On December 11, 2013, the Ellenville First Aid and Rescue squad received a call involving a sick 4-year old boy needing hospital services. The only individual at the New York headquarters was 20-year old volunteer EMT Steven Sawyer, and no other units were currently available. He made a judgement call, leaving his post and driving an ambulance to drive the boy to the hospital. The company rule requires ambulance drivers to be at least 21 years of age, and Sawyer knowingly broke that rule. As discipline, he received a 60-day suspension, however he chose not to accept it and promptly resigned. The incident has since attracted attention from both the public and various other emergency institutions and individuals.
There seemed to have been no reports about the child's health. Had something catastrophic happened, surely the headline is different or cue another big story. Not the case, so either a) he received treatment and is fine or b) was well enough not to need any. Granted, this story blew up due to it going viral, and that leaves ample room for misinformation or lack of information.
Sawyer apparently met state requirements to drive an ambulance, as it was said he had other experience with driving similar emergency vehicles. What he did was not illegal as far as I can tell; he only broke a squad rule. The matter is tricky. How it was reported by major news outlets made it automatically read like a narrative of heroism and injustice. Still, it is alarming that he left his station unmanned, removing an essential cog in the system, and potentially risking the health and lives of other people. Interestingly, there actually was a followup report stating Sawyer was involved in a similar event the month before. There were two calls, one for an old man who had fallen and was bleeding, the other a 4-year old (not the same one) having seizures. Policy dictates to take the emergencies in the order they come, but he decided to get the child himself, while assigning the man to another EMT. When he got to the location, he was expecting another unit to assist with seizures, but he was the lone EMT (something was botched). No discipline for his first choice, discipline following his second. So there was somewhat of a history.
I want to say this particular squad was understaffed. All I can say for sure is that I believe he has a good heart, although he is also impulsive. Medical and emergency personnel ought to be calm and collected at all times.
The problem I've been seeing with rescue squads and fire departments around the country is that they've been overtaken by greedy unions that are not looking out for the best interest of the people who need help. The Teamsters is one of the worst in that they block volunteers from working in many jurisdictions (since the union bosses can't extract dues from unpaid individuals), so it leads to understaffing through many areas. One such example is the Dayton area in Ohio. There is not enough budget available to cover fire departments throughout the area, so they alternate days of the week when the buildings are open. Rather than allowing volunteers to either fill their ranks or completely staff the fire departments (as my mother used to do in Colorado), the Teamsters have caused longer response times for emergencies and higher home owner's insurance rates for people living in the area.
Now, don't take this as me making blanket statements about all unions being greedy, but the Teamsters in the Dayton area definitely fit the bill. What makes matters worse is that political lobbying by such types of unions lead to many of the regulations in Obamacare/PPACA. One such regulation will begin requiring (starting this year) that volunteer rescue/fire departments purchase health insurance for their unpaid volunteers (who are often clocked in/out as employees for hour scheduling). The obvious reason for this is to force the shutdown of such organizations that do not collect union dues to pass into the coffers of the politicians. It's just a vicious cycle of the union bosses (who are doing nothing to help the hard-working employees) throwing money at the politicians, who just throw money right back at the union bosses, again.
If he were allowed to go undisciplined, it sets a major precedent: that rules can be bent. Not only for himself, for fellow squad members and other emergency personnel. This is not debatable. Whether for better or worse is debatable.
By Limxzero (5329)
By HullBreach (867)
By Raisons du Coeur (1521)
