Fuel for the Fire

At the end of April, 2012, the EMSRC presented to the BOS. In this presentation, the EMSRC showed a map of Darien broken out into 8 districts with paramedic response times shown for each district. The response times for east Darien were very high. With respect to paramedic response times, the presentation showed that there are two Darien's, separate and unequal. Leading up to this meeting, there were a number of emails among those involved. On 4/11/12, Dr. Cara of the EMSRC emailed to Ron Hammer of Post 53: "I personally don't mind you coming to the EMS meeting, but I don't think it's the best idea for a variety of reasons." It sounds like there were tensions in the air. On 4/23/12, Dr.Turnbull emailed to Dr. Cara:"I think that the paramedic percentage should be based on the total call not the paramedic calls and that we need to mention that the data has not been reviewed for outliers or specific conditions to eliminate that may elevate the percentages. The individual drill downs has not been done. We are still evaluating the stats. Leaving the stats as you listed invite concerns that we have not evaluated. I would leave them out rather than distribute as stated before specific review. I am afraid this is fuel for the fire. Please review the report. I am not in favor of as written." On 4/24/12, Cara emailed Turnbull: "I appreciate your feedback. However, please note that the report includes the information we discussed and agreed upon during our last meeting." Cara goes on to say that he had not heard back from her and other committee members by the deadline. He says that he can ask Stevenson to postpone the BOS meeting but, apparently, that was not done. I have to wonder if Turnbull objected to the inclusion of paramedic response times by district which opened up a can of worms. Stay tuned. Walter Casey