Huh boy. This story continues to receive traction because of one misstep after another.
I understand that much of the processes surrounding an EMS call is automated, but couldn’t one person in the entire chain of command make the call to prevent this from happening?
To me, it’s just another sign that things are unwell in the DCFD EMS system.
The word “system” is defined as a “set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network” or a “set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole.”
The DC EMS system is neither. For many years, the system has been plagued by poor management, bad budgeting, low morale, and a set of seemingly intransigent set of unspoken rules that promotes mediocrity and a sense of entitlement.
What else would keep otherwise good people from performing well? I might well be criticized for picking out just one small misstep as emblematic of the greater issue.
Guilty as charged — but only if it points to the simple fact we deal with people when they are vulnerable. It would seem that they could do better than this.
