SusanRosenthal.com – Solidarity is the Best Medicine

Don’t have a medical crisis in Detroit – you might not survive it.

People phoning 911 are often told there are no units available, and they have to wait for hours for ‘emergency’ care. How can I look a family in the face and tell them, “I’m sorry your loved one has passed. If we could have arrived in time, we might have been able to save them.”

– Wisam Zeineh, President, DEMSA

Detroit Fire Commissioner James Mack plans to cut 75 emergency medical positions and 33 active members from the Detroit Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS). As it is, only 24 ambulances are available to serve the entire population of Detroit (about 850,000 people), and there aren’t enough medics to staff them.

The 181 emergency medical technicians and paramedics organized in the Detroit Emergency Medical Services Association (DEMSA) are determined to stop these cuts.

DEMSA President Wisam Zeineh warns,

“If these cuts are implemented, up to 9 units would have to be decommissioned to provide adequate coverage for the remaining units. That reduction, coupled with the decommissioning of two units earlier this year, would leave us unable to respond to 60,500 calls for emergency medical services and 37,400 transports to the hospital.”

Because medical insurance covers many of their services, DEMSA believes there is enough money to staff up to 5 new units that would respond to an additional 27,500 calls and transport an additional 17,000 persons to hospital for critical medical care.

DEMSA has proposed additional recommendations to improve the EMS:

• Reallocate half the supervisory staff to active duty to increase response capacity by 11,000 calls per year.

• Stagger work shifts to reduce overtime costs.

• Implement an electronic care reporting (ECR) system to improve bill collection.

• Improve protocols to reduce responses to non-life threatening calls, freeing units to respond to critical medical emergencies.

DEMSA needs your support to pressure the commissioner to do the right thing. After all, what price can you put on a human life?

Please sign DEMSA’s online petition.

Please also send letters (as an individual and also from your union, organization or institution) supporting DEMSA’s recommendations to:

James W. Mack Jr.,

Executive Fire Commissioner

Detroit Fire Department

250 W. Larned

Detroit, MI 48226

e-mail: communityrelations@detroitmi.gov

Don’t forget to email a copy to DEMSA

You can also telephone: Community relations: (313) 596-2959 and/or Complaints: (313) 596-2932

Thank you

Susan Rosenthal

Read more about the Detroit Medics in  US Social Forum 2010 – We Need Unity in Action

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