What's going on in SB County?

Mufasa556

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A buddy and I were talking about AMR SB the other night and he mentioned that the Fire Union has been going after AMR on social media. They've been posting radio traffic of calls and accusing AMR contributing to public safety issues due to low staffing.

It started on the Jan 1st with this post about the staffing for the Interstate 15 corridor.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=706205906211617&id=186418088190404&_rdr

Then they went after AMR for being level zero on New Years Eve and having an extended ETA for a vehicle vs Ped.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=708207282678146&id=186418088190404&_rdr

Another on AMR's level zero being a public safety risk.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=706264199539121&substory_index=0&id=186418088190404

Last night they posted this insinuating ICEMA is in bed with AMR.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=712874852211389&substory_index=0&id=186418088190404

I don't know all that much about SB, but it seems they've come out guns blazing. Anyone have any idea what this is all about?
 

DesertMedic66

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What the majority of people are thinking is that county fire is using this as a way to expand their AO program and to kick AMR out of the county (when they first started their AO program they raised trouble and said they had the right for the whole county and not AMR).

I've been keeping track of it and reading the hilarious comments on the posts on Facebook and Instagram.
 

VentMonkey

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One of my SoCal buddy's sent me something about this last night. To me, it sounds like a smear campaign, and to expand on what Desert is saying I would imagine they're making a serious go at this.

I haven't worked there in years, but it was no secret they've (fire) felt this way regarding AMR and the county EMS' relationship for quite sometime. I have no clue when the bids expire, and/ or are due, but judging by this sudden bombardment of SM, perhaps soon?

My personal spin is more along the lines of being careful what you wish for. As large, and as spread out as that county is, I doubt replacing one service (or running them out) for another will hardly fix anything regarding overs, extended ETA's, and staffing.

The only thing worth entertaining when it comes to this sort of issue---IMO---is public education, true fines/ penalties (super users), and CP/ MIH programs.
 

CALEMT

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Haha how ironic. I was contemplating starting a thread on this. Desertmedic and myself have been talking about it for most of the day. It sounds like the union is going after AMR with staffing and/or low levels. Personally I just think it's a campaign to take over the county with their AO program. It seems like it's pretty bitter on Instagram and Facebook, the comments are pretty good though.
 

VentMonkey

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I thought that video looked familiar, @CALEMT. Nothing new really. Public vs. private, yaay California EMS:oops:.
 

CALEMT

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Yeah, I didn't realize it at the time, but SBCoFD went full on passive aggressive and put out a youtube video on it.

Edit: I will say it is quite entertaining watching the union respond to the comments. It is scary how similar it is to a new "troll" poster on here. It's giving me quite the laugh.
 

VentMonkey

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Just solidifies me being meant for a state where fire has little to no desire to be involved with EMS in such a capacity.
 

CALEMT

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I just find it funny because for as large as the county is its freaking poor! Hypothetically if fire were to take over all transports for the county where is the funding going to come from? They're already on a tight budget. What about staffing? Sure AMR doesn't have the best staffing right now, but everyone fire and private in So Cal is hurting for people right now. They get their wish and they find out they bite off more than they can chew. That is a ridiculous coverage area and I'm confident that they'll run into the same issues that they're seeing now.

This is a patient education problem. How many times has SBCoFD pushed a ******** transport? Probably too many. Hospitals could also step up their game, I mean the county ain't getting any smaller. How much longer until hospitals start expanding ER's or the county board of supervisors approves more hospitals? It all comes down to money that the county just doesn't have. So they go with the cheapest bidder which happens to be AMR and guess what, you're right back at square 1.
 

DesertMedic66

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I just find it funny because for as large as the county is its freaking poor! Hypothetically if fire were to take over all transports for the county where is the funding going to come from? They're already on a tight budget. What about staffing? Sure AMR doesn't have the best staffing right now, but everyone fire and private in So Cal is hurting for people right now. They get their wish and they find out they bite off more than they can chew. That is a ridiculous coverage area and I'm confident that they'll run into the same issues that they're seeing now.

