Questionable 911 service at ice rink; Should firemen have medical training?

[Query]

Questionable 911 service at ice rink; Should firemen have medical training?

In my geographic area, a local fire chief has decided to require new hires to have EMT certification. The union is unhappy - maybe they fear that prior employees without the training, or who take it now and fail, will be paid less, or that he might eventually require it for everyone. I didn't think about this much until today, when a serious injury happened at a local ice rink while I was there. After all, you don't need medical training to put out a fire, or rescue a cat from a tree. Looking on the web, there have been such disputes in many geographic areas.

In this situation, the lady was in front of me. I don't think she tripped. She very gradually collapsed on one side, over a period of 2 or 3 seconds, landing on her hip. She said it hurt too much to move. Someone called 911. The respondents wore uniforms with fire department logos. I'm not sure if they carried medical training ID - it didn't occur to me to look. But they didn't act the way I was taught long ago (certification expired) in a first aid course. They walked over to her, laying on the ice, and picked her up, by arms and legs, without doing any kind of assessment. She expressed great pain, and they put her down. But after a few minutes, they picked her up again, with help from 2 bystanders, again causing expressions of pain, and carried her over to a back board, on a cart, 10 or 15 feet away. They caused her further pain as they tried to figure out how to carry her - she said it hurt to much to lay flat on the board. They loosened only the top level or two of lace one one skate boot, and removed it - which would cause pain and maybe injury even in an uninjured person. Rink personnel removed the other boot, by loosening the whole lace first. Finally, the firemen stuffed some things under her leg, and told her to stabilize her own leg as they rolled the cart with the back-board away.

Again, I do not know whether these two had any type of medical training. But I assume that if they had medical training, even first aid training, they would have done an assessment first, moved the backboard onto the ice next to the patient to minimize movement, and tried to avoid causing major pain.

Anyway, But it got me thinking. I think that when you call 911 with a medical emergency, they should ideally send someone with EMT training - or SOME sort of medical training, perhaps First Responder, or at least First Aid and CPR certification. And when it comes down to it, even in an ordinary fire, I assume a fireman might need to rescue someone who is injured, though I admit I have no experience in that area, and don't know whether all fireman have to go into potential rescue environments. I know it is important to be fair to prior hires, especially in a public service area involving substantial risk, but I think I want some level of medical training required for ordinary fireman, even prior hires.

Do you agree?

[lutefisk]

Which rink was this?  I'll make sure to give it a wide berth!  The folks who moved me after I fell and broke my humerus and whacked my head (at Bowie) did so with great care. 

[Query]

It has nothing to do with the rink. It's the people the 911 service called.

[lutefisk]

It has nothing to do with the rink. It's the people the 911 service called.

Very true, but that rink has only the same locals to call upon...

[amy1984]

It depends where you live but it is really common that fire fighters now have their basic (or higher) emt or even paramedic training or are at least on a truck with someone who has this training, so it seems really odd to me that a union would be mad about this as it has sort of become the standard/expectation.  They should be welcoming the training opportunity for their members as it only increases their value.  There is nothing about this that is 'bad' other than the fact that, yes, someone with medical training should be paid more and until all of the existing members upgrade, there will be a pay difference.  If the union has members who are incapable of passing, then the union has a problem on its hands that's bigger than the requirement for an emt training course.  Anyone who you're already expecting to run into a burning building, attend car accidents, etc., and handle people who are injured should be able to take the course and pass. 

In any case, no matter the set up of the department, fire fighters should have enough training to know handling a person like this is not appropriate.  I'd call and not necessarily complain (as it didn't happen to you), but give a run down of what happened.  This is something that the department needs to know and track for when the union cries 'we don't need this training and it's unfair!'  If possible, put it in writing as well via email or snail mail.  Check and see if there's a complaint process and if you'd qualify to use it (as it wasn't you who was hurt).

[Query]

I could but didn't take note of which local fire department was involved, so I can't complain to anyone. I don't even know which municipality / county / etc. the fire department was from, or which fire chief they report to. And I obviously have no "standing" in the case. I also lack the medical expertise necessary to make an authoritative argument.

I could send an email to the fire chief in charge of the most likely locality. Though I doubt it would make a difference.

Another issue is that I like to skate, and don't want any trouble with the people in charge of any local rink.

I once belonged to a search and rescue unit that was technically licensed as an EMS organization [in another state], and a police women gave us a lectures on legal procedures we had to follow. I believe she said that the people with the highest level of medical training have authority. If rink personnel assumed, as well they might, that the 911 responders were EMTs, they couldn't try to over-ride the responders decisions. Doing so would place them in substantial legal jeopardy, if what I was taught was correct for our locality too.