EMS the Health Care Arm of Public Safety?

[trbtacmedic]

All right I am writing this to see how many of you feel the same as I do. EMS is young in terms of how long it has been around and I always hear how we are lumped into the fire service or law enforcement and treated like the Bas*erd child of both. My attitude is that we are the health care arm of public safety? We respond and work closely with both law enforcement and fire departments but we are the ones who do patient care out in the street. Many fire and law agencies don't want that as their primary responsibility.

At the national and often state levels we are not seen as members of the public safety community. The state I live in EMS personal were not going to get anything after 9/11. Our state department of EMS had to fight tooth and nail to get us equipment that the fire departments and law enforcement were getting from Sema and Fema. Even after that we got just a small fraction compared to what the other public safety branches and hospitals received.

At the national level from what I understand the Department of Homeland Security has communication or representatives from law enforcement and the fire service but do not talk with any one who is strictly EMS. They tend to lump us in with the fire service whos primary concern is not patient care but fire suppression. If we are lumped in with law enforcement their primary concern is enforcement of the laws and catching the bad guys. So to me we need to be viewed and recognized as our own uniformed service in public safety. Not DOT or Health care. We are public safety workers who are trained in health care.

So their is my rambling argument made on the fly. I am also a Police Officer and I have been a Volunteer Firefighter in the past. I am a Paramedic with over 10 years in the business under my belt. So lets hear your opinions and arguments on this.

[p3medic]

How many firefighters do you know that are issued body armor? How many cops do you know that are issued SCBA and bunker gear? I'm a paramedic, and I'm issued both. I would have to assume that I am issued this gear because there is an expectation that I provide aid whenever and where ever its needed. So, I would agree with EMS being a third public safety service.

[Dustdevil]

I would strongly disagree. This silly "public safety" notion is one of the primary factors holding EMS in the 1970s and preventing professional growth.

I am correct, and all who disagree are wrong. Period.

Thanks for asking!

[trbtacmedic]

Thanks for the reply p3medic. We are exspected to give care no matter what the situation is. We are also viewed as never really being off duty. I work in my home town and it is a small rural community. I was standing in line to order food ( I was off duty) at a local fast food restaurant for 15 minutes. When a young man whos mother I had taken care of wanted to talk and ask me questions so rather then be rude or seem mean I stepped aside and politely talked with him across the counter for five minutes while the large group behind me got their orders and got larger. After we were done I waited in line another 20 minutes to make my order and to get my food. I know fire departments and law enforcement are the same way. They are never really off duty.

[trbtacmedic]

Dust devil you are entitled to your opinion but where is your argument proving your point?

Do you feel thet we are are health care workers only? How are we being held back by the attitude of being public safety?

[riskynremtp]

That would solely depend on how far your service's scope of rescue would include. For instance, at my service we are the designated confined space rescue, and high angle rescue for the county. So, that is definately Public Safety. 1, because we are serving the public, 2 because it concerns their safety. Seems pretty simple to analyze really. I too have done all three forms of service. Retired Fire Captain, and worked for 3 years as a Police Officer. So, having done all 3, I will agree that EMS is a third public safety. In fact, the Federal Legislature is conducting a preliminary investigation, as to why EMS has not already had proper representation within the Department Of Homeland Security, since all tree entities are considered and recognized as "first response" in the event of catastrophe.

[Dustdevil]

I know fire departments and law enforcement are the same way. They are never really off duty.

But that's not a "public safety" thing. That's just a small town thing. The doctors, dentists, lawyers, and teachers of the community get the same thing. I had a friend who was a mechanic in a small town and he couldn't eat a meal without getting interrupted either. Does that mean that they are all "public safety" too?

[paramedicmike]

trbtacmedic:

I suggest you do a search of the forums to find information and discussion that will supplement your thread here. We have had some rather lengthy and in depth discussions on this very point.

I have to agree with Dust. EMS is not a public safety function. We don't do anything to affect the safety of the public at large. We simply respond to isolated medical events after they take place. Fire, on the other hand, actively works to prevent fires. The police actively patrol in an attempt to deter crime through their very presence. The actions of both FD and PD affect public safety. Nothing we do affects it at all.

The sooner we realize that our attachment to public safety is one of the big things holding us back the better off we'll be.

Now, if you wanted to argue that EMS is a form of public health care, then I'd support that argument. I cannot, however, support a EMS as public safety position.

-be safe

[riskynremtp]

Well, so far I must stand corrected. I think Paramedicmike made a very valid word combination......Public Healthcare.

I also agree with Dust, that my county is an isolated affair. The neighboring county that I worked in had no function in anything other than "healthcare", and extrication. Outside of the upstate region that I live, I really don't know how far the EMS agencies go as far as "public service"............notice I didn't say public safety.

But, I will say that there needs to be some sort of happy medium. What that answer is, I do not know. But, when you look at EMS being referred to as "first responders" in the event of a catastrophic event, it seems kind've difficult to just look at it as public healthcare. I guess it depends on where and who you serve for. But that being said, EMS should not be put into the position of needing body armor.

[Dustdevil]

trbtacmedic:

I suggest you do a search of the forums to find information and discussion that will supplement your thread here. We have had some rather lengthy and in depth discussions on this very point.

Exactly. My argument proving my point is scattered amongst over 6000 posts here at EMT City. Feel free to review them. But seriously, just about every topic on this site that contains the term "public safety" contains this very same argument. You have not stumbled upon some new concept that nobody else has ever pondered before.

Notice I said the argument "proving my point," not the argument "supporting my opinion." My point is not opinion. It is fact. And the fact that many communities integrate EMS into their public safety functions does not make the profession of EMS as a whole a public safety profession.

Lights and sirens and the occasional badges are all we have in common with public safety. The rest is just wishful thinking on the part of a lot of wankers whose dream it is to be a city employee making lower middle class wages with a minimum of educational investment. Those of us who are here to be medical professionals are the only hope for a bright future for EMS. The rest of you are doomed to be bastard step-children for the next 35 years and beyond.