This is why unions should be outlawed in public safety

[JPINFV]

Gee, a corporate administrator saying how unions should be outlawed. There's a shocker. It must be a real a pain in the ass when you have to answer to a union when you just want to go ahead and fire someone because they refused to comply with your illegal act.

...and how often do unions protect bad employees who legitimately should be fired?

[Paramagic]

2 things: 1. I'll echo the general "huh?" from everyone else. That article says nothing about unions.

2. Thank god I don't work in 'public safety'

[nypamedic43]

** brunette head tilt**

Maybe I'm missing the point as well because I dont see any reference what so ever to unions. What would be the benefit to them to purposely slow down dispatching of emergency calls?

From reading the article, the 911 operators have come up with a way to circumvent the sendng of the calls through Grady. And scheduling an appointment instead of dispatching an ambulance is just silly and makes no sense at all. Makes me very glad I dont live in the Atlanta area.

[Asysin2leads]

...and how often do unions protect bad employees who legitimately should be fired?

It happens. I've been on the receiving end of having to deal with a union-protected substandard provider. Its no fun. But with IHLPP's posts about her company's "break the law or get fired" policy, the fact she posts an article trying to tie something to a union fits pretty well.

Edited October 30, 2011 by Asysin2leads

[hatelilpeepees]

The unions are not dumb enough to broadcast that they are delaying responses............DUUUUUUHHHH. Actually the Grady thing is smart. They do not send alpha level calls there first, they send the BS calls there, the flu, general sickness -- so that they do not waste valuable resources and clog the ER with people that should be in a Dr's Office. Unfortunately, the taxi cab ride 911 calls far outweigh "real calls" dwontown.

[paramedicmike]

But yet they were dumb enough to broadcast it to you who broadcast it here? Again, where is your proof that the union is involved in slowing down dispatch times and response times?

[RaceMedic]

Hmmmmm ... soooooo not all calls to 911 are funneled to Grady for dispatch, Just the sniffles and flu calls that can possibly be scheduled in to a doctor or clinic visit. But the REAL 911 calls are dispatched by the 911 call center. Seems to me the slow down is a natural occurrence that happens when you have 2 unrelated agencies are trying to triage over the phone and are actually double covering each other.

Real call comes in and they dispatch first response, then EMS .... ok

THEN

apparent non emergent call comes in 911 triages as such and sends the call to Grady who then triages the call further and if possible schedules a clinical visit, BUT if not able to then dispatches EMS and then shoots the call back to 911 to dispatch first response crews

And you call this an effective system ? also is Grady the ONLY hospital that dispatches ? In my experience with big city 911 is that there are several 911 call centers handling calls. Do all of these call centers funnel to Grady ?

I am not a fan of the unions either but i have never seen or heard of them delay response times. I do not think a single member would follow that directive if even it was pushed by the union. That sets the member up for legal action not the union....

WOW ... Still can't see where this thread came from ...

Race

*edit* nevermind ...

Edited October 30, 2011 by RaceMedic

[hatelilpeepees]

Actually it is a little worse than that, Grady/City of Atlanta only control the city limits of Atlanta which is in Fulton County. One of the evil mega ambulance corporations control the North and South Fulton County areas for EMS. The Northern cities inside Fulton County broke away from Fulton County and created several Fire Departments within the County. I did not design the system.

[RaceMedic]

So it is a flawed system to start with... soooo delays in response could easily be from the area not keeping up with the separation of services. Not enough staffing to adequately handle the incoming calls and dispatch them properly, and not the fire unions putting undue pressure on something they apparently do not have control over ?

[HERBIE1]

I have no idea what the call volume in Atlanta is, but I'm still unclear on a couple things. Does Grady refer the nonemergent calls to other hospitals and city agencies or do they simply schedule appointments with their own clinics and outpatient services?

On the surface, weeding out the BS calls seems like a good idea, but it seems to me the way this is done contributes to the delays in sending out equipment for emergency services.

Am I missing something here?