The Impact of Domestic Violence on EMS providers
How does domestic violence impact our communities? Often people put a financial meaning behind this such as: court costs, housing inmates, taxes and property destruction. I’ve been a paid and volunteer Emergency Medical Technician for 12 years. I will tell you how domestic violence impacted me as a pre-hospital care provider in the community. This is a true story that took place in Pennsylvania. About 10 years ago, I was dispatched to assist the state police at a crime scene. The company I worked for at the time also did coroner transports. We were given no additional information except for the name of the road. I knew the exact road due to living by the southern piece of the county; and I knew very well that there were no homes located on it. I assumed it was a car accident. Arriving at the scene there were numerous state police cars and vans. I got out of the ambulance and walked towards the...