Gomer

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Posts posted by Gomer

  5. Posted

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    GREENWICH — The only leader Greenwich Emergency Medical Services has ever had is stepping down after a 39-year career in the town’s ambulance corps.

    Charlee Tufts announced late Monday that she is retiring from her position as GEMS’ executive director within the next few months, handing off leadership of an agency she helped found.

     

     

    http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Tufts-to-retire-as-head-of-Greenwich-Emergency-9297779.php

  6. Posted

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    The conversation can be heard on 911 tapes released by the police department Friday from an attack on Officer Joe Pooler that occurred July 30 in the parking lot of Jimmie’s Market in Germantown. Pooler, who suffered a broken jaw and a concussion, is home recovering from his injuries.

     

    The assault, however, sparked a backlash from police union representatives during the past week who claim the incident and the delayed response is just the latest in a string of concerns about the city’s privatized dispatch center.

     

     

    http://m.newstimes.com/local/article/911-call-about-assault-on-Danbury-cop-shows-9125646.php

    sueg likes this

  9. Posted

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    The Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps is no longer providing advanced life support care as part of their services, according to the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response.

     

    The BVAC, which covers the City of Beacon and the Town of Fishkill, voluntarily ceased providing advanced life support Friday morning. The organization will continue to provide basic life support to the community and will be responding to scenes alongside Mobile Life Support Services, which is capable of providing advanced levels of pre-hospital care.

     

     

    http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/southern-dutchess/2016/04/01/beacon-volunteer-ambulance-corps-no-longer-providing-advanced-life-support/82512838/

  10. Posted

    From Facebook:

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    To all that live and work in The Town of Harrison please read the letter posted and pay attention to what is happening to the Harrison EMS service and get involved.

    I was a proud founding Board Member of the Harrison Volunteer Ambulance Corps and worked extremelly hard for over 10 years to make it the Best EMS service around. We have one of the best in the State and we need to stand with and support Chief Joe Bilotto and his staff to ensure that all in Harrison will continue to receive their excellant service. Please read the letter!


    so the original post that was shared was reported and removed from FB. looks like we've rattled some people. please Copy and Paste the message below to your own feeds to keep the message out there! thank you all!

     

    Threat to replace Harrison EMS with Empress?!


    FYI To all my friends and neighbors here in Harrison. Below is an unanswered email I sent to Mayor Ron Belmont and Town Council Members regarding rumors that they are threatening to replace Harrison EMS with Empress. Below are some of the details. Right now this is all rumors, but the Mayor and the Town Council members have refused to speak to HEMS Chief, attorney or Board Members. In January the Town refused to pay Harrison EMS until we showed them our financials (they have no right to look at our financial, HEMS is private not-for-profit org not a town entity). Even after looking through our financials and finding NO wrong doing the rumor is they are demanding Chief Bilotto and Lt Mercado resign. Share this with everyone you know, tag Harrison residents, and help us get some answers. Email Mayor Belmont and the Town Council and demand answers.

    rbelmont@harrison-ny.gov, fsciliano@harrison-ny.gov, smalfitano@harrison-ny.gov, mamelio@harrison-ny.gov, jstout@harrison-ny.gov.

    Dear Mr. Roth, Mr Mayor and Council members.

    My name is David Palombo I am a life long resident of Harrison and have been a member of Harrison EMS for nearly 10 years. I'm writing to you today in regards to a troubling email that has been sent to select members of Harrison EMS by a HEMS employee, David Aprea. In it, Mr. Aprea has put disturbing words into the mouths of Harrison's Mayor, Town Council and Town Atty as well as our own Chief Bilotto. His email claims that: "Chief Bilotto and Lt mercado have been asked to resign and refuse to do so. The Chiefs attitude is " If I go down we all go down " the town has made it crystal clear from the town council ,to the Mayor, to the town attorney, there are only 2 non-negotiable options available. New management at HEMS or they go with Empress Ambulance. Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado must resign immediately, Empress has stated they can be here in a few hours, Empress has submitted a quote which the town can accept at any time." The full email I'm referring to is copied below. Of course I am concerned about the content and accuracy of these unverified claims.
    If the threat of 'New management at HEMS or they go with Empress Ambulance' is true, my first concern is the most troubling. As a lifelong, tax-paying and voting resident of Harrison I am deeply concerned, if the threat is true, in the ability of an already overwhelmed, for-profit company like Empress to cover Harrison's call volume in a timely manor. Anyone who is familiar with EMS in Westchester is aware that after the TransCare implosion; Empress has be critically overtaxed trying to cover their call volume in White Plains, Yonkers, Mount Vernon and their other existing contracts. It is early March and Harrison EMS has already responded well over 500 911 calls in town with an average response time of 5-7 minutes. The idea to dismiss Harrison EMS and use Empress (or any other critically stressed agency) is either an empty threat or a disastrous scheme by certain Town Council members to push out Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado for their own personal agendas, at the cost of Harrison resident's safety. Is the threat true or is Mr. Aprea lying? Will the Mayor and Town Council replace Harrison EMS with Empress if Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado do not resign? Is the Mayor and Town Council willing to fire more than 50 HEMS employees and put Harrison residents at risk just to remove two officers? If so, WHY? Clearly doing so is NOT in the best interest of Harrison and as a residents we all deserve to know the answers.
    My second concern is, as a 10 year member of HEMS I am troubled that one or two disgruntled employees may be impacting the livelihoods of dozens of hard working EMT and Paramedics for his/her own personal vendetta. In his email Mr. Aprea gives the impression of terrible working conditions and 'injustices' at HEMS that simply don't exist. Around a year ago, Mr. Aprea, who sent the email, was working in Harrison as an EMT-Basic. He applied for and, after a probationary evaluation period, was refused the position of Paramedic in Harrison. Since that time he has been bad mouthing Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado often and to anyone who will listen. I do not know the details as to why he didn't make the cut as a Paramedic in Harrison. I do know that dozens of other medics have made it through the selection process and routinely provide Harrison residents with exemplary emergency medical care. At the end of last year a member of the Town Council received 'an insider's information' and Chief Bilotto was under suspicion of misappropriating HEMS funds. As a result the Mayor and Town Council demanded to review several years of HEMS's financial statements. There was no evidence found of misappropriation, wrongdoing or misconduct. If there was any evidence there would be no need to demand anyone's resignation; anyone involved would have been fired on the spot and charged accordingly. At what point does the Mayor and Town Council scrutinize the source of their misinformation.
    Finally I would like to take a moment to speak on behalf of our current management, Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado. As with every organization there is room for improvement, however there have been no prior incidents or actions where either of their personal integrity, or professionalism has been questioned. It was Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado, who restored order and integrity to HEMS in 1998 when disgraced former Chief Parsons was forced to leave. Since then, it has been our current management who demands excellence and professionalism from each and every one of our members. Under the direction of Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado for the past 8 years HEMS has been thriving. Last year was especially difficult for our entire agency with the heartbreaking murder of our beloved Explorer Alissa Hochman and her sister Deanna. I credit the exemplary leadership of Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado for getting us through the tragedy as a family. I have proudly worn my Harrison EMS uniform and served the community I grew up in for nearly 10 years. I now stand shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters of Harrison EMS to stand with our Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado.
    I eagerly await your replies.

