"Something has gone really well."
That's specialist nurse Jimmie Prahl's first thought when he understands who has been affected.
"We met through work but were friends outside of it too," he says of the 45-year-old woman.
He describes her as a cheerful person who disliked injustice, was particularly fond of older patients, and had extensive experience. When many colleagues in the ambulance trained to become nurses, she was proud of her role as an ambulance paramedic.
She was incredibly safety conscious. It was a bit of her role, she said, "I'll leave the medical stuff to you sisters," but when it came to parking the car in the event of a traffic accident, how to secure the patient and lift correctly - that was her part, says Jimmie Prahl.
“A little mother”
He says that his colleague often urged his coworkers to think about safety when they were called out to addresses that were known to be noisy.
She was a little working mom to many.
That's why he's so shocked when he realizes who has been affected. During an emergency call in Harmånger in Nordanstig at the end of September, his colleague is attacked and stabbed. She later dies from her injuries.
The trial of the 26-year-old man charged with the murder begins on Monday. He has a history of violent behavior, often in combination with alcohol, and is said to have threatened paramedics with a baseball bat a few days before the fatal attack.
But none of this emerged when Jimmie Prahl's colleagues were alerted, which led to a debate about the safety of ambulance personnel during emergency calls. Among other things, so-called flagging of certain addresses and people with known risks of threats or violence has been discussed, so that ambulance personnel can be warned before they respond.
Welcome debate
Jimmie Prahl welcomes the debate, but says it is important that it is constructive.
Through her passing, she has highlighted a risk that we have seen for a long time, he says.
We are exposed to situations that are not always predictable, but we have long wanted to have all the available information to be able to assess risk in a fair way.
He has great faith in the justice system and wants to see a conviction, but hopes it doesn't end there.
We must learn from this so that we reduce the risk of both vulnerable patients and vulnerable healthcare professionals ending up in similar situations.
