Where's the Medic?

摘要

I spent 26 years with a large department outside of Atlanta, Georgia. When I started as a paramedic in 1983, the fire department did it all. EMS was new to the community and was spawned out of a need for prehospital care. In fact, the community was begging for an emergency service that could do it all. Thus, Fire and EMS merged, and the fire department of today was born. The only roadblock to this great concept was that the growing EMS culture was at odds with the heritage and foundation of the fire service's philosophy and mission. Fire had tradition, and EMS had failures of what some believe is the best model for service delivery. In Fire/ EMS mergers, the dilemma of operational readiness can pose unintended consequences. Fire service leaders must exercise situational awareness to ensure that the public's needs continue to be met. The pros and cons of merged systems remain a topic of conversation at firehouse kitchen tables around the country.