Guest guest Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 i have been reading all the email on this post, just as an fyi, i was at work the day that all hell broke loose. as a matter of fact i was asleep dreaming of ambulances and helicopters and then suddenly someone slams my door open, screams " FBI get up, get dressed and get out of the building. " now this is the first service that i have worked for and well, to be honest that day i thought it would be the last. all i know is that i ran calls and wrote run reports and now a group of people that looked like they were pissed off at ems and taking it out on me want to verify if there were any billing errors. i know that the last couple of days i have been wondering if i am going to have a job the next day i come into work, and all you guys can say give it a rest. what ever happened to, " ambulance companies get investigated all the time " , or maybe " don't worry, it's not going to effect you " ? what i do know is i haven't been told to go home yet and i haven't been told that i still have a patch. i can listen to rumors just like the best of them and a lot of them sound true and some of them end up being true, but me personally, i would like to hear some facts so i can be relived that this is all nothing more than history repeating itself. ________________________________________ JONATHON WALKER EMT-P THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF GOLDSTAR EMS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 i have been reading all the email on this post, just as an fyi, i was at work the day that all hell broke loose. as a matter of fact i was asleep dreaming of ambulances and helicopters and then suddenly someone slams my door open, screams " FBI get up, get dressed and get out of the building. " now this is the first service that i have worked for and well, to be honest that day i thought it would be the last. all i know is that i ran calls and wrote run reports and now a group of people that looked like they were pissed off at ems and taking it out on me want to verify if there were any billing errors. i know that the last couple of days i have been wondering if i am going to have a job the next day i come into work, and all you guys can say give it a rest. what ever happened to, " ambulance companies get investigated all the time " , or maybe " don't worry, it's not going to effect you " ? what i do know is i haven't been told to go home yet and i haven't been told that i still have a patch. i can listen to rumors just like the best of them and a lot of them sound true and some of them end up being true, but me personally, i would like to hear some facts so i can be relived that this is all nothing more than history repeating itself. ________________________________________ JONATHON WALKER EMT-P THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF GOLDSTAR EMS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Amen brother. I completly understand. There is no way to sugar-coat this particular situation. I agree with the majority, Gold Star was a good company to work for, but the fact of the matter is sombody must have done something for FBI, US Attorney agents, Texas Attorney agents and DSHS to be involved. This reminds me of Waco and Illien in Florida, the way those federal agents burst in with bullet proof vests and with enough firearms to start a small war. I strongly believe for them to be investigating 150 patients reports for the last 7 years, they must have some serious proof and are trying to gather even more, but that is just my opinion. God help all of the innocent medics just trying to do their jobs, and I hope that the truth prevails. McGee, EMT-I Former Gold Star Employee (1 day after the raid) ME wrote: i have been reading all the email on this post, just as an fyi, i was at work the day that all hell broke loose. as a matter of fact i was asleep dreaming of ambulances and helicopters and then suddenly someone slams my door open, screams " FBI get up, get dressed and get out of the building. " now this is the first service that i have worked for and well, to be honest that day i thought it would be the last. all i know is that i ran calls and wrote run reports and now a group of people that looked like they were pissed off at ems and taking it out on me want to verify if there were any billing errors. i know that the last couple of days i have been wondering if i am going to have a job the next day i come into work, and all you guys can say give it a rest. what ever happened to, " ambulance companies get investigated all the time " , or maybe " don't worry, it's not going to effect you " ? what i do know is i haven't been told to go home yet and i haven't been told that i still have a patch. i can listen to rumors just like the best of them and a lot of them sound true and some of them end up being true, but me personally, i would like to hear some facts so i can be relived that this is all nothing more than history repeating itself. ________________________________________ JONATHON WALKER EMT-P THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF GOLDSTAR EMS --------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Amen