid Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters.
"This taskforce has been constructed to ensure we are not asking any more of our hardworking CFS volunteers, who already assist SAAS (SA Ambulance Service) in SA's regions," he said in a statement.
"The Malinauskas government has made significant investments in health and emergency services in the state's regional areas, to ensure those hardworking men and women that volunteer their time to keep us safe have the resources to do so."
Australian Associated Press
