EMS Ending 12-Hour Tours for Staff Due To Sick-Leave Jump

PATRICK J. BAHNKEN: Program didn’t get fair shot. The Fire Department will end a pilot program for Emergency Medical Service responders in Brooklyn that allows them to work 12-hour shifts that reduce the number of tours they’re assigned in a month because of a spike in sick leave among members based in the borough.

The pilot program was established under the current collective-bargaining agreement with the unions representing Paramedics, Emergency Medical Technicians and commanding officers. The program will terminate at the end of this month.

FDNY: Had Reverse Effect

“The department agreed to this pilot program at the unions’ request, with the expectation that it would reduce sick leave and improve our ability to put more ambulances on the street each day,” chief FDNY spokesman Francis X. Gribbon said in an e-mail. “Unfortunately, that did not occur. For these and other reasons, the department has decided to end the pilot program.”

Patrick J. Bahnken, who as president of Local 2507 of District Council 37 represents Paramedics and EMTs, believed that the data available so far was insufficient to prove that the system was untenable.

“Obviously, one of our concerns was that in the middle of the pilot period there was a swine flu epidemic, which caused the system itself to crash,” he said. “There came a period of time where we transferred about 20, 25 percent of the control group out of the borough. Obviously, we believe that that skewed the data.”

Mr. Bahnken said of the sick-leave rate for EMS members in Brooklyn, “We would like to compare it to the other boroughs to see what the true measure is.”