YADKINVILLE, N.C. — First responders, health care workers and educators dedicate their lives to helping others. That dedication can regularly put their own safety on the line. 

What You Need To Know

  • First responders, health care workers and educators dedicate their lives to helping others, but that dedication can regularly put their own safety on the line 

  • “Seventy percent of EMS workers have said they’ve been assaulted as part of the job. Hospital workers in the ERs are somewhere around 50%. Teachers say they’ve either been threatened or assaulted roughly a third of the time. I mean, it’s a pretty huge demographic,” self-defense trainer Robert Hamilton said. 

  • North Carolina law states that a person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another person if they reasonably believe that they’re about to attack

Surry Community College and partners have taken steps throughout 2023 to equip them with knowledge to protect themselves. Hamilton Protective Training Solutions trainer Robert Hamilton, a former Guilford County deputy sheriff, has taught several self-defense classes to address the issue.

He said the training director of Yadkin EMS reached out after several of their workers were assaulted. Hamilton explained that the statistics are sobering. 

“Seventy percent of EMS workers have said they’ve been assaulted as part of the job. Hospital workers in the ERs are somewhere around 50%. Teachers say they’ve either been threatened or assaulted roughly a third of the time. I mean, it’s a pretty huge demographic,” Hamilton said. “Seventy percent of EMS workers have said they’ve been assaulted as part of the job. Hospital workers in the ERs are somewhere around 50%. Teachers say they’ve either been threatened or assaulted roughly a third of the time. I mean, it’s a pretty huge demographic,” Hamilton said. 

Forbush Volunteer Fire Department EMT and firefighter Tim Turner said there are more dangers on a fire scene than the blaze itself.

“If family members start coming in, charging in trying to get … back to the house or something, and they start wanting to fight trying to get back in, you’re not going to have the skills or the knowledge to protect our firefighters,” Turner said. 

Hamilton recently taught a new group of students about the SPEAR system. 

“The thesis behind the SPEAR system is what does it want? What does the body want to do prior to any training, and does that have a combative application,” Hamilton said. 

He explained that self-defense starts long before someone gets caught in a headlock. It begins with pre-assault indicators. He also advises first responders to have a general knowledge of a home’s call history when responding to a call, knowing a patient’s history before stepping into a hospital room and paying attention to any gut-feeling that indicates something is wrong. 

Turner said every bit of practice makes a difference. 

“It does make you feel more safe the more skills and the knowledge that I have to protect. Like I said, not even myself, like I said, but everybody here. We’re all brothers. We all look after each other,” Turner said.

North Carolina law states that a person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another person if they reasonably believe that they’re about to attack.