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Portland paramedics and EMTs train in self-defense after recent attacks

Crews are learning to defend themselves against attacks as the number of violent incidents grows.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Inside an empty conference room at their Clackamas operations center, EMTs and paramedics with American Medical Response (AMR) practiced blocking punches, dodging attacks with weapons and fighting their way out of the corner of a room before someone could throw them into a wall.

“They're trying to knock you out,” said lead paramedic Jeff Birrer, who was leading the class. “So even a predatory fighter is going to throw just these big haymaker punches.”

The group would remain in that class for eight hours Friday, as part of AMR’s newly launched Combative Patient course.

The curriculum was developed over several months, said training officer Tim Case, after heads with AMR began noticing a change in the rate of attacks reported on crews in the field.

“I think the level of intensity and the frequency of report of these instances is just increasing for sure,” he said.

Both Case and Lieutenant Rich Chatman with Portland Fire & Rescue admitted numbers on just how common these attacks have become are hard to gather.

Both agencies, historically, haven’t made a priority of cataloging attacks on crews in the field because, until a couple of years ago, it wasn’t that common.

Case said Friday, in 2016 AMR started conducting “secure transports” for Portland Police, which meant transporting people under arrest to the hospital for treatment before officers took them to jail.

That combined with a growing housing crisis plagued with mental health and addiction issues, has made random, violent encounters a growing part of the job.

“We work in an uncontrolled environment,” said Case. “We're in somebody's living room. We're on the street. We are in the back of our ambulance, and the attackers have access to anything. We don't know if they have weapons. We don't know if they have anything that can be used to hurt us.”

There have been a string of reported assaults on EMTs and paramedics in 2019, including when a patient allegedly hijacked an ambulance during transport and when two female paramedics said they were punched and pepper-sprayed during a call.

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The catalyst for AMR’s new curriculum though, said Case, came in February when police said a man walked up to an ambulance stopped at a traffic light, opened the door and stabbed a paramedic.

RELATED: Paramedic injured in knife attack in Southwest Portland

Case said it’s becoming harder for crews, who work in pairs, to judge threats in the field.

“You know it kind of crosses all spectrums,” he said. “We definitely deal with a large behavioral health population, drug issues and other people who are just overly aggressive because of a medical condition that they have.”

So now, crews practiced defending themselves.

Everyone in Friday’s class had just started with AMR that week.

Brett Kruger had his first day Monday.

“This day of training might save my life, might save somebody else's life, and so I really take it seriously because, in that fight-or-flight state, you’re going to revert back to what you were taught previously,” he said.

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