brother. I completly understand. There is no way to sugar-coat this particular situation. I agree with the majority, Gold Star was a good company to work for, but the fact of the matter is sombody must have done something for FBI, US Attorney agents, Texas Attorney agents and DSHS to be involved. This reminds me of Waco and Illien in Florida, the way those federal agents burst in with bullet proof vests and with enough firearms to start a small war. I strongly believe for them to be investigating 150 patients reports for the last 7 years, they must have some serious proof and are trying to gather even more, but that is just my opinion. God help all of the innocent medics just trying to do their jobs, and I hope that the truth prevails. McGee, EMT-I Former Gold Star Employee (1 day after the raid) ME wrote: i have been reading all the email on this post, just as an fyi, i was at work the day that all hell broke loose. as a matter of fact i was asleep dreaming of ambulances and helicopters and then suddenly someone slams my door open, screams " FBI get up, get dressed and get out of the building. " now this is the first service that i have worked for and well, to be honest that day i thought it would be the last. all i know is that i ran calls and wrote run reports and now a group of people that looked like they were pissed off at ems and taking it out on me want to verify if there were any billing errors. i know that the last couple of days i have been wondering if i am going to have a job the next day i come into work, and all you guys can say give it a rest. what ever happened to, " ambulance companies get investigated all the time " , or maybe " don't worry, it's not going to effect you " ? what i do know is i haven't been told to go home yet and i haven't been told that i still have a patch. i can listen to rumors just like the best of them and a lot of them sound true and some of them end up being true, but me personally, i would like to hear some facts so i can be relived that this is all nothing more than history repeating itself. ________________________________________ JONATHON WALKER EMT-P THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF GOLDSTAR EMS --------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2005 Report Share Posted April 10, 2005 Amen brother. I completly understand. There is no way to sugar-coat this particular situation. I agree with the majority, Gold Star was a good company to work for, but the fact of the matter is sombody must have done something for FBI, US Attorney agents, Texas Attorney agents and DSHS to be involved. This reminds me of Waco and Illien in Florida, the way those federal agents burst in with bullet proof vests and with enough firearms to start a small war. I strongly believe for them to be investigating 150 patients reports for the last 7 years, they must have some serious proof and are trying to gather even more, but that is just my opinion. God help all of the innocent medics just trying to do their jobs, and I hope that the truth prevails. McGee, EMT-I Former Gold Star Employee (1 day after the raid) ME wrote: i have been reading all the email on this post, just as an fyi, i was at work the day that all hell broke loose. as a matter of fact i was asleep dreaming of ambulances and helicopters and then suddenly someone slams my door open, screams " FBI get up, get dressed and get out of the building. " now this is the first service that i have worked for and well, to be honest that day i thought it would be the last. all i know is that i ran calls and wrote run reports and now a group of people that looked like they were pissed off at ems and taking it out on me want to verify if there were any billing errors. i know that the last couple of days i have been wondering if i am going to have a job the next day i come into work, and all you guys can say give it a rest. what ever happened to, " ambulance companies get investigated all the time " , or maybe " don't worry, it's not going to effect you " ? what i do know is i haven't been told to go home yet and i haven't been told that i still have a patch. i can listen to rumors just like the best of them and a lot of them sound true and some of them end up being true, but me personally, i would like to hear some facts so i can be relived that this is all nothing more than history repeating itself. ________________________________________ JONATHON WALKER EMT-P THIS EMAIL DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF GOLDSTAR EMS --------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Ok guys, just take a deep breath and wait a minute. I have never worked for Goldstar; I don't know many people that do work for Goldstar; and I will probably never work for Goldstar. However, that doesn't change the fact that they haven't been found guilty of anything. If you think about it, the statement that was made by the Goldstar operations manager on here was that they wanted 150 records from the past 7 years, and that Goldstar sees over 100,000 patient's a year. That is a very low number of charts that they are looking at. Mind you, if there is a case of fraud, one is too many, however, one never knows what is going