Oropos mayor laments treatment of 69-year-old woman by private ambulance crew

The mayor of the East Attica town of Oropos has expressed regret over an incident concerning the treatment of a troubled 69-year-old resident by the crew of a private ambulance service working for the municipality, describing the incident “like something from the Middle Ages.”

In comments to Kathimerini, Mayor Giorgos Giasimakis said that he had contacted the private ambulance service hired by the municipal authority to seek explanations about the incident, which sparked outrage across social media on February 28, when a neighbor of the 69-year-old woman posted a photograph of her being hosed down as she lay naked on a blanket in the parking garage of her apartment block.

According to reports, the ambulance crew was taking the woman to hospital after responding to a report filed by neighbors with municipal services expressing concerns about her living conditions and her physical and mental health.

They removed the 69-year-old from her apartment, where they found her living in abhorrent conditions among piles of garbage, and took her down, undressed, to the garage where they hosed her down before placing her in the ambulance.

“The image we saw was like something from the Middle Ages,” said Giasimakis. “There is no excuse for what they did.”

He added that he has demanded that the two workers – a paramedic and an orderly – “never crew the Oropos ambulance again.”

According to reports, the paramedic also works for the Health Ministry, which has initiated procedures for his dismissal. 

Separately, the municipality has launched an inquiry into the incident and will be seeking for charges to be brought against both the men seen in the photograph.