Yesterday
What a day! On my way back from sending off a check (written in blood) to the IRS (well, actually the U.S. Treasury) I witnessed what initially appeared to be a bad wreck (car vs telephone pole). This big, grey Grand Marquis weaved across 4 lanes of traffic and back, and disappeared from my field of view, accompanied by a loud crash. I pulled over to turn around and called 911. Traffic was incredibly congested, so I decided to make the call, then go to the wreck. Inside was an elderly couple, the male was somewhat disoriented, the female said "We're okay, I just think his sugar is low". There were no marks on either, and both were conscious and denying any pain. They had been very lucky that their car had slammed into a mound of dirt and rocks, and they'd missed the pole by inches.
I had his wife give him a piece of candy while we waited for the paramedics and cops to arrive (which took about 25 minutes, despite there being a police station, fire department, and hospital all within 2 miles). By that time the old gent was fine, just embarrassed (I'll rant about letting people with diabetes drive another time).
2 fire trucks, 3 police cars, and an 2 ambulances had arrived at the scene by the time I left (the fire truck beat the others by5 minutes at least). This is a prime example of the ridiculous mismanagement of of our emergency response system. A good friend of mine, who works for the fire department, tells me blood-curdling stories of unnecessary budget increases, and the fraudulent means used to try to justify them (intentionally over-responding non-emergencies to pad the number of responses, etc), when there are progressively fewer fires each year. The firefighters' union would have you believe that it's members are doing a great deal more than what they actually are (much like nurses' unions would have you think that nurses are being forced to treat wounds with bat guano poultices because evil hospital administrators won't let us use antibiotics).
In the aftermath of the 9-11 heroism (and looting) by firefighters, our society needs to look at our emergency response programs with something that resembles rational thought. Fire fighters, police officers, and EMT/Paramedics are all vital to our society, but we should decrease the political and corruption factors involved in the delivery of those services, if we want the best service, as well as the most "bang for our buck".
What a day! On my way back from sending off a check (written in blood) to the IRS (well, actually the U.S. Treasury) I witnessed what initially appeared to be a bad wreck (car vs telephone pole). This big, grey Grand Marquis weaved across 4 lanes of traffic and back, and disappeared from my field of view, accompanied by a loud crash. I pulled over to turn around and called 911. Traffic was incredibly congested, so I decided to make the call, then go to the wreck. Inside was an elderly couple, the male was somewhat disoriented, the female said "We're okay, I just think his sugar is low". There were no marks on either, and both were conscious and denying any pain. They had been very lucky that their car had slammed into a mound of dirt and rocks, and they'd missed the pole by inches.
I had his wife give him a piece of candy while we waited for the paramedics and cops to arrive (which took about 25 minutes, despite there being a police station, fire department, and hospital all within 2 miles). By that time the old gent was fine, just embarrassed (I'll rant about letting people with diabetes drive another time).
2 fire trucks, 3 police cars, and an 2 ambulances had arrived at the scene by the time I left (the fire truck beat the others by5 minutes at least). This is a prime example of the ridiculous mismanagement of of our emergency response system. A good friend of mine, who works for the fire department, tells me blood-curdling stories of unnecessary budget increases, and the fraudulent means used to try to justify them (intentionally over-responding non-emergencies to pad the number of responses, etc), when there are progressively fewer fires each year. The firefighters' union would have you believe that it's members are doing a great deal more than what they actually are (much like nurses' unions would have you think that nurses are being forced to treat wounds with bat guano poultices because evil hospital administrators won't let us use antibiotics).
In the aftermath of the 9-11 heroism (and looting) by firefighters, our society needs to look at our emergency response programs with something that resembles rational thought. Fire fighters, police officers, and EMT/Paramedics are all vital to our society, but we should decrease the political and corruption factors involved in the delivery of those services, if we want the best service, as well as the most "bang for our buck".
posted by Paul at 4/08/2005 06:28:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home