on 100% in these situations, except the Feds. I was there at AMR in San when they did the same thing to them YEARS ago.............they ended up on pre- pay review for several years as a result of some billing irregularities, and then they were OK, and now, they are doing just fine and are most assuredly still in operation. I also know first hand, one ambulance company in San that was raided by the FBI a few years back due to a disgruntled employee making a false report. They froze their medicare and medicaid payments until the investigation was over. As a result, the companay went out of business due to a greatly reduced income during this time period. Guess what the FBI found? Nothing! They cleared them of any wrongdoing. The service is still out of business as a result of a malicious complaint. The true facts of the case are yet to be seen, and the only people who truly know what they are looking for, and what instigated this in the first place are the Feds, who have a hard and fast policy of not commenting on an ongoing investigation. So............that said, and since it is 3am and I am dead tired right now, I will wrap this up. Remember, save guilty presumptions for after they have been found guilty of something. A disgruntled employee could have done this to " screw " with them. An employee may have taken it upon themselves to fudge on run reports without the knowledge of anyone at Goldstar. A billing person could have fudged information. Any number of scenario's could exist, including the one that the company could have maliciously defrauded the government. But.....we aren't the jury, we aren't the judge, and we don't have the full facts of the case. So, we all need to just settle down, let the rumors die down, and hope for the best outcome on this whole ordeal. It would really suck for this to be a big mistake, or a false reporting of information that lead to this issue in the first place. Up until this event, I have heard nothing but good things about Goldstar, and this came as a total shock to me when I heard it, but that doesn't make it impossible for it to be true either. EMS rumor mills are among the worst I have ever run across. Along with that, we tend to stab each other in the back ruthlessly, and chew up our own and spit them out. Don't complicate matters by clouding the waters with assumption, ill wishes, and the loads of " bullshit " which tend to be produced in this business. That said, I am off to bed. Be safe and take care, CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Ok guys, just take a deep breath and wait a minute. I have never worked for Goldstar; I don't know many people that do work for Goldstar; and I will probably never work for Goldstar. However, that doesn't change the fact that they haven't been found guilty of anything. If you think about it, the statement that was made by the Goldstar operations manager on here was that they wanted 150 records from the past 7 years, and that Goldstar sees over 100,000 patient's a year. That is a very low number of charts that they are looking at. Mind you, if there is a case of fraud, one is too many, however, one never knows what is going on 100% in these situations, except the Feds. I was there at AMR in San when they did the same thing to them YEARS ago.............they ended up on pre- pay review for several years as a result of some billing irregularities, and then they were OK, and now, they are doing just fine and are most assuredly still in operation. I also know first hand, one ambulance company in San that was raided by the FBI a few years back due to a disgruntled employee making a false report. They froze their medicare and medicaid payments until the investigation was over. As a result, the companay went out of business due to a greatly reduced income during this time period. Guess what the FBI found? Nothing! They cleared them of any wrongdoing. The service is still out of business as a result of a malicious complaint. The true facts of the case are yet to be seen, and the only people who truly know what they are looking for, and what instigated this in the first place are the Feds, who have a hard and fast policy of not commenting on an ongoing investigation. So............that said, and since it is 3am and I am dead tired right now, I will wrap this up. Remember, save guilty presumptions for after they have been found guilty of something. A disgruntled employee could have done this to " screw " with them. An employee may have taken it upon themselves to fudge on run reports without the knowledge of anyone at Goldstar. A billing person could have fudged information. Any number of scenario's could exist, including the one that the company could have maliciously defrauded the government. But.....we aren't the jury, we aren't the judge, and we don't have the full facts of the case. So, we all need to just settle down, let the rumors die down, and hope for the best outcome on this whole ordeal. It would really suck for this to be a big mistake, or a false reporting of information that lead to this issue in the first place. Up until this event, I have heard nothing but good things about Goldstar, and this came as a total shock to me when I heard it, but that doesn't make it impossible for it to be true either. EMS rumor mills are among the worst I have ever run across. Along with that, we tend to stab each other in the back ruthlessly, and chew up our own and spit them out. Don't complicate matters by clouding the waters with assumption, ill wishes, and the loads of " bullshit " which tend to be produced in this business. That said, I am off to bed. Be safe and take care, CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Andy, From a business perspective $50,000 is just a drop in the bucket to do a few 911 calls when there is a gold mine of transfers in Port Arthur. There are several area nursing homes, three hospitals, at least two dialysis centers, numerous personal home cares as well as doctors offices and a cancer outpatient center. There are many elderly people in the area who have Medicare also. My guess is that is why they pay to run 911 in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Andy, From a business perspective $50,000 is just a drop in the bucket to do a few 911 calls when there is a gold mine of transfers in Port Arthur. There are several area nursing homes, three hospitals, at least two dialysis centers, numerous personal home cares as well as doctors offices and a cancer outpatient center. There are many elderly people in the area who have Medicare also. My guess is that is why they pay to run 911 in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Andy, From a business perspective $50,000 is just a drop in the bucket to do a few 911 calls when there is a gold mine of transfers in Port Arthur. There are several area nursing homes, three hospitals, at least two dialysis centers, numerous personal home cares as well as doctors offices and a cancer outpatient center. There are many elderly people in the area who have Medicare also. My guess is that is why they pay to run 911 in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Just for the sake of discussion, why does it have to be fire-based? Austin and other cities swear by a third-service model. Beaumont's EMS is part of the health department. Other communities have had great luck with a hospital based system. Don't automatically presume that the fire department is the right organization to provide EMS. It works great in some cities. In others, it's a catastrophe. There are certainly many problems with private EMS, particularly when private EMS is subsidized by local government. No one system is perfect across-the-board. My advice is that if the firefighters (or their union) want to get in the EMS business, they need to make the commitment to EMS that progressive fire services like Miami-Dade County and Plano have made. In other words, don't just ask for EMS to get the call volume to justify more money to the FD budget. Just my $0.02 -- your mileage may vary. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT Austin, Texas In a message dated 4/11/2005 9:58:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, tirvine@... writes: , You are right on the city service. It will probably raise taxes in the beginning, but I can promise you the city will make way more than the measly 50 grand that GoldStar and MetroCare pay to the city just in the medicare payouts from emergencies, not to mention private insurance payouts in the more prosperous north end. One of the proposals on the table includes setting up transfer trucks to make inside city transfers, which will boost income tremendously. Ultimately a fire-based EMS will enhance the care that the citizens receive, whether it makes money or not. Now all we have to do is convince the city manager........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Just for the sake of discussion, why does it have to be fire-based? Austin and other cities swear by a third-service model. Beaumont's EMS is part of the health department. Other communities have had great luck with a hospital based system. Don't automatically presume that the fire department is the right organization to provide EMS. It works great in some cities. In others, it's a catastrophe. There are certainly many problems with private EMS, particularly when private EMS is subsidized by local government. No one system is perfect across-the-board. My advice is that if the firefighters (or their union) want to get in the EMS business, they need to make the commitment to EMS that progressive fire services like Miami-Dade County and Plano have made. In other words, don't just ask for EMS to get the call volume to justify more money to the FD budget. Just my $0.02 -- your mileage may vary. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT Austin, Texas In a message dated 4/11/2005 9:58:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, tirvine@... writes: , You are right on the city service. It will probably raise taxes in the beginning, but I can promise you the city will make way more than the measly 50 grand that GoldStar and MetroCare pay to the city just in the medicare payouts from emergencies, not to mention private insurance payouts in the more prosperous north end. One of the proposals on the table includes setting up transfer trucks to make inside city transfers, which will boost income tremendously. Ultimately a fire-based EMS will enhance the care that the citizens receive, whether it makes money or not. Now all we have to do is convince the city manager........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Just for the sake of discussion, why does it have to be fire-based? Austin and other cities swear by a third-service model. Beaumont's EMS is part of the health department. Other communities have had great luck with a hospital based system. Don't automatically presume that the fire department is the right organization to provide EMS. It works great in some cities. In others, it's a catastrophe. There are certainly many problems with private EMS, particularly when private EMS is subsidized by local government. No one system is perfect across-the-board. My advice is that if the firefighters (or their union) want to get in the EMS business, they need to make the commitment to EMS that progressive fire services like Miami-Dade County and Plano have made. In other words, don't just ask for EMS to get the call volume to justify more money to the FD budget. Just my $0.02 -- your mileage may vary. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT Austin, Texas In a message dated 4/11/2005 9:58:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, tirvine@... writes: , You are right on the city service. It will probably raise taxes in the beginning, but I can promise you the city will make way more than the measly 50 grand that GoldStar and MetroCare pay to the city just in the medicare payouts from emergencies, not to mention private insurance payouts in the more prosperous north end. One of the proposals on the table includes setting up transfer trucks to make inside city transfers, which will boost income tremendously. Ultimately a fire-based EMS will enhance the care that the citizens receive, whether it makes money or not. Now all we have to do is convince the city manager........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Thanks , I didn't know what level of involvement PAFD was at. -Wes In a message dated 4/11/2005 10:44:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time, ambubag@... writes: Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Thanks , I didn't know what level of involvement PAFD was at. -Wes In a message dated 4/11/2005 10:44:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time, ambubag@... writes: Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 Thanks , I didn't know what level of involvement PAFD was at. -Wes In a message dated 4/11/2005 10:44:41 P.M. Central Daylight Time, ambubag@... writes: Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 If that is the case then why does Goldstar and Metrocare pay the City to run the 911 calls? RE: Goldstar Troy, yes there were agents here, and yes they had " their " weapons, they are federal agents.. Now body armour no... There was no armour seen that I saw.... Also Troy, you know as well as I do, that if PAFD did implement a city service, all it would do would raise taxes for the citizens of PAFD, cause you sure are not gonna make a good return on 911 payments, because a big majority of PA is self-pay, or forms off assistance that doesnt pay for the services. But if PAFD does implement a city service in the future, good luck, cause I beleive it's more trouble then it's worth... EMT-B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 If that is the case then why does Goldstar and Metrocare pay the City to run the 911 calls? RE: Goldstar Troy, yes there were agents here, and yes they had " their " weapons, they are federal agents.. Now body armour no... There was no armour seen that I saw.... Also Troy, you know as well as I do, that if PAFD did implement a city service, all it would do would raise taxes for the citizens of PAFD, cause you sure are not gonna make a good return on 911 payments, because a big majority of PA is self-pay, or forms off assistance that doesnt pay for the services. But if PAFD does implement a city service in the future, good luck, cause I beleive it's more trouble then it's worth... EMT-B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 If that is the case then why does Goldstar and Metrocare pay the City to run the 911 calls? RE: Goldstar Troy, yes there were agents here, and yes they had " their " weapons, they are federal agents.. Now body armour no... There was no armour seen that I saw.... Also Troy, you know as well as I do, that if PAFD did implement a city service, all it would do would raise taxes for the citizens of PAFD, cause you sure are not gonna make a good return on 911 payments, because a big majority of PA is self-pay, or forms off assistance that doesnt pay for the services. But if PAFD does implement a city service in the future, good luck, cause I beleive it's more trouble then it's worth... EMT-B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 I will second that Wes. You can tell if a FD is truly dedicated to EMS, how? If they have a dedicated career ladder for the EMS division, i.e. EMS specific officers all the way to the Asst Chief level. Lee Duncanville Fire Re: Goldstar Just for the sake of discussion, why