Jun 5, 2017

Any time I peruse the pages of EMS related articles I will inevitably come across some service that is trying to take over another service’s area.  Diving deeper into those articles usually reveals the same usual arguments.  Imagine my surprise when I clicked on an article about the East Longmeadow Fire Department’s move to take over EMS response in the town of East Longmeadow. I should first point out that what I am about to write is meant to represent my own personal views on the state of the industry.  I have not inquired about anything having to do with the current staffing of ambulances and volume.  What I am reflecting on is the article and just the article coupled with my years of experience in the greater Springfield area. Just to give a little bit of background here, I used to have a dog in this fight.  As many of you know, I was a 12-year employee of American Medical Response, the last seven of which as a supervisor.  I participated in contract bids for the town, and saw service improve as the requirements of those contracts increased.  AMR currently provides EMS service to the towns of East Longmeadow and Hamden free of charge.  The service is paid for by those who use it.  They respond to more than 2,000 calls a year, and AMR or its predecessor companies have served the town for more than two decades. The East Longmeadow Fire Department is currently a part time department covering daytime hours only, with off hours supported by call staff and volunteers.  Their Chief, Paul Morrissette, has spent his entire career in East Longmeadow.   The East Longmeadow Fire Department does not provide EMS first response in town and even if they did, the ambulance would most likely beat them to virtually every call because they are deployed from street corner posting, quite often from the same area where the fire department is located.  To put it briefly, neither Chief Morrissette nor the department currently have any experience operating an EMS service. In an article recently posted in The Reminder, a regional online publication, Chief Morrissette is quoted as saying, “AMR isn’t always familiar...

Dec 24, 2014

Although I have a love for politics, I usually do not share many of my political views on this blog unless they directly relate to the industry.  This matter, however, is close enough to share some comments on.  Four years ago, I would have never even thought to write this post because it would have been too close to home, but looking at things from a distance can shed a different light on certain situations and offer new opportunities to comment. Earlier in the month, Holyoke, Massachusetts City Councilor At Large Rebecca Lisi along with one of her city council colleagues was a participant in a “From Ferguson to NYC to Holyoke” protest march in downtown Holyoke.  The stated mission of the protest was “to protest the recent shootings of unarmed black men, women, and youth, and support the call for reforming problematic police practices.”  According to Lisi’s blog her reason for marching was to show her 14 month old son that “human beings have the ability to affect extraordinary changes.”   The march drew criticism due to the crowd chanting, among other things, the title of an 80’s rap song that many see as being derogatory towards police.  I’m sure you know what I am talking about.  I am not the only one who finds her mere participation in such a protest a problem.  The Holyoke Police Union expressed their displeasure with Lisi and her colleague Jossie Valentin. Lisi denies taking part in the chant and said that it “stopped quickly.”  She goes on, however, to praise the Holyoke police department about their continued commitment to community policing, which presents a sizeable contradiction.  She protested police actions and how they relate to her city and then goes on to say that her city’s police department takes the approach that they should take.  She is either very confused or was just protesting for the sake of protesting. Lisi is in a family populated by two generations of New York police Department officers, and says that she has “. .  . a deep appreciation for the hard work and risks that police officers take on every day in the field.”  Why, then, was she a no show...