As an ambulance service, our paramedics often encounter death and tragic incidents, some of which are entirely avoidable.
In February 2005, a 21 year old nurse, Belinda Davey, tragically died in a carpark in Melbourne after taking a cocktail of illegal party drugs. The State Coroner ruled that her death may have been avoided if her friends had called for an ambulance as soon as they noticed that she was unwell.
In response, we developed a new advertising campaign encouraging young people to call for an ambulance when they think a friend is suffering from a drug overdose.
The campaign was developed in conjunction with students from Swinburne University. Information about the partnership.
You can also view the TV commercial here (6MB):
An article on how paramedics are managing a rise in patients affected by methamphetamine (also known as ‘ice’ or crystal meth) can be found in AV’s Perspective December 2006 issue (refer to p16).