    Sincerely,
    David M. Palombo

     

    > From: David Aprea
    > Date: March 7, 2016 at 7:54:32 PM EST
    > To: David Aprea , Rob
    > Cc: AdamsLorris@gmail.com, Rob , nikki.deshensky@hotmail.com, mdawson1880@yahoo.com, bxems1@gmail.com, wolflawton@aol.com, esposito77@optonline.net, Veef31@aim.com, GrandeEMT@gmail.com, klynch9489@gmail.com, brian@networx.tv, andrew.mcguire41@gmail.com, ublove@aol.com, michellenarciso@mac.com, medicmittens@hotmail.com, spmedic1@aol.com, emy312@yahoo.com, emt8837@optonline.net
    > Subject: The time is now, its do or we ARE GONE !!
    > Reply-To: David Aprea
    >
    HVAC Family , as you all know, Chief Bilotto and Lt mercado have been asked to resign and refuse to do so. The Chiefs attitude is " If I go down we all go down " the town has made it crystal clear from the town council ,to the Mayor, to the town attorney, there are only 2 non-negotiable options available. New management at HEMS or they go with Empress Ambulance. Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado must resign immediately, Empress has stated they can be here in a few hours, Empress has submitted a quote which the town can accept at any time. Rob and I are asking you to email Warren Roth at warren.roth@me.com He is HVAC's attorney and in control of the board. Express, how bad things are at HVAC, the injustices that have been done to most of us over the years and to vote Chief Bilotto and Lt. Mercado out of their positions to save our agency. Mr. Roth and the EMS board have our fate in there hands. Since the chief has been asked to resign he has made threats and slandered HEMS employees, including Rob and myself. This deeply effects all of us and the pride we have for HEMS. We ask you to do this ASAP and please cc rob and I , as 1 unified team we can keep our agency and move forward. The next EMS board meeting is scheduled for Monday 03/14/16 and will be an important meeting regarding this matter.

    Thank you in advance
    Sincerely,
    Sincerely,

    David Aprea
    CEO/Owner
    Top Line Communications, Inc.

     

     

    Westfield12 and Nite Boss like this

  15. Posted

    It's about professionalism, standards, and supervision, or lack thereof, and this reflects on the organization as a whole that this is acceptable behavior. This is not the first time something like this has occurred (Squuuaaad 15), and not the first time someone has called in and their terminology has been rephrased by the dispatcher to sound more "buffy". What would happen if the dispatcher decided to dispatch decided to pronounce street names his or her own personal way, and units went to the wrong address? When you have a voice that everyone is listening to, you are in the public eye. As a dispatcher myself, this would never fly in my organization, and the Chiefs of our agency would not find it acceptable. It's ok to sneak in humor here and there when appropriate, but the initial dispatch should be consistent and professional agency wide. What happens to a callers confidence if their town is mispronounced? Or the responders in that town that their name is being mocked? Dispatchers have to work extra hard to gain respect, and it takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bunch's reputation.

    LineCapt, Newburgher, FFSiano and 7 others like this

  19. Posted

    Why don't we wear uniforms to properly identify us? Being a volunteer is not an excuse and, as evidenced by this incident, it can have tragic results.

    Which brings in itself another set of issues. Some EMS agencies or personnel like to wear uniforms similar to ESU Cops. Except without the gun, vest, or benefits to protect them and their family should something happen to them in the line of duty.

  24. Posted

    Is there a formula for how many BLS and ALS units a town this size needs?

    I think there are 10 million formulas, depending on who you ask. I would think at least two flycars and 5 BLS ambulances. That's just my rough estimation based on comparable areas. That can vary by trend as well, such as time of day.

    By the way, did anyone hear a rumor about Mount Pleasant getting a grant for two flycars?

    AFS1970 likes this