Oregon paramedics learn self‐defense amid attacks

A rash of attacks on paramedics in Portland, Ore., has occurred in recent months, as they respond to a growing number of 911 calls for patients in mental health or drug‐related crises, The Associated Press reported Nov. 11. The uptick in violence is so severe that the private ambulance company that holds Portland's 911 contract is training more than 500 of its employees in defensive tactics The increase in assaults dovetails with a new policy for the transport of patients in a mental health crisis that grew out of a 2012 federal investigation that found police used excessive force against those with mental illness. Now, paramedics — not law enforcement — routinely take patients on mental health holds to the hospital, most often to a new psychiatric emergency room created specifically to stabilize those in the throes of a psychiatric crisis. The policy puts the city at the forefront of a growing national movement to decriminalize mental health by treating a psychiatric crisis as a medical emergency similar to a heart attack — not as a crime. The policy on ambulance transportation is also paired with a new approach for handling police calls for those in a mental health or drug‐related crisis. Under the settlement with the federal government, Portland now deploys a team of specialized officers who are paired with outreach workers from a local organization called Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare. The force has also given 100 front‐line officers enhanced training to address mental health issues that arise on service calls.