New Haven Independent

Posted by: Chris | April 29, 2008 6:51 PM

Are you kidding me?The cost of making these guys "ambulance drivers" and ridding the city of a commercial service will never happen,nor would the NHFD want it to.EMT-II's?Good lord..Where is this guy from?Plus with the new hiring practices of NHFD,you'd have too many recruits that would never pass the paramedic curriculum.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | April 30, 2008 8:03 AM

Chris I disagree.
Most of the calls that the NHFD go to now a days are EMT calls... they just do not have the capability to transport. I say do it, it can become a revenue..we can finally start charging the insurance company's for some of the bill!!

Posted by: EMSguy | April 30, 2008 2:09 PM

cedarhill, while it is true that most of the calls NHFD does are medical runs providing transport will most definatly not make the city much money and may actually cost taxpayers more. Fact is that most of the transports amr does in new haven make the company no money at all, meaning payment recieved is less than it cost to actually do the run (Salaries, supplies, insurance , and all other overhead associated with getting that ambulance on the road) most calls are to the poorer sections of the city where payment is recieved from the state at a very small percentage of the actual bill. For the city to consider this it would need to staff at least 3 more transport units within the city, train or hire paramedics, add a billing department, and fund the program. when all is said and done it would more than likely cost more to run than it would make.

Posted by: WESTVILLER | April 30, 2008 8:48 PM

TO CHRIS AND THE EMSGUY, BOTH MUST BE IN THE KNOW ABOUT HOW THE NHFD WORKS. BUT I GUESS YOU DON'T KNOW THAT THE CITY CANNOT JUST START AMBULANCE SERVICE SINCE AMR HOLDS THE LICENSE IN NEW HAVEN TO DO THAT WORK. AND BY THE WAY, YOU SHOULD ASK FIREMEN HOW MANY TIMES THEY GET CANCELLED ON CALLS SINCE AMR BEATS THEM THERE ALL THE TIME AND THE GUYS IN WHITE TRUCKS ARE JUST STANDING AROUND OUTSIDE SMOKING WAITING FOR THEM TO GET THERE. SO I ASK, WHY ARE WE SPENDING SO MUCH MONEY TO HAVE THE FD DO EMS THAT AMR DOES FINE WTHOUT THERE HELP. YOU ARE RIGHT ROB, THINGS MUST CHANGE IN THE WAY THE FD WORKS - HOW ABOUT TAKING THE LEAD.

Posted by: Chris O | April 30, 2008 8:58 PM

I can't agree with Rob Smutts more on this. Fire fighters have the cushiest jobs that I know. It should be real work for real pay. New Haven Police and teachers earn every dollar. They don't wash their cars or watch TV or sleep on the clock- I think. Additionally most firefighters i know moon light on off days.

Prove that public safety/ response time is adequate in reorganization and I think taxpayers won't mind. Tell me my station is changing from firefighter on call to EMS on call and I'll lobby for it. How about getting firemen to respond and deal with trafic accidents including dirrecting trafic. re-train or retire. Unions will squawk but thats what they do. Every taxpayer is asked to do more with less. Times are a changing.

Posted by: Tired of it | April 30, 2008 9:11 PM

Other then the fact that the Fire Dept. like the Police Dept. is in shambles, and ultimately this is a problem with the Mayor. This is due to the fact that he feels that he needs to command both instead of letting his Chiefs being held accountable for their actions.
What happens in fortune 500 companies when the company is going belly up, the boss gets the AX.
You don't need to staff the emergency unit with a paramedic, not all of AMR's units are parmedic staffed.
I think that it is a complete waste of money and equipment to utilize a piece of equipment that cost several hundred thousands to conduct medical calls.
The city has responcibility to the citizens to provide proper medical coverage to them. As far as closing the slower or least used firehouses. This is a real concern, I would much rather see one or two firehouses closed and bring up the medical transport units.

Posted by: Tom14 | May 1, 2008 3:02 PM

People tend to forget that firefighters do work that no one else would like to do. Chris O do you know what it is like to go into a burning building and possibly not come out to see your family again? What about trying to hold a young man's head together after he has been shot? I doubt you have any idea the stress that firefighters go through after seeing a 2 month old beaten or abused to the point where they are unrecognizable. So if a firefighter washes his car once in a while I will give him a break. Don't blame them for a department that is being mismanaged, blame the mayor who doesn't seem to want things done the right way but rather the politically correct way. Once last point, teachers and police definitely earn there money but to say that fireman don't is a slap in there face. Ask someone whose house they saved or whose mother they brought back to life and they will tell you that firefighters earn every penny.

Posted by: Rob Smuts | May 1, 2008 7:33 PM

I certainly would agree with Tom14's description of how hard our firefighters work (if not his description of the dept's management). Firefighters are rightly very popular for their heroism in risking their lives fighting fires, but the grueling medical calls really mean they earn their pay each hour of every day.

My point was that given how much time firefighters spend on medical calls - and how critical that function is to public safety in New Haven - we should be & are looking at ways of giving higher levels of training to enhance our response. If there are ways of doing that that can capture revenue streams to save tax dollars, that would be nice too (I don't know that there are, but we will certainly look at the possibilities).

On a more superficial note, anyone have a good suggestion for getting rid of an unfortunate tendency to say "umm" while public speaking?

Posted by: Tom14 | May 1, 2008 10:31 PM

Rob, I am sure all the firefighters thank you for your appreciation of how hard they work. A simple way of easing the medical burden is to hire Paramadics and run them out of several firehouses not just two. Equip engines with Medics and train police to an MRT status so they might be able to handle minor medical calls without sending the fire dept. One part of the solution is to hire the best qualified candidates not the ones who are related to Rev Kimber or any other political ally of the mayor. Do you realize how many well qualified Paramedics there are who would love to be New Haven firefighters? Like any other place that people work, it has it's problems but it also has deep tradition of being a great and well respected Dept.
The comment about mismanagement was very accurate. If John Destefano had a medical emergency or a fire at his home wouldn't he want the best the city had to offer to handle it? I know I would. It wouldn't matter to me if the best were Black, White, or Hispanic only that they knew what they were doing. Then why in God's name did he throw out a test in which the best clearly came out on top? (Capt's & Lt's test) What's going to happen if he gets similar results on the next test, does he plan on giving field promotions? Also how is it that a simple hiring exam had so much controversey? Don't you ask what the componets of a test are before it is given? A run for governor and lack of hiring are the reason for such a steep overtime budget. As a taxpayer, I can't blame the firefighters but rather those who see fit to not hire for almost 4 years.