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City EMS: Dying for attention
By DAVE DAVIES
daviesd@phillynews.com 215-854-2595
WHEN RICHARD BADWAY heard that former Philadelphia School Board President Rotan Lee died after waiting nearly 20 minutes for an ambulance, he just shook his head.
Badway's 22-year old son, Ricky, died last October after he collapsed in a Roxborough apartment, and it took 22 minutes for a Fire Department ambulance to arrive.
<SNIP>
Richard Badway wonders if a quicker response would have saved his son, an apparently healthy young man who experienced an irregular heart rhythm.
<SNIP>
In both Rotan Lee's and Ricky Badway's cases, a fire engine arrived relatively quickly with cardiac defibrillators and other basic medical aid. But both men had longer waits for ambulances with paramedics who could render more advanced care - and take the patients to the hospital.
<SNIP>
"It's apparent there aren't enough medic units to cover the city adequately," Councilman Jim Kenney said in a recent interview. "That's clear from information we're getting about how long it takes to respond."
<SNIP>
"Sometimes during the day, every unit is out," Ayers told Council during his testimony. "They're running, they're crisscrossing. They're going all over the place."
<Snip>
But Dave Kearney, the recording secretary of the local firefighters union and a 14-year paramedic, said in a recent interview that things in the EMS system are worse than they've been in years.
"People are waiting 20 minutes for a medic unit every day," Kearney said. "People are dying waiting for ambulances."
"It's frustrating for me and other paramedics to watch this," he said. "It's hard when you look at a person who's very sick and say, 'I should have gotten here earlier.' "
Kearney believes that as 911 medical calls have increased in the last few years, the Fire Department hasn't planned to keep up with it, and that the system has reached a crisis point.
The Fire Department's deputy commissioner for operations, Ernest Hargett, said in an interview that 20-minute response times "are not the norm. They are the cases that attract attention. And they're the ones people like to point out as the weaknesses within the system.
<SNIP>
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14581707.htm
By DAVE DAVIES
daviesd@phillynews.com 215-854-2595
WHEN RICHARD BADWAY heard that former Philadelphia School Board President Rotan Lee died after waiting nearly 20 minutes for an ambulance, he just shook his head.
Badway's 22-year old son, Ricky, died last October after he collapsed in a Roxborough apartment, and it took 22 minutes for a Fire Department ambulance to arrive.
<SNIP>
Richard Badway wonders if a quicker response would have saved his son, an apparently healthy young man who experienced an irregular heart rhythm.
<SNIP>
In both Rotan Lee's and Ricky Badway's cases, a fire engine arrived relatively quickly with cardiac defibrillators and other basic medical aid. But both men had longer waits for ambulances with paramedics who could render more advanced care - and take the patients to the hospital.
<SNIP>
"It's apparent there aren't enough medic units to cover the city adequately," Councilman Jim Kenney said in a recent interview. "That's clear from information we're getting about how long it takes to respond."
<SNIP>
"Sometimes during the day, every unit is out," Ayers told Council during his testimony. "They're running, they're crisscrossing. They're going all over the place."
<Snip>
But Dave Kearney, the recording secretary of the local firefighters union and a 14-year paramedic, said in a recent interview that things in the EMS system are worse than they've been in years.
"People are waiting 20 minutes for a medic unit every day," Kearney said. "People are dying waiting for ambulances."
"It's frustrating for me and other paramedics to watch this," he said. "It's hard when you look at a person who's very sick and say, 'I should have gotten here earlier.' "
Kearney believes that as 911 medical calls have increased in the last few years, the Fire Department hasn't planned to keep up with it, and that the system has reached a crisis point.
The Fire Department's deputy commissioner for operations, Ernest Hargett, said in an interview that 20-minute response times "are not the norm. They are the cases that attract attention. And they're the ones people like to point out as the weaknesses within the system.
<SNIP>
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14581707.htm
