Again, I'm a data guy and a story guy.
People get assaulted and they decide not to come to work tomorrow. I don't get lunch for 12 hours. I decide not to come to work tomorrow. There are so many stressors on a paramedic specifically that I can speak to that it is unfathomable why they decide to keep coming to work, honestly.
I commend my staff every day when they come to work, because it is awful right now. When I hear on the weekend that multiple more paramedics have been assaulted and they still show up to work the next day, it just baffles me. The only time they take time off work is if they are injured to the point where they can't show up to work after medical attention.
One of my members took multiple months off after their vehicle was surrounded by multiple assailants threatening to kill them inside the vehicle. It's time lost.
We cannot sacrifice a single paramedic on the street these days. That is how short we are. We are running short every single day. One person leaving is detrimental to our system and to the health and wellness of the rest of our paramedics trying to do what we do every day.