This is a patient education problem. How many times has SBCoFD pushed a ******** transport? Probably too many. Hospitals could also step up their game, I mean the county ain't getting any smaller. How much longer until hospitals start expanding ER's or the county board of supervisors approves more hospitals? It all comes down to money that the county just doesn't have. So they go with the cheapest bidder which happens to be AMR and guess what, you're right back at square 1.
There really isn't a cheapest bidder considering AMR pays money to the county to keep the contract
 

CALEMT

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There really isn't a cheapest bidder considering AMR pays money to the county to keep the contract

Not literally, but the idea of the matter is what I was going for.
 

VentMonkey

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Yep, we all saw how well that worked out in NorCal:).
 

RocketMedic

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Are the "AO"s single-role medical employees?
 

CALEMT

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Share that to the union Facebook page.
 

VentMonkey

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It sounds like a lot of fingers being pointed at one another. I have yet to say: "perhaps we all should band together and educate our public about system abuse issues."

At what point do we hold the public accountable to an extent?? Educate, and re-educate people as to what we do PSA's, billboards, town hall meetings.

I would really be interested to hear someone who works for a service in which they've had a CP/ MIH program up and running for sometime who'd had similar issues prior to them implementing such a service. Has it helped? If so, how has it? If not, how hasn't it?
 

Nick15

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I have been talking about this with some of my coworkers who live in SB county. Apparently they got a extension of their contract for a year and a half, so fire would have to wait that long until they take it over. According to what I've heard though is that fire wants the high desert all to themselves since that's where the problem lies. I just don't see how forcing AMR out will solve any problems. It will cost the taxpayers more money in the long run and what needs to happen is they need to work on something to get patients triaged quicker or open a bigger hospital(s). With the increase in size for that area, you'd think the cities could plan appropriately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

VentMonkey

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Again, to reiterate what myself and CAL eluded to, it seems as though the biggest issue is public education, or lack there of.

Perhaps if we focused our attention less on pointing fingers at one another, and refocused it on working collaboratively to reeducate the public regarding proper 911 utilization, maybe, just maybe it would curtail some of these peak/ high demand spikes in call volume, help reduce the chances of things such as this example SBCoFD is banking on, and create a smoother working relationship within the regional agencies, as well as reduce the stress, workload, and burnout at all provider levels.

The "he said/ she said" blame game never ends well for anyone, up to and including the public (patient). It would appear that this is sparking quite a bit of tension between these agencies at least at the upper management/ union levels. Hopefully this does not transcend through it's field staff, as this will definitely not end well, or at least cause a lot of unease at an extremely unnecessary level.
 

CALEMT

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Perhaps if we focused our attention less on pointing fingers at one another, and refocused it on working collaboratively to reeducate the public regarding proper 911 utilization, maybe, just maybe it would curtail some of these peak/ high demand spikes in call volume, help reduce the chances of things such as this

This is optimal, public education is something thats needed in not only SBCo but my county (Riverside). Sure we don't have the problems that the high desert does but we run our fair share of people who quite frankly have no warrant to go to a hospital. Its about 70% of the call volume not only in So Cal but in EMS in general. Think about it; in a month you run X amount of calls and transport X amount of people. How many people out of those transports truly needed a ride to the hospital by ambulance?

So public education and more infrastructure (either ED expansion or more hospitals) in the ever expanding area. Unfortunately the union for SBCoFD doesn't see it this way. I always use the adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" according to the union something is broken (true) but their "repair" isn't going to solve the ongoing problem in the county. It's obvious that there are things in need of change within ICEMA however, kicking AMR out so county can take over ambulance transports isn't something that needs changing. I'm going to kind of contradict myself here, but the system works. It has it's faults like everywhere, it just needs tweaking and improving to better the public.
 
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