It was a routine call-out for paramedic Peter Vinnicombe , which resulted in horrific trauma that ended his career.
In the early hours of a morning in December 2022, he was attacked by a drug-affected patient in the isolated fishing community of Cungulla, south of Townsville.
"I feared for my life. I generally thought I was going to die that night and essentially what it did was open Pandora's box," he said.
Mr Vinnicombe was the officer-in-charge and a solo paramedic in the nearby town of Giru.
After 19 years in the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), his "cup overflowed" and he entered a state of deep depression and anxiety, eventually having to step away from the job.
He's on WorkCover and will soon be assessed for compensation, but Mr Vinnicombe is worried about how far the money will go and if it's fair compensation for the toll the job has taken on his life.
Under the WorkCover system, an independent medical tribunal will assess him and put forward a dollar figure for compensation based on how "permanently impaired" the tribunal finds him.
Based on the experience of others, he expects a potential payout would be about $40,000.
If he decides to dispute the compensation amount, his only real option would be to sue his employer and prove that negligence contributed to his mental illness.
Mr Vinnicombe argues it would be extremely hard to show negligence when it was the accumulation of many traumas on the job which he attributes to mental injury and the fact the QAS offers a service which supports officers through trauma.
"I don't think anyone in any of the emergency services can be in [the industry] for a sustained period of time and not be affected with some sort of PTSD," he said.
"There is no stigma in the services anymore to ask for help, so I think many people are getting help, but I don't think that there is enough recognition that … things can still go bad."
He wants to see support akin to the gold card — which is given to Australian Defence Force veterans to cover medical expenses for life — rolled out to help first responders.
"We don't make our veterans sue the defence force for going to war and being injured with PTSD. We accept it as the cost of looking after those that serve," he said.
"The vast majority of first responders will see much more trauma than the vast majority of veterans."
Agoraphobic, unable to regulate emotion
Like Mr Vinnicombe, Peter Solomon finished his career with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and anxiety.
Mr Solomon worked in Texas, on Queensland's southern border as a solo station officer.
When he was found medically unfit to work, he decided to take the QAS to court to try to prove the service contributed to his injury.
After a protracted process, he had to abandon the case, concerned that if he lost the legal costs would ruin him financially.
But, in doing so, he had already turned down the $47,000 that was offered as compensation when the medical tribunal assessed him as being "eight per cent" permanently impaired.
He said he believes the subjective nature of how mental injury affects people means assessing the level of impairment, and putting a number and dollar figure on it, is difficult.
"If you lose a leg, [disability support] is very easy to quantify. Mental health is very different — it is so subjective," Mr Solomon said.
He now lives on JobSeeker payments and has been knocked back from disability support payments a number of times.
"I had to draw on my superannuation to pay off the house. I paid nearly $100,000 in income tax because I accessed it early," he said.
"The taxation department, the superannuation fund, my employer and WorkCover all regard me as totally and permanently incapacitated but I don't qualify for disability.
"I am probably going to be forced to cancel my home insurance. I just can't survive."
Formerly an avid motorcycle rider, he's been selling off his bikes to pay the bills and is worried he'll soon have to sell his home if he can't access disability support.
For Mr Solomon, his PTSD manifested into agoraphobia — he can't focus for extended periods and has trouble regulating his emotions.
Some nights he doesn't sleep and other days, he can't get out of bed.
He finds triggers in everyday life. He avoids crowded supermarkets, noisy cafes, the entire town of Texas, and anywhere he has had to respond to traumatic jobs in the past.
Even the smell of barbecue has become a trigger.
"I had a very bad case involving a woman who was horrendously burnt. The smell of barbecue causes severe anxiety, " he said.
"I don't have a normal life anymore."
'Intense thoughts, intrusive feelings'
Wendy Li, a psychology professor from James Cook University, says many people who suffer from PTSD experience intense thoughts and intrusive feelings, which impact many parts of their life.
"The symptoms often occur within a month after the event. It can last for weeks, months, even years," she said.
"It brings about a lot of negative impacts. For example psychological, emotional as well as behavioural, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem."
Dr Li said the condition can lead to panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and actions — left untreated, it can have a prolonged effect on people's lives.
"One thing we notice correlated to PTSD is 'moral injury'," she explained.
"For example, for military personnel, of course they need to kill the enemy but killing people may injure them morally. This may be a compounding factor and have a large impact on PTSD."
In the case of moral injury for paramedics, she said it could be associated with events where patients may have been able to be saved if the system could respond more swiftly or there were more resources available.
Stressors a symptom of stretched health service
United Workers Union's national ambulance coordinator, Fiona Scalon, said while a high proportion of paramedics suffer PTSD from the job, other stressors are compounding mental illness, leading to burnout and absenteeism.
"If you are in the last five minutes of your shift and you get sent out on a job — that's a three hour turnaround in a lot of cases, so you know you are not getting home on time and you can't make commitments to your family or yourself," she said.
"When you don't feel supported at work or you've had a really bad shift … you're not well enough to go to work the next day. [First responder workplaces] are finding a higher level of absenteeism."
Ms Scalon said things have improved for paramedics suffering PTSD in recent years, but there's still more that could be changed to alleviate the stress of the job.
In 2022, the Queensland government introduced legislation which meant that any first responders who were suffering from PTSD were presumed to have developed the disorder as a result of the job.
"They don't have to jump through the same hoops proving it alongside the rest of their life events," Ms Scalon explained.
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said the psychological welfare and wellbeing of staff is a top priority.
"Assessments and payments relating to this process are completed in accordance with legislation and are made independently from the Queensland Ambulance Service," the spokesperson said.
The spokesman said the QAS operates a staff support service called 'Priority One' which is available to all staff and families, 24 hours a day.
"All staff are encouraged to access the service should they ever need support."
Long lasting and ever present
Mr Vinnicombe said he still feels PTSD triggers often, and it was his family who noticed how the condition was affecting him.
He started avoiding his friends and refusing offers to play golf and go fishing — things he used to love doing.
"I'd make up excuses. It didn't feel safe," he said.
"I was waking up at two o'clock in the morning, every morning, regardless of when I went to bed. Getting about two hours sleep."
Mr Vinnicombe struggles with specific geographic locations, reading distressing news, and watching certain movies.
When he attempted to watch a horror movie with his 16-year-old daughter, he was transported back to a particularly distressing job.
"I was straight back at a murder-suicide. You can taste it, you can smell it, you can feel it. Every thing, every part of it — you are in that situation. It's been really distressing," he said.
Despite the effect it has had on his life, when he reflects on his career Mr Vinnicombe feels proud of how he served the community.
"It is an honour to do what we do, but it has come at a cost," he said.
"I don't regret a single day of my career, but I regret the cost it is having on my family and I regret the cost it is having on myself personally."
A spokesperson from the Workers' Compensation Regulatory services said to determine the amount an injured worker is entitled to, the insurer must have the permanent impairment assessed by an independent Medical Assessment Tribunal.
"A tribunal consist of a panel of at least three eminent medical specialists who specialise in a worker's injury," the spokesperson said.
"They consider a worker's medical information as well as undertake a medical examination and interview with a worker. "
The spokesperson said any lump sum payments are calculated based on the degree of assessed impairment under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2014 and assessments must adhere to Queensland guidelines.
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2024-05-09 19:34:38Z
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