ncmedic309 Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Sounds like the boys for Oregon are the ones with issues...somebody ought to set the story straight and make them look like idiots, especially if their intent is what it seems, to hurt the good name of this Henderson guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akflightmedic Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Let me give a brief history of the situation. Henderson has experience with federal contracts as he has done them for many years, usually wildland fires type stuff. Anyways, Gold Star EMS was a private service in Texas that went belly up after being accused of Medicare/Medicaid fraud. A lot of people lost their jobs, retirements,etc. 50 ambulances were parked and not being used along with all the normal equipment on an ALS unit. Henderson was also part owner of Gold Star. Allegedly, GSEMS was cleared of the allegations, however this took months, reputation had been soured and people had moved on, new companies had taken their place. The storms hit and Henderson used his brain...sure money is a motivator but he is a business man. FEMA needed ambulances NOW!! Henderson had 50 of them ready to roll and he used them. Blew the dust off of them, stocked them the best they could and sent them down. A lot of people were able to go back to work and make some money since the layoffs. Many old employees returned. I agree, they were not in the best shape nor were they fully stocked, but this was time of a major disaster. We did not need half the crap that we normally carry on a unit. We had very small amount of drugs but we did have lifepaks and cardiac drugs. I can think of no instance where we needed something to treat someone and did not have it. Most of our job was doing transfers and evacuating patients to upstate or out of state. As for the comment of 16 ambulances following the military guys cleaning gutters, this is absolutely ridiculous. Did not happen! Out of all the ambulances that were there during the storms, GSEMS/Henderson had the most. At one point at the command center, there were over a 100 ambulances. It was amazing. There were people from everywhere..from AMR to the tiniest little rescue squad out of South Carolina. I met many great people. Everyone has to understand there was much confusion during this time and sometimes resources were scarce, but we as Americans get in our own little comfortable world and can not imagine it or handle it when things happen differently. Yes there were many things that could have or should have been done differently, but it just didnt happen that way. I think overall, the EMS community pulled together and accomplished some major feats with as few lives lost as possible. Yes people died but it was a huge natural disaster. I am proud to have been a part of the effort. Thanks for letting me rant.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridryder 911 Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Thanks for the personal insight Ak... R/R 911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flight-lp Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 While I was not directly involved with the aftermath of Katrina, I do have some insight to this whole fiasco and it began with gung-ho medcs from Oregon who thought they were going to do something cool and exciting. What they didn't realize is they were to be working in a contingency environment, i.e. GP large tents, MRE's, and minimal supplies. This wasn't a per diem job with accomadations at the Hilton! They should have realized this. They were so miserable and thus they intended to make everyone else miserable too. My involvement with them lies in the Rita aftermath. Yes, they were told to go to Beaumont, yes they were chosen by the "higher ups" from Henderson (Probably just to get rid of their sorry asses!). However, they were not told to take the ambulances, not were they authorized. Despite what the idiot in Baton Rouge thinks, they may work for him, but he did not own those ambulances and therefore Mr. Henderson had every right to be pissed beyond belief. Now, back to the morons...............They quit, got fired, what ever people want to say. But what they didn't do was evacuate Beaumont and Port Arthur like they were told, they decided to freelance! Thanks to them (among other things including a last minute shift of the storm), the largest hospital in Beaumont was not evacuated until AFTER Rita hit. Over 50 ambulances from Houston had to come clean up their cluster, heavily due to people wanting to do their own thing. The reality is that these types of operations are not "how you want it done". They are to be done the way you are told to do it. you can agree or disagree, but the second people start doing their own thing their own way is when a royal cluster f^#$ soon follows. True, the 1099 thing is screwy. Needs to be looked at. I do want to clarify one thing though. Henderson consulting does not have a vested interest in Goldstar EMS, they never did. They simply subcontracted for the ambulances. It was a win-win situation. It helped Goldstar's financial situation. 48 Ambulances at $800 / day. And it provided an immediate response to FEMA's need. It also afforded many of the former Goldstar employees a paycheck. Yeah they did give some of the units that have been in the "graveyard" for a while, but they were still ambulances, still capable of providing transport, and still capable of their designed use. This is similar to a military operation. You improvise, adapt, and overcome. If you can't, you don't need to be there. Just my personal .02 worth. Sorry, but this lets cry to the media crap is yet another reasons why EMS respect and professionalism is way behind the times. Tried to spell check, but I got a "critical error"!!!!!!!! :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flight-lp Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 And on a more personal note................. As a proud EMS provider in Texas who spent a great deal of time and effort assisting those in need, I would like to extend a personal THANK YOU to AK! To travel thousands of miles to help people for no other reason than to do what was needed is an exemplary example of an individual who makes us all proud. Your selfless act of dedication and compassion might go unappreciated by some, but I raise my glass to you. Thank you for the assistance and god bless you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridryder 911 Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Did any of you two notify the author of the article ?... seems she might want to clarrify things or do a retraction. Be safe, R/R 911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeEMTP Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Try that spell check again, Jake. -be safe. You caught it! I did that on purpose. You win Mike! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustdevil Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 This sort of thing is typical of the sort of drama I have encountered from most every Oregon medic I have had the displeasure to work with over the years. A bunch of them came carpetbagging in Texas back in the 80's and quickly earned reputations as prima donas who thought they were smarter than everybody else and looked down their noses on anybody who was not also from Oregon. Luckily, most of them quickly moved on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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