Letter to the Editor - unbelievable!

[bleep]

The good news is, the next few days were filled with letters supporting the actions of EMS.

EMS Letter

[bbbrammer]

Some one should have sent a very short and sweet letter to the editor the next day that simply said "Sorry, but dead medics can't fix anyone."

[AnthonyM83]

Feel free:

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html

[JPINFV]

"I just recently came across the letter from Darren Thompson of Edmonton that was published on September 6. In the letter, he praised fire fighters to coming to the aid of a stabbing victim while paramedics staged waiting for law enforcement to arrive. In response, I offer but a single sentence. Dead medics don't save lives. "

[Just Plain Ruff]

Dear editor I was pointed to the letter criticizing the paramedics who waited a distance away for the police to arrive.

In EMT school all the way up to paramedic school we as medical providers are taught over and over again that if there is violence involved they are not to enter the scene. It sounds like these medics or EMT's and Medics took that training to heart.

What surprises me is that the Edmonton fire department does not apparantly teach that to their hero fire fighters.

What would have happened to the firefighters had the assailant who stabbed that person still been on the scene. They could have been stabbed or even worse, killed.

We in the EMS community go by this mantra, a dead hero is still a dead hero. They cannot help the patient if they have been injured. If a provider is injured providing assistance to a patient then they become part of the incident and more resources are needed to work a given scene thereby taking resources away from a citizen of the community.

I don't ever want to hear of another EMS provider being injured but unfortunately that is a risk that we are all willing to take. It seems that the fire department seems to either not take scene safety seriously or they want to take more risks than others.

Thank you

[Scaramedic]

Favorite line from a thread on another site regarding this letter...

Firemen are trained to put out a fire; their band-aids will not prevent a loss of life.

:wink: :!: :!:

Peace,

Marty

[Marksman]

In EMT school all the way up to paramedic school we as medical providers are taught over and over again that if there is violence involved they are not to enter the scene.

I was taught the hierarchy of scene safety concerns.

Me before my partener/other rescue personal

My partener/other rescue personal over the patient

The patient over by-standers

By-standers.

[Lone Star]

A rescuer is of no use if they themselves need to be rescued!

[AnthonyM83]

I guess is an image mismatch, between the public perception of a public safety hero and a medical professional. It of course looks bad when our defense is scene-safety and protocols, when FD arrives and goes right in. I can see how witnessing that incident would be appalling to someone from the public, though....but if we start the pattern of not waiting for PD, then we're going to end up losing our jobs/lives and not be around to respond to the next call...but in a way, I think the public sometimes expects us to take that risk, thus the appalled letter the writer sent in.

[JPINFV]

Well, some replies from people (this board maybe?) have been published.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...2a-4c77c857f59b

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...15-a8ff200db44b

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/feat...13-757dcfc6f5b2

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news...71-f9e7a208ad7b