But they won't fix the problem. Sedgwick County EMS slow to respond, Eagle probe discovers | The Wichita Eagle
I had a post about lack of 911 operators, and a post about lack of police. Here is a post about lack of ambulance and EMS personnel.
The article linked above is about a county that cannot meet the national standards for getting an ambulance and paramedics to the scene of an accident in 9 minutes.
The slow response times are tied to a mass exodus by paramedics, who are fleeing the department in revolt against Gallagher.
That is Dr. John Gallagher, director of Sedgwick County EMS
So they have a boss they can't stand, and are leaving in droves. The organization the boss oversees can't meet established norms. Don't you think it would be time to fire the boss?
County leaders are aware of widespread problems in the department but have ignored, dismissed and publicly whitewashed concerns raised by EMS employees for years, the Eagle’s investigation revealed.
He's their guy. So he stays. And if people in the community die or suffer (click thru for the details on that) so be it. Bureaucrats and politicians protect their own. Public servant? Don't make me laugh.
Crumbling 911 services - not enough 911 call-center staff, not enough police, and now paramedics leaving in droves. This isn't 1 location. This is starting to look like a nationwide problem. So when do we admit that civilization is falling apart around us?
Is a problem we have been facing for years..Scrambling to staff out Ambulances. Mega overtime for many, leading to faster burnout..and we wait for help. So those in need wait..
ReplyDeleteThere is a nationwide problem with 911.
DeleteIt starts with the phone call.
Call centers everywhere are not staffed completely because the job is hard, the pay is low, and management does everything to ensure that the working environment is awful. So wait times are long, people are not trained, and calls are kept waiting and then not handled properly.
Then there is EMS.
In a lot of the big cities, where paramedics are part of the fire department, they are on the bottom of the ladder. Their pay and promotions are limited and then people are shocked to discover that they want more pay and the possibility of promotions and they become firefighters. And overtime, and lack of support doesn't make for a good working environment.
Those have been ongoing problems for years, but in the last 2 years or so you can add cops into that mix. Because they are quitting and/or retiring in droves. Certainly they are leaving the big cities. (Long Island was running a recruiting drive last year to hire away NYPD cops - "come work in a place where we value law enforcement" was basically the push.
At some point, in the near future, it is going to all fall apart. This is what happened in Detroit a few years back. Response was so horrible, people just stopped relying on 911. It was a losing bet.