Drive-by staring increases hazards

Stop and stare.

There is a reality show right in front of you as you are driving by.

Much more interesting than what you are doing right now.

Wait a moment.

Take a minute to think what you are doing, J Public.

That is someone’s mother/father/sister/brother/son/daughter/friend and they are in an unplanned and unpleasant situation and importantly you are meant to be concentrating on driving your vehicle.

What do you do next?

Fire service

The fire service says the public’s response to an emergency varies depending on the situation.

New Zealand Fire Service assistant area commander Paul Smith said: “The vast majority of the time, the public allow us to go about our business without hindering us in any way.”

Often at fires there are bystanders who are only interested in what is going on.

Sometimes people don’t get out of the way of a fire appliance responding to an incident.

Smith gets frustrated when motorists are distracted, are rubbernecking and fail to make way for the fire appliances.

“I have seen a number of near misses in my time in the fire service that were as a result of people watching what we were doing instead of what they were,” said Smith.

Fire officers are trained to assess risk.

“Members of the public are just one consideration when carrying out scene assessment and risk management,” Smith said.

If bystanders are hindering its operations or putting themselves or others at risk and privacy needs to be maintained, the fire service will put up cordons and tarpaulins to exclude them.

Smith’s message to the public is common sense: “Stay a safe distance from the incident so we can go about our business, follow any instructions from a member of the fire service, concentrate on the road ahead when passing motor vehicle accidents.”

He also said drivers who see or hear a fire appliance coming up behind should move to one side and let them past.

Ambulance

Dealing with the public is all part of the day’s work for Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA).

“We find the public are generally very good,”  WFA head of field operations Geoff Proctor said.

WFA staff are trained to talk with people from all walks of life who are under stress, in pain, or confused about what is happening to them.

WFA intensive care paramedic Sean Thompson said an emergency situation “is a deeply personal and private and everyone is entitled to privacy, respect and dignity”.

Members of the public may have differing reactions to an emergency – a mixture of bewilderment, curiosity and helplessness.

People were “naturally distressed and are pretty appreciative of emergency services being on hand to take charge of the situation”, Proctor said.

“Most people stay calm and some want to know if there is anything they can do to help.”

However, sometimes members of the public can get a little overzealous when emergency services needed the space to focus on the people they were trying to help.

“It can be obstructive [to emergency services] if people are trying to be over-helpful or curious, particularly if they are intoxicated,” said Proctor.

Thompson elaborated: “[It is] almost like voyeurism has become more acceptable and more mainstream”.

Sixteen years ago when Thompson started his paramedic’s career he couldn’t imagine people recording or standing around watching.

Thompson works once every two to three weekends to maintain his professional development and proficiency under the Health Practitioners Competency Act (HPCA) and “because it is fun”.

He said ambulance staff used to be given more space.

He acknowledged bystanders taking photographs was more likely to happen on his shifts on Friday and Saturday night in the city than during the week days.

Emergency services were never completely sure how the public would react to an emergency and public reaction is heightened when a family member or child is involved.

“We focus on the work we’re here to do – that’s caring for the people at the centre of the emergency in the first instance, but also making sure their family and friends and people around them are also cared for,” said Proctor.

Having the public take photographs and wanting a better look makes an emergency situation more complex for patients, friends and family.

Thompson said it could be distracting and “very disconcerting that people maybe recording and photographing you and you don’t know what is happening with this information.

“You have no control over that.”

Victims are taken out of the public gaze as soon as practicable by being moved to the ambulance or to a private area.

If this is not possible, the public are called upon to help by holding up blankets  to screen the patient.

“We can’t stop people in a public space but [we] all need to consider people who are vulnerable in front of our own rights [to photograph],” Thompson said.

“Basic morality should dictate the rights of the vulnerable person to outweigh the right to photograph.”

On the other hand if someone does witness an incident WFA recommended they stayed at the scene until the paramedics have had a chance to speak to them.

“Sometimes [the public has] crucial information about what’s happened to the person we’re treating that can help us in our work,” said Proctor.

Members of the public also can be personally affected in an emergency without realising it because they get caught up in the moment. They may then lack the support given to paramedics.

“I am concerned that a member of the public is unnecessarily traumatised,” said Thompson.

For Thompson, being a paramedic is an “incredibly fulfilling job because you get to be with people at defining points of their life”.

Taking a moment to pause he said, “everything we do is probably better than the alternative”.

Tips how best to help out an emergency situation

• Give the emergency services space to do their job
• Understand the patient being cared for is in their own emergency and for them to get well and get well effectively they need their privacy, their space and they need it to be a safe and dignified environment
• Put yourself in the situation – would you want to be put onto Instagram or Facebook in a vulnerable state?
• Would you want your family member to be photographed for the world to see?

Source: Sean Thompson, Intensive Care Paramedic, Wellington Free Ambulance and Chair – Paramedics Australasia (New Zealand)