does it have to be fire-based? Austin and other cities swear by a third-service model. Beaumont's EMS is part of the health department. Other communities have had great luck with a hospital based system. Don't automatically presume that the fire department is the right organization to provide EMS. It works great in some cities. In others, it's a catastrophe. There are certainly many problems with private EMS, particularly when private EMS is subsidized by local government. No one system is perfect across-the-board. My advice is that if the firefighters (or their union) want to get in the EMS business, they need to make the commitment to EMS that progressive fire services like Miami-Dade County and Plano have made. In other words, don't just ask for EMS to get the call volume to justify more money to the FD budget. Just my $0.02 -- your mileage may vary. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT Austin, Texas In a message dated 4/11/2005 9:58:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, tirvine@... writes: , You are right on the city service. It will probably raise taxes in the beginning, but I can promise you the city will make way more than the measly 50 grand that GoldStar and MetroCare pay to the city just in the medicare payouts from emergencies, not to mention private insurance payouts in the more prosperous north end. One of the proposals on the table includes setting up transfer trucks to make inside city transfers, which will boost income tremendously. Ultimately a fire-based EMS will enhance the care that the citizens receive, whether it makes money or not. Now all we have to do is convince the city manager........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2005 Report Share Posted April 11, 2005 I will second that Wes. You can tell if a FD is truly dedicated to EMS, how? If they have a dedicated career ladder for the EMS division, i.e. EMS specific officers all the way to the Asst Chief level. Lee Duncanville Fire Re: Goldstar Just for the sake of discussion, why does it have to be fire-based? Austin and other cities swear by a third-service model. Beaumont's EMS is part of the health department. Other communities have had great luck with a hospital based system. Don't automatically presume that the fire department is the right organization to provide EMS. It works great in some cities. In others, it's a catastrophe. There are certainly many problems with private EMS, particularly when private EMS is subsidized by local government. No one system is perfect across-the-board. My advice is that if the firefighters (or their union) want to get in the EMS business, they need to make the commitment to EMS that progressive fire services like Miami-Dade County and Plano have made. In other words, don't just ask for EMS to get the call volume to justify more money to the FD budget. Just my $0.02 -- your mileage may vary. -Wes Ogilvie, MPA, JD, EMT Austin, Texas In a message dated 4/11/2005 9:58:30 P.M. Central Daylight Time, tirvine@... writes: , You are right on the city service. It will probably raise taxes in the beginning, but I can promise you the city will make way more than the measly 50 grand that GoldStar and MetroCare pay to the city just in the medicare payouts from emergencies, not to mention private insurance payouts in the more prosperous north end. One of the proposals on the table includes setting up transfer trucks to make inside city transfers, which will boost income tremendously. Ultimately a fire-based EMS will enhance the care that the citizens receive, whether it makes money or not. Now all we have to do is convince the city manager........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 12, 2005 Report Share Posted April 12, 2005 That's a great point.... However, just because the PAFD is a first responder org, and several firefighters are already Paramedics doesn't necessarily mean that is the right choice for PAFD to take on the EMS calls. I have family and close friends (thought not I, I knew I wasn't talented enough to handle the stress) as both firefighters and paramedics in both fire based, and private EMS services. Unfortunately in some areas firefighters tend to consider fire their first choice, and consider responding to medical calls, a waste of their " god given talent " .... On the same token, there are just as many " Para " Gods out there, that think if they were to be asked to work a fire, then the world might end. By no means am I trying to make any unjust comments towards private, 3rd party, or fire based EMS systems. Any individual type or combination of all three, can work wonderfully together. We all need to remember the most important thing is not the amount of $$ that can be added to the budget, but rather the level of patient care that is provided. In a message dated 4/11/2005 10:44:42 P.M. Central Standard Time, ambubag@... writes: Wes, One of the reasons is that the Port Arthur Fire Department is already certified as an ALS first responder organization and already has a medical director. Several of their Firefighters are already Paramedics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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