The District’s emergency medical services system has made “remarkable progress” in the nearly two years since a high-profile department failure led to the death New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, Chief Dennis Rubin told the D.C. Council on Friday.
But critics, particularly those on the EMS side of D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, argue the improvements have not translated into a better working environment for first responders. There is a feeling “of inferiority among these individuals and it continues to have a profound psychological effect on the civilian EMS personnel,” Kenneth Lyons, president of the union that represents the District’s emergency medical technicians, told the council’s public safety committee.
FEMS has met more than half of the action items suggested by a task force following Rosenbaum’s death in January 2006, Rubin said. Among them: All but 88 firefighters are now cross-trained in emergency medical response; more resources are devoted to training; and 39 medical transport units are on the streets 24 hours a day, more than ever before.
“I can confidently inform the committee that the state of the District’s emergency medical services system is strong and continues to improve,” the chief told the panel, chaired by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson.
Rosenbaum was beaten by with a pipe and robbed as he walked in his upper Northwest neighborhood. D.C.’s emergency responders found him but failed to notice his head wound and mistakenly treated him as a drunk. A June 2006 report by the D.C. inspector general cited “alarming levels of complacency and indifference” in the District’s EMS program.
“I think EMS has improved considerably since Mr. Rosenbaum’s death,” Mendelson said. “But more needs to be done and the progress seems fitful.”
Despite a call for parity, EMTs continue to earn less pay and garner fewer promotions than the staff on the fire side of the agency, critics contend. That “cultural divide,” as some describe it, drives down morale among overwhelmed and underequipped medical workers and negatively affects quality of service.
“The unification of the fire and emergency medical services work forces remains alive in PowerPoint presentations and media misinformation, not in the day-to-day activity of the department and in the eyes of the knowing public,” said Anne Renshaw, president of the D.C. Federation of Citizens Associations.
