Response to heart attack ‘more tragic’ than explained; standard of care for incident at least two providers, not fly-car’s one
To the editor:
Regarding the May 30 story on emergency medical service, I would like to clarify some critical points.
First, the response to this situation was even more tragic than the town supervisor explained. The Village of Pelham Manor police called for emergency medical service at 10:32 p.m., and the contracted paramedic responded within minutes. But dispatch at the private-ambulance company Pelham contracts with (Empress) sat on the call for five minutes before dumping it out to Westchester 911 for mutual aid. A Pelham Manor police officer radioed for the ambulance to be “expedited,” and after the 911 dispatcher frantically tried two other agencies in vain, the Village of Larchmont ambulance finally accepted the call at 10:42 p.m.—more than 10 minutes after the police called. The Manor police again radioed frantically for the ambulance, asking when it would arrive. The Larchmont crew flew to the Manor but arrived more than 19 minutes after that first call for help.
Second, I realize that many neighbors mistakenly believe that the Pelham EMