EMS Job Hazards

To the Editor:

In response to retired Firefighter Joe Donovan's Jan. 27 letter in which he addressed an Emergency Medical Service employee and stated, "You have an extremely safe job," that statement reflects more ignorance than first-hand knowledge. Over the past nine years, we have suffered nine line-of-duty deaths. Our members do not receive the same fanfare when these occurrences happen as other uniformed forces, but it doesn't make their sacrifices any less significant.

What you also fail to recognize is that our people are subjected to what we call the "invisible bullet." EMTs and Paramedics are exposed to communicable diseases on a daily basis, including hepatitis, tuberculosis, meningitis, and AIDS, to just name a few. What makes this danger even more serious to our workers is that it is something that they can bring home to their families.

I have personally witnessed brave firefighters move in the opposite direction as EMS goes hands-on in these situations. I don't blame them, since the city has decided to place your brothers in environments in which they have received only minimal training.

It will also be the EMS providers, probably along with the transit police, who will be the "canaries" who notify the rest of the system that a biological or chemical release has occurred. Understand also, EMS is classified as a physically taxing title by the city.

Now include hundreds of our members who will never reach their self-funded 25year retirement due to permanent partially disabling injuries they have received while performing their job responsibilities. Two-person crews are frequently assaulted by emotionally disturbed patients, they carry overweight people down numerous flights of stairs along with fifty pounds of equipment, they stabilize patients under trains and in car wrecks, and they respond to every man-made or natural disaster that occurs in the city. And these unsung heroes do all this and more for $20,000 less than other uniformed service providers.

Digest some of this with the testosterone you put in your morning coffee and remember, it is better to remain silent and let people think that you are ignorant than to open your mouth and prove it!

Enjoy your well-deserved retirement. Unfortunately, many of my members won't have the same opportunity.

DONALD FAETH, Vice President, Local 2507, District Council 37