The Peoria Fire Department (PFD) was allowed to upgrade to Paramedic last month. Only two fire stations will provide this care, but it is a start. The PFD will remain non transport, i.e. will not be able to take 911 patients to local emergency departments. This arrangement will allow Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) to be the only provider of Paramedic and transport of emergency patients in Peoria.
Elaine Hopkins reported on her web log that the Peoria Journal Star failed to report that the PFD became Paramedic. The Journal Star opposed this upgrade for at least a decade and did not want to report this historic news when the change was made last month.
Most people in Peoria do not even know that a change has been made. And thanks to the Journal, most people have not been aware that when Uncle Merle had his heart attack he did not receive advanced life support from the PFD when they arrived at Merle’s home. Maybe they would be upset if they realized what this meant for Merle.
On August 13 I submitted a second forum article. I contacted the Journal Star after a few days had passed and asked them if my article had been “killed” yet. The answer was, “No not yet.”
Here is the article just in case the Journal Star doesn’t publish it:
On July 8 the Peoria City Council voted unanimously to approve the Peoria Fire Department (PFD) contract. For the first time, two Peoria fire stations, 12 and 20, can independently function as paramedics and provide advanced life support for the citizens of Peoria.
Unfortunately, this historic news totally slipped under the radar of the Journal Star. The Journal printed not a word about the results of this vote and most Peorians remain unaware of what level of emergency care they are receiving.
Even though the PFD still cannot transport patients to hospitals, the fact that stations 12 and 20 will be paramedic 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 has to 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 basic medications.
I suggest that stations 12 and 20 document when they make important medical interventions for the emergency patients that call 911. The PFD needs to let their City Council members know when this happens. Also, people that 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 in the future, 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.
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The Journal Star probably has all sorts of problems of their own. I sure don’t know the specifics. But I think they are doing all they can not to rile up OSF and AMT and others during tough times like this. And so they suppress news and protect businesses that need to be exposed.
Too bad for Peoria.
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August 26,2008:
On Sunday, August 24, the Journal Star published the above forum article. They did leave out the sentence I had written stating that the Journal Star failed to report that the Peoria Fire Department will now be paramedic and perform advanced life support.
Here is the article as it appeared in the Journal Star:
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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