Aussie paramedics get respirators

Via Australia's ABC News: Conference told of paramedics' bird flu protection.

An international conference has been told Queensland paramedics have respirators to protect them against bird flu.

More than 500 delegates from the US, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, China and New Zealand are attending the Gold Coast forum.

Darren Hall headed a pandemic planning project for the Queensland Ambulance Service.
He says masks with a variety of filters were handed out after researchers studied paramedics' attitudes towards the threat of bird flu.

"They've conducted a study into the perceptions of paramedics and paramedics have said quite clearly they wanted effective personal protective equipment, they wanted good notification, they wanted communication and those sorts of things would enable them to come to work and do those sorts of things," he said.

I would think most paramedics would demand such equipment without waiting to be asked.