Ambulance sideshow
Flap stemming from shooting takes focus off needed reform
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
A spat over the way a wounded officer was transported to a
hospital last month mustn't cloud a larger issue: The need to reform
Genesee County's deeply flawed ambulance network.
Selfish interests in favor of the status quo would love such
confusion to aid their side, which already seems to be prevailing
thanks to the Board of Commissioners' reluctance to represent the
public interest in this vital matter.
While we legitimately can debate whether a sheriff paramedic made
the right decision in driving Flint Township police Officer Jeff
Hovey to McLaren Regional Medical Center in a paramedic rig, rather
than waiting for a fully staffed ambulance, this dispute probably
wouldn't have become a major issue if more wasn't involved than
Hovey's well-being.
Quite plainly, the Genesee County Medical Control Authority,
which criticized the paramedic's call, is among those backing
streamlining and stronger management for a hodgepodge,
public-private ambulance network now delivering substandard service.
While the sheriff paramedics are a solid component of this system,
it doesn't negate the need to better meld the unit into a top-notch
emergency medical response team serving all parts of the county
equally well.
Medical Control, which sets and enforces rules for emergency
transport, quietly admonished the paramedic for not following local
and state regulations in the Oct. 9 shooting emergency, arguing the
police officer potentially would have been better off being carried
in a licensed ambulance with someone attending him, rather than in
the sheriff's vehicle with a lone paramedic driving.
Sheriff Robert Pickell and the captain of his paramedic division
not only disagree, but aired their differences with the Board of
Commissioners, which is weighing whether to fix the county's
ambulance shortcomings, or satisfy those parties that would profit
from no change.
In that regard, this tiff has become an unwelcome distraction, a
fight that grabs the public's attention while the bigger contest
gets ignored. We're even willing to concede that Pickell and Captain
Michael Becker, the paramedics commander, have a good case for what
the paramedic did in this wild shooting scene, which left one person
dead and three wounded. The level of danger and the inability of
dispatchers to swiftly locate a private ambulance for transport
support the deputy's decision to drive the injured officer on his
own.
But this episode doesn't alter the need to create a countywide
ambulance network with a centralized authority that knows the
whereabouts of all public and private rigs, each with radio links to
911 dispatchers. It should have standards for response times and
medical care that would be strictly enforced, and no jurisdictions
should be slighted for economic or other reasons, as can be the case
now.
County Health Department chief Robert M. Pestronk has drawn up
such a plan based on a consultant's recommendation and other
research. It's currently before a county board subcommittee where
its prospects are unclear.
Unfortunately, what has been obvious is that some commissioners
are more attentive to private ambulance companies, the sheriff and
public employees - all with interests to protect - than the broad
public need. And this brouhaha over whether the sheriff paramedic
acted correctly only adds to a political climate in which bad policy
can prevail.
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