The incident ended FDNY use of 2,700 Motorola radios. Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said the Motorola radios used by firefighters cost $4.5 million, but officials said the whole system including radios for the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) cost $33 million.
The communication snafu was not the first. Last year The Queens Courier garnered an award from the New York Press Association for in-depth reporting for spotlighting the failure of EMS to provide ambulances with cell phones so they could alert hospitals that stroke patients were on the way.
The articles were based upon complaints by Queens neurologists that stroke patients were assigned a low priority by EMS and that more than 20 other medical conditions were considered higher priorities.
The physicians were soon joined by Queens legislators who pointed out that stroke is a serious problem in the borough because of the large elderly population the largest in the City.
As a result of The Queens Courier expos, the Fire Dept. agreed to launch a pilot program exclusively for Queens ambulances. It required ambulance personnel to notify EMS by radio with the vital signs of patients. These, in turn, were reported to the receiving hospitals.
But they refused requests from Queens leaders including Borough President Claire Shulman and Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn to equip ambulances with cell phones so they could phone in vital signs of stroke patients directly to hospitals without going through EMS dispatchers headquartered in the agencys offices in Brooklyn.
Asked why cell phones were not distributed to ambulance crews by the City when they are commonly used by youngsters and adults throughout the City, Fire Dept. officials replied:
"We dont have funds in our budget."
Efforts by legislators to obtain cell phone donations from Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) failed when the Fire Dept. refused to accept them.
An EMS spokesperson, reached on Tuesday, would only say that the Queens pilot program is still in effect. He was unable to say if there were plans for expanding the program citywide.
"We arent tracking the efficacy of the program," he said. "Thats the responsibility of the Queens hospitals."
The cell phone issue was also discussed last year at a symposium on stroke at New York Hospital Queens Medical Center. Assemblywoman Mayersohn raised the issue and called for the establishment of a stroke center in Queens.
