A specialist paramedic who knows all too well the havoc knife crime can wreak has shared a stark warning about how knives ruin lives.
Shaun Robson, who works at the North East Ambulance Service, has spoke of the brutal reality of knife crime as part of ChronicleLive's Stop Knives Taking Lives campaign. Backed by police, politicians and victims' families, the campaign is calling on everyone in the North East to come together to help tackle knife crime.
This comes after the tragic deaths of three teenagers - Holly Newton, Gordon Gault and Tomasz Olesczak - in recent months.
Shaun, who has been at NEAS for 10 years and worked as a specialist paramedic with critically ill and injured patients for three years, said incidents of knife crime had become "much more common" and that when there was a knife involved, it ups the "level of devastation".
Asked what he would say to anyone who was carrying a knife, he warned: "Think about the lives you could ruin by inflicting life changing injuries or death. It’s not just the life of the victim and their family who is affected but also your own life and that of your family. Is it worth the devastation you could cause?"
Shaun said: "Incidents involving knives have become much more commonplace and are a regular instance in which a Specialist Paramedic would attend. These incidents were less common when I first joined the ambulance service.
"The first thing that goes through my mind is what will I find when I get there and ensuring that I arrive safely. I start preparing mentally for the situation thinking about how will I manage the situation and treat the patient or patients."
The paramedic explained that the "high levels of distress and emotion" found at the scene of knife crime incidents was often challenging, while he highlighted the how he and his colleagues went about trying to save lives. Highlighting the devastation knives cause, he said: "Preventing the loss of life is obviously a primary concern which is accentuated when responding to an incident involving a knife because of the higher risk of life threatening injuries.
"Often the injuries and psychological effect of an injury caused by a knife on those who have either received them or witnessed them can be particularly distressing and challenging to manage. It can often seem that people do not realise the extent of the injury and devastation that can be caused when a knife is involved."
Of course, the scenes of knife crime can be dangerous for first responders, too. At a NEAS board meeting in February, executives also highlighted how over the last year or so there has also increased reporting of aggression towards the emergency services.
Shaun added that the risk from "other people who might have been part of the initial incident", was always a concern - and he also spoke of how supporting relatives and friends of someone injured could be difficult due to the "significant psychological trauma and distress" they may have experienced.
Shaun explained how attending more knife crime incidents than in the past had a toll, too. He added: "These incidents are emotionally challenging because the level of devastation is always higher when a knife is involved. The psychological impact on responders is much more profound when dealing with violent incidents and injuries caused by knives.
"I worry about what this says about society if more and more people are carrying knives. Incidents involving knives are often thought to happen elsewhere but the reality is this has become more common in the North East than people may realise."
READ NEXT:
- Greggs factory worker's 1,215 mile Land's End to John O'Groats hike for mental health causes
- Family's heartbreak as renowned Northumberland artist and 'amazing' grandmother dies of cancer
- 'No coincidence' North East has highest rate of unpaid carers in England says charity boss
- 'It's always there' - Murdered Gateshead schoolboy's sister lifts lid on lifetime of grief
- Grieving mum’s devastation as council orders removal of £1,000 ornate railings from son’s grave
