They have retained their status as Australia's most trusted professionals.
But paramedics are still among the most attacked and abused workers, according to new figures that show assaults on NSW ambos are set to reach record levels in 2014.
Since January 1, there have been 81 physical and verbal assaults on NSW paramedics - many of them carried out by boozed-up patients who lashed out at the very people trying to help them.
The figures for the first half of 2014 are already well on course to surpass the 133 assaults on NSW paramedics recorded in 2013. There were 89 assaults in 2012.
It comes as paramedics were named Australia's most trusted professionals for the 10th year in a row in Reader's Digest annual trust index, published on Monday.
Firefighters were second, followed by rescue volunteers, nurses and doctors.
But trust for paramedics is clearly not translating into respect from all quarters of the community.
Among the more appalling attacks on paramedics in recent months, a female ambo was punched to the ground and kicked by a man she was trying to treat in Sydney's CBD in February.
And in March, four paramedics were attacked in 24 hours.
The incidents included a 50-year-old man who punched a paramedic in the face near Ryde and a man who punched a paramedic in the stomach after trying to break into an ambulance at Campbelltown.
Two paramedics were threatened by a 33-year-old man who tried to punch them as they treated him at a Dee Why home.
The Ambulance Service of NSW welcomed the retention of its `must trusted' status but said the attacks must stop.
"Even though the community trusts paramedics more than any other group of people, paramedics themselves can unfortunately be assaulted physically or verbally while trying to perform their job," it said.
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