EMS personnel have more backup now in the event of assault

After reports from EMS personnel raised questions about the frequency of field officer assault by patients, Selena Xie, the president of the Austin EMS Association, approached the Public Safety Commission to ask for assistance in creating a better safety net for EMS professionals who need emergency assistance in the event of an assault. One month later, on Oct. 7, she came back to tell the commissioners that the association had gotten everything it had asked for. “(We) got positive movement on all three fronts,” she said, referring to her requests for de-escalation training, a police department code medics can use if they find themselves in distress and a way for medics to report an assault.