Firefighter jobs cut

[JakeEMTP]

Taylor MI has seen the light. Should other Departments follow? 85% medical calls means no job for you. I mean, they were asked to take a "cut" to 60,000 + retaining all the benefits. Not a bad gig. Most medics I know would love to be making 60,000 a year, nevermind 90,000!

http://www.jems.com/article/news/michigan-firefighters-face-layoff-privat

[DwayneEMTP]

And you know what's amazing?

The fire dept is going to come out and rally the public because 'the evil ambulance company is stealing our jobs!!' without ever mentioning that the jobs were cut not because they were stolen, but unneeded.

Should other depts follow? Well, I'm not going to dignify that with a response! (Just kidding brother. Knowing you I know it was rhetorical.)

[craig]

awww....so the firemen are not needed............boo hoo

i feel sorry that they lost their jobs, but why the bloody hell are fire tossers doing medical stauff anyway.....

dont hoses, hot stuff, wet stuff and accos give them enouh work..........

my perspective is that fire departments stick to FIRE STUFF and leave the medical to those that do it better

[smsturms]

Really?!?! I have the honor of working with a lot of the laid off firefighters and the fact is they did take concessions A LOT this was strictly a vindictive move on the part of the mayor. I live in the city and the residents at this point are receiving subpar care compared to before, lack of IV's and poor pt management are a HUGE problem due to the increased scrutiny on the private service it should have made sure to only put the most highly qualified personnel in the city instead it's being the typical monopoly that it is and sending whoever is available leaving long response times sending cars across 3 cities. And just a note I am not a fire fighter just a concerned citizen with inside knowledge about how reckless things have become....

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[DFIB]

Really?!?! I have the honor of working with a lot of the laid off firefighters and the fact is they did take concessions A LOT this was strictly a vindictive move on the part of the mayor. I live in the city and the residents at this point are receiving subpar care compared to before, lack of IV's and poor pt management are a HUGE problem due to the increased scrutiny on the private service it should have made sure to only put the most highly qualified personnel in the city instead it's being the typical monopoly that it is and sending whoever is available leaving long response times sending cars across 3 cities. And just a note I am not a fire fighter just a concerned citizen with inside knowledge about how reckless things have become....

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There is always more to the story. I don't have a problem with FF running medical so long as they train as hard for their EMS calls as they do for their Fire calls. Not that my opinion matters. I live a very long way from Michigan.

[smsturms]

It isn't a private vs firefighter issue here the issue for me is pt care the company that took over the city has control over the entire area in much the same way as amr has in other parts of the country which wouldn't be a problem had they put quality people in and not go by a meat in the seat mentality. Yea there is more to the story and the boohoo poor firefighters just isn't true these guys take pride in what they do and have a good working relationship with local hospitals

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[paramedicmike]

It isn't a private vs firefighter issue here the issue for me is pt care the company that took over the city has control over the entire area in much the same way as amr has in other parts of the country which wouldn't be a problem had they put quality people in and not go by a meat in the seat mentality. Yea there is more to the story and the boohoo poor firefighters just isn't true these guys take pride in what they do and have a good working relationship with local hospitals

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Punctuation and grammar, even when posting from your mobile device, are your friend. They also make your thoughts much easier to read and understand. Please consider using proper punctuation and grammar in your future posts.

Thank you.

[DwayneEMTP]

Why is the mayor vindictive towards the fire services? Serious questions, not trying to bust your balls.

What is it that would cause him to, as you say, allow people to suffer and die simply to see firemen out of work?

And I agree with you...whenever we put 'meat in the seats' everyone loses.

[CPhT]

Really?!?! I have the honor of working with a lot of the laid off firefighters and the fact is they did take concessions A LOT this was strictly a vindictive move on the part of the mayor. I live in the city and the residents at this point are receiving subpar care compared to before, lack of IV's and poor pt management are a HUGE problem due to the increased scrutiny on the private service it should have made sure to only put the most highly qualified personnel in the city instead it's being the typical monopoly that it is and sending whoever is available leaving long response times sending cars across 3 cities. And just a note I am not a fire fighter just a concerned citizen with inside knowledge about how reckless things have become....

Since this is a private forum, I can respond to your message and hopefully you'll take a bit of insight from my response.

