Firefighters and EMS deserve mutual respect
Anthony E. Conrardy
NYC Paramedic
Assistant Chief
Centereach (NY) Fire Department
I applaud Fire Engineering for publishing articles such as “Fire/EMS Merger: An Examination of Cultural Differences” by Philip B. Weiss (September 1998). It is encouraging to see fire service publications further addressing EMS issues as they relate to the fire service, especially since the majority of EMS is provided by fire departments nationwide. However, I find disturbing the Letter to the Editor (January 1999) by Lt. Thomas Farino [Engine Co. 1, Fire Department of New York (FDNY)].
Although I do not necessarily agree with some of points put forth by Weiss, I agree that there are means of improving the current relationship between the two entities. The first is that each entity understand the responsibilities each has in providing patient care and fire protection services to the residents of and visitors to New York City (NYC). It is apparent from Farino`s comments that he has yet to understand the duties and responsibilities of the EMS personnel who work side by side with him on a daily basis. To seek a so-called “uniform” civil service title does not guarantee or address the unique responsibilities these individuals have within the fire department. They do not want to be compared or equated with firefighters; they want to be recognized and treated as individuals performing their duties “well and in a professional manner,” as they have always done.
Farino asks the question, “On what grounds does he make his case for equality?” I will answer his question by saying that as long as a division line exists between firefighters and EMS personnel, you can never equate one with the other. The two entities are functionally and operationally different and, therefore, you cannot compare apples with oranges. The reasons for recognizing EMS personnel and resources as an integral emergency service are as follows:
1. Approximately 3,000 FDNY and Voluntary Hospital EMS employees are responsible for handling more than one million calls for assistance each year. Although the FDNY CFR-D Engine Company is an integral part of the NYC EMS system, the EMS personnel are the higher trained professionals who are ultimately responsible for patient care and transportation to the hospital.
2. Extreme employee stress, including physical and mental stress factors, associated with EMS work is well documented.
3. EMS personnel work under extremely harsh and dangerous work conditions that include the hazards of criminal activity and contraction of infectious diseases.
4. EMS resources are used more than 80 percent during their tour of duty and put in strenuous mandated overtime hours.
5. EMTs must take recertification courses and tests every three years; paramedics must be recertified by the state and region every three years.
These are just a few of the numerous reasons that the responsibilities and duties of EMS employees should be recognized.
I do not feel it is necessary to “bury” 767 EMS employees or to have them wait 134 years to argue the point of recognition of their responsibilities. To use the deaths of NYC firefighters to set a benchmark of equality between two distinctly different and unique emergency services denigrates the firefighters` memories. Those firefighters did not die for money or recognition. They died protecting the public, pure and simple.
Numerous fire departments throughout the country have been able to handle fire/EMS mergers without the resistance and animosity experienced within the New York City region. Most have incorporated cross-training, assessment centers, employment standards, or incentive programs to facilitate the incorporation of EMS into their services quite successfully.
None of these programs require professional EMS personnel to prove themselves to the satisfaction of firefighters, so the “brothers will notice” the EMTs and paramedics. I agree with Farino that “mutual respect of the unique jobs both branches of the fire department perform” is needed. However, you do not have to prove anything to anyone to earn that respect because that is a basic consideration that one person gives to another during the course of his duties. Respect others, only prove to yourself.
