Call it a false alarm.
Officials of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and the head of at least one Queens volunteer ambulance corps are branding a recently published story that volunteers are being “cut” from Emergency Medical Service (EMS) dispatch through the 9-1-1 system “totally wrong.”
The report, in the Sunday, January 17 edition of The New York Post, claimed that “The Fire Department has booted the city’s volunteer ambulance companies from the 9-1-1 system.”
Within hours, elected officials were issuing statements. Congressmember Anthony Weiner branded the move “dangerous,” while Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. warned that “Any city action that might harm [the city’s 35 volunteer ambulance corps] would soon be the subject of a City Council hearing.”
Hold your horses, says the FDNY.
“At one time they were able to log-in to the system,” said spokesperson John Long. “But they were never called through the computerized dispatch system.”
The heads of two Queens “vollie” corps are quoted in the article as calling Long’s statement “a complete lie” and saying the change “comes at patients’ expense.”
Long elaborated for The Queens Courier.
“The Fire Department acknowledges and supports the community-based ambulance groups. But they were never part of the 9-1-1 system,” Long insisted. “Their operating certificates limit them to their community. They can monitor 9-1-1 calls – if they arrive at the scene first and have the capability to treat the situation, they are in the lead,” he said.
Long reiterated that “In the 15 years since FDNY and EMS merged, volunteer ambulances were never dispatched.” He explained that there were times when Fire Department dispatchers contacted the volunteers through alternative channels, such as the “mutual aid” radio system, or by calling them directly, “but never on the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.”
Going further, Long said that the “voluntary” ambulance service provided by hospitals like New York Hospital Queens or Elmhurst Medical Center is negotiated under strict guidelines with FDNY, in terms of hours, training, insurance, education and technology.
“In fact the department is in negotiations with NYSVARA [New York State Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Association] to come to an agreement whereby volunteer ambulance groups can be included in the CAD system,” Long said.
“But they have to comply,” he insisted, with the requirements of being able to fulfill schedules, insurance, training and education requirements, onboard medical computer terminals, GPS and AVL (Ambulance Vehicle Locator), among other items.
“Naturally, in negotiations, there’s some back-and-forth and people make statements,” Long said. “But the idea is to make the system better serve the people.”
David Maretti, head of the Corona Volunteer Ambulance Corps, sided with the department. “We do not support nor condone [the Post story]. FDNY’s position is correct and those other two [volunteer corps heads] do not represent us.”
