Official report and recommendations delivered from D.C. EMS task force
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By Dave Statter
dstatter@wusa9.com
STATter 911 — http://www.statter911.com
WUSA9 — http://www.wusa9.com
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WASHINGTON — It is at least the fifth report since 1989 looking at how emergency medical services in the District of Columbia are delivered. Its main recommendation, to fully integrate fire and EMS, has been brought up and promised many times in the past. If you ask what is different this time, the people involved in the process will point to the mayor, the chief and the family.
The official report of the Task Force on Emergency Medical Services was delivered today. On hand for the announcement, Mayor Adrian Fenty, Chief Dennis Rubin and members of David Rosenbaum's family. David Rosenbaum died in January of 2006 after being attacked in Northwest Washington. An inspector general's report found serious problems in the emergency care given to Rosenbaum.
The Rosenbaum family dropped a multi-million dollar law suit against the city in return for this latest report and a promise of serious efforts to implement the report's recommendations. David Rosenbaum's brother Marcus says the Rosenbaums will continue to watch how the chief and the mayor move forward from today.
Mayor Fenty and Chief Rubin have pledged to make EMS a priority and to remove a culture of indifference discovered in last year's IG report. Chief Rubin said about those who may be indifferent about EMS, "You better find someplace else to work".
Rubin says the department will move forward with training the current civilian EMS force for "all hazards". While the priority of these current "single-role providers" will still be EMS, the extra training will allow them to have parity, with better pay and benefits currently provided to firefighters. The department will also train scores of firefighters who never received basic emergency medical technician training.
Toby Halliday, David Rosenbaum's son-in-law, and Patrick Regan, the family's attorney were members of the task force. Marcus Rosenbaum and Mayor Fenty said the Rosenbaum's will continue to be a part of the process to monitor how this report is implemented.
Since 1972 Dave Statter has covered the news. A good deal of Dave's reporting has focused on how fire and emergency medical services are delivered in and around Washington and Baltimore. Along the way, Dave was also a volunteer firefighter, an emergency dispatcher and a cardiac rescue technician.
