Another frequent flier story...

[HERBIE1]

SF frequent flier...

[VentMedic]

Sometimes I like reading Nevius' opinions and sometimes they are just off base and often for some of his own politically based agenda. He is a sensationalist. He also fails to mention this guy's real psychological and medical issues. So keep in mind this article is largely opinion and not necessaily based on investigative reporting.

You can see some of his other interests:

http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/nevius/archive/

This was yesterday's article about the same "drunk".

Drunk collared yet again, this time for threats

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../BA5M19D2OM.DTL

This is Nevius' real issue and not alcoholics abusing the ambulances.

Maybe so, but if your goal is to cut down on liquor stores, you have to start somewhere. The planning staff is recommending denial of the permit. That's the right call.

Whereas this should be the issue:

One of the best was the Home Team, a program designed and run by Fire Department Capt. Niels Tangherlini. Begun in 2004, Tangherlini's outreach program was based on the idea of forming a personal relationship with the most frequent ambulance users. He was able to get some of them into treatment, but even if he couldn't, he knew the players and could often find a way to help them without using emergency services.

Unfortunately, the Home Team was a victim of this year's budget cuts.

For those who have never hear of Niels Tangherlini:

http://www.emsnetwork.org/artman2/publish/...ter_25052.shtml

Edited August 26, 2009 by VentMedic

[CBEMT]

Sounds familiar, except for having an actual place to go to. Ours spend so many nights at the ER some of the EMS guys started using that for their address on the run reports.