I happen to work for the "monopolizing" company. It sucks that people lost their job, and that the government of Taylor wasn't able to work out the differences with the firefighters. I hate to see anyone lose there job. That's the last spot I'll agree with you on.

Lack of IVs? What are you talking about here? Our ALS trucks have every bit of equipment as the municipal trucks, and probably more. Every truck that hits the road has to have the MINIMUM of gear set forth by the Michigan EMS department, and our trucks definitely meet that criteria. We're also CAAS (Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services) accredited which has tighter requirements for our trucks and our personnel.

Sub-par care? Excuse me? I was trained in the same room by the same teachers on the same gear as firefighters from every city in the area. I took the same test and sent my license application to the same address in Lansing. To work for my company, I had to pass a criminal background check, license check, TB test, had to get Hep B immunized, and had to take a defensive driving course. Not to mention all of the in-service training and continuing education we have to attend.

I'll have you know that at any given point, there are no less than 2 trucks covering the city of Taylor. Not "meat in the seat, pulled from other city" trucks, but dedicated, stationed in Taylor for ONLY the use of Taylor. When those trucks are dispatched, they send other trucks in for coverage. More often than not, the "coverage" trucks are pulled from either Heritage hospital (in Taylor) or Oakwood Main (which is about 6-7 miles away), then posted in Taylor to provide extra coverage.

Quality people? Please don't mistake our lack of pay as a lack of quality. I love my job and have worked with dozens of people who also love their job. We're all in it to provide the best patient care available. We know that if we screw up, we don't have a union who will come in and protect our jobs, so we actually have to work hard keeping people happy.

I would really suggest that you do a little research on the company before you spew off with a bunch of rhetoric and propaganda by angry firefighters and ignorant media personnel.

PS. Before it becomes the next argument that gets tossed out (because it always does); YES, your fire chiefs son works for our company. NO, he did not have any influence on who was picked for the contract. We were picked because 1. We're located in Taylor, 2. We have the manpower to support a large contract, 3. We have a reputation of being one of the best private companies in the area, due to our accreditation and our size.

It isn't a private vs firefighter issue here the issue for me is pt care the company that took over the city has control over the entire area in much the same way as amr has in other parts of the country which wouldn't be a problem had they put quality people in and not go by a meat in the seat mentality. Yea there is more to the story and the boohoo poor firefighters just isn't true these guys take pride in what they do and have a good working relationship with local hospitals

Control over the area? Do you believe that whenever we see a Rapid Response, Concord, or Superior truck, we get out and have a knife fight in the streets? We happen to have a great relationship with several other private companies who transport in and out of "our" area on a daily basis. Yes, we happen to have 911 contracts with several other cities in the area, but that stems from my earlier comment that "we have the manpower to handle such a contract, as well as the reputation for being good at what we do".

Again, you're falling back on the "quality people" argument. Did you know that you probably just insulted about 20-30 volunteer firefighters? That's right... we're not JUST private company EMT/Medics, we also volunteer in our communities.

Good working relationship with the hospital; Did you see what name is right by Healthlink on the side of our trucks? It says "Oakwood Hospital". The very same Oakwood hospital that has 3 major facilities in our operating area, as well as several urgent care and clinic facilities. It's just my personal experience talking now, but every single person I've ever worked with at a hospital has treated me and my partner with respect and courtesy, and that has been returned in kind. Same goes for our patients; respect and courtesy.

Anything else you'd like to address, or shall we get back to work and actually try and improve EMS?

[smsturms]

Dwayne, the issue began last yr as a sign of the time cities are trying to trim the fat so to speak and cutting costs. Unfortunately, public safety is usually first to get cut along with education. The previous mayor threatened to get rid of ems as well and was very public about it. So during the election the firefighters rallied on the mayors side because he promised to keep them in place.

So going back a year he threatened layoffs and wage cuts and what not, concessions were made and he still laid off 19, brought back 7. During all this there was a recall gaining momentum which the mayor ended up winning long story short firefighters won a grievance for the layoffs and the mayor was told to bring back the ones laid off but he went around city council. Now going back to the original grievance their contract states for safety in order to transport they need "X" amount of manpower so here's the vindictive part, instead of following the arbitration decision he goes ahead and gets rid of transport. See it how ya want but that's how it looks....

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