Angie,

I took a peek at your blog by clicking on the link in your email. Good Stuff.

I just wanted to add a bit of information for you to consider for your next blog entry.

My niece is an EMT/Paramedic with XXX Ambulance. She will soon be joining the Genesee County Sheriff's Department as an ALS/Paramedic (Advanced Life Support). The ALS designation is a national certification which allows my niece, xxxx, to do more advanced work with patients in the field. When she joins the Sheriff's department her job will become even more dangerous than it is now. She will be a paramedic with a gun. Just picture my niece, all of 5 ft 2 inches and maybe 105 lbs with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Picture her with a gun and no bullet proof vest. Picture her back with a great big target on it. Picture my cute little niece lifting a 300 lbs man out of a burning building or under a hail of bullets and you will feel my anxiety over her job.

XXXX is just over 21 years old and has been in the field for several years. When she was first starting out as a "probie" she worked out of the northern Genesee County area, from Clio to Flint. She is now based out of a suburb and works mostly in the downtown Flint and greater Flint areas. I say all this to give you the background for my following comments.

My first thoughts about combining all the ambulance services under one shield were completely negative. No regulation for pricing, who decides which emergency gets the first ambulance, will the dispatcher send help to richer neighborhoods before poorer, ostensibly more dangerous neighborhoods? Who will be there to guarantee a competitive market boosting the need for better service?

My niece has explained it this way. Currently, the ambulance companies are on a roster which goes in a certain order. The next company up gets the call. Even if another one is closer, any 911 dispatcher who receives a call requesting an ambulance takes a look at the next company available and they get the call.

The Ambulance company receives the call from 911. That ambulance dispatcher looks to see if they have any vehicles available. If they don't, they tell the dispatcher to contact the next available company and ask them. The dispatcher goes down the roll until an ambulance company accepts the call.

Then the communication between the rigs, their dispatcher, the 911 operator and any emergency response teams (fire, police) gets really hairy. By this time, it could be a few minutes to many, many minutes before the responding units arrive at the location and have an understanding of the situation. Too often, my niece has arrived at a location to be held back by police because there was someone shooting. Sometimes she gets there and she has to run out because no one reported a dangerous situation ... and she found it and had to call the police.

If one ambulance company doesn't fit the bill, I understand. I am all about fair play in the market place. But there needs to be a central dispatch who knows the exact location of every rig, the experience or licensing level of the personnel (are they just an EMT or do they have Paramedic or ALS Certification?

The dispatcher must know every bit of know information about the situation, and have the ability to update all responders in real time. The dispatcher must know every location of every responding unit, and can contact all at once. The responders must be able to speak to each other without dispatch relaying and delaying effective response times and outcomes.

I don't know about you, but if my mom is having a heart attack from her chemo treatments, I want to know that the fastest vehicle with the highest trained personnel is on its way. I want them to know as much information before they walk in my door as possible so that unnecessary delays won't cause her more pain, or risk death.

I know, too much information. But I am passionate about the safety of the responders (one of my brothers is a trooper with the State Police) and the people they are risking their lives to help.

Thanks for your blog and for keeping your clients informed.

Dawn Ferguson