Finally, a Small Step...

 

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Finally, a Small Step...

The Peoria City Council voted unanimously last night to OK the new Peoria Fire Department contract.

See Journal Star article below.

For the first time ever, the Peoria Fire Department firefighters will be able to act as paramedics (without the oversight of Advanced Medical Transport) and provide advanced life support at the scene of a medical emergency.

Over the last few years the Peoria Medical Society told me that they did not see a need for this change to be made in Peoria, the Catholic Diocese of Peoria referred me to the Pope regarding Advanced Medical Transport and their "alleged monopoly" of local pre hospital care, and the OSF Corporate Ethics Committee and the OSF Compliance Officer refused to hear my concerns over this dangerous issue. And Dr. George Hevesy, who was receiving salaries from OSF-SFMC and Advanced Medical Transport when he was director of ambulances (Project Medical Director), told the Peoria City Council years ago that allowing the Peoria Fire Department to get involved with advanced life support was "duplication of services".

Many patients that have called 911 in Peoria and had to wait long periods of time for paramedic care probably would disagree with the above statements.

Obviously everything is not transparent here and OSF and their present Project Medical Director (who works under Dr. Hevesy in the OSF Emergency Department) had to agree with this policy improvement, or it would not have happened.

The Peoria Fire Department still cannot transport patients to local hospitals, so Advanced Medical Transport will not lose their income in transportation.

And most importantly many patients will be treated earlier when precious minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Too bad this common sense decision took so many years to occur.
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By John Sharp
of the Journal Star
Posted Jul 07, 2008 @ 10:04 PM

PEORIA — The City Council will vote on a three-year contract that affects 198 Peoria fire union employees tonight, less than 24 hours after the union had a chance to ratify it.

Mike Morrow, vice president of Fire Fighters Local 50, said Monday that union members were voting on the contract throughout the day and evening. A final vote would not be known until early this morning.

The union leadership recommended approval of the contract, which covers the period of Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2010.

"We anticipate ratification by the union," said Kimberly King, a city attorney who participated in negotiations between the union and the city. "The negotiations really did go well in terms of folks being reasonable on their requests."

Major contractual provisions include the following:

- Wage increases of 3 1/2 percent each year retroactive to Jan. 1.

- The establishment of Advanced Life Support (ALS) engine companies at two stations in the north end of the city.

According to the city, there will be a 2 percent paramedic pay incentive given whenever a union member becomes ALS licensed by the state. The incentive pay is limited to 16 paramedics on staff. Fire Chief Kent Tomblin said there are about 10 union members who are certified.

King said having two ALS engine companies allows firefighters who respond to emergency calls to be better equipped to handle a "higher level of medical support to a distressed individual" before Advance Medical Transport (AMT) arrives.

Right now, firefighters trained as paramedics provide basic life support services, King said. She said there are no engine companies directly assigned for this type of emergency service.

- New firefighters' starting salary will remain $43,427, although the pay steps will change. It takes a union member eight years before topping out on the salary pay schedule, Tomblin added.

"It's a very good contract," he said.

Morrow said he will be able to comment more about the contract after the union's vote.

The contract is the result of six to seven months of negotiations. Local 50 members had about two weeks to review the agreement before Monday's ratification vote.

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Elaine Hopkins, a Peorian and ex Journal Star Reporter, and blogger, wrote this post concerning the above. 

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OSF's Hypocrisy Continues...

The Peoria City Council recently voted unanimously to approve the PFD contract. Part of the new contract allowed the PFD to provide Paramedic care for the first time ever.

This was historic news for Peoria regarding a topic that has been called "closed" by Peoria's leaders.

Consider this paragraph in Elaine's article: 

"Carroll’s complaints to hospital ethicists, the Peoria Medical Society, the Christian Medical Society, the Peoria Catholic Diocese and other organizations have all been ignored or brushed off, Carroll said".

What does this paragraph mean and why is it so intimidating?

On three separate occasions, I let Joe Piccione, OSF Corporate Ethicist, know of my concerns regarding the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) monopoly. He told me that I was mandated to report this. However, when I did, Piccione, Sister Judith Ann, Jim Moore, and Dr. Gerry McShane did not respond. In my opinion, OSF ethicists did not want to debate the ethics of an issue like this that was being sustained by OSF (and others) for economic reasons.

I contacted the President of the Peoria Medical Society (Dr. Rich Anderson) and let him know of my concerns. Dr. Anderson emailed me and told me that the EMS situation in Peoria was fine...and also told me not to reproduce any of his email. Why would he not want his email reproduced? And as it turned out, it does not appear that everything regarding EMS was "fine" in Peoria, as evidenced by the policy change.

The Catholic Diocese of Peoria didn't want to deal with Peoria's ambulance monopoly either and threatened me if I got involved. Monsignor Steven Rohlfs, who was Vicar General of the Diocese, and Patricia Gibson the Canon Law Lawyer for the Diocese, told me in Monsignor Rohlf's office that if I petitioned for a Canon Law Tribunal regarding OSF and ANY ISSUE, the Diocese would come out in the media against me and Haitian Hearts. And when I did file the petition with the Diocese regarding the EMS monopoly sustained by OSF, Monsignor Rohlfs wrote me back to take the ambulance monopoly issue to Rome. He said that Bishop Jenky had no jurisdiction regarding this issue generated from the largest Catholic hospital south of Chicago located about six blocks from the Diocesan Chancery.

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Forum: Let firefighters save lives

Journal Star
Posted Aug 24, 2008 @ 12:00 AM

PEORIA —

On July 8 the Peoria City Council voted unanimously to approve the Peoria Fire Department contract. For the first time, firefighters at two stations - 12 and 20 - can function as paramedics and provide advanced life support for the citizens of Peoria.

Unfortunately, most Peorians remain unaware of what level of emergency care they are receiving.

Even though the PFD still cannot transport patients to hospitals, this move is a step in the right direction. Now when private citizens and nursing homes in these two areas call 911 for medical reasons they will receive paramedic care by the PFD and they will not have to wait for Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) to arrive at the scene.

While this is good news for people covered by these two stations, the question must be asked: Why isn't the rest of the city given the same paramedic care? In most parts of Peoria the firefighters are still only allowed to provide basic life support and medications.

I suggest that stations 12 and 20 document when they make important medical interventions for the emergency patients who call 911 and let City Council members know when this happens. Also, people who call 911 from places in Peoria not covered by stations 12 and 20 should notify their council member if the PFD responded first and the sick person had to wait for AMT to arrive to receive advanced life support.

Hopefully, if more weak spots in the system have been identified, another City Council vote will occur and the PFD will be allowed to function as paramedics in these areas to save more lives.

John A. Carroll, M.D.
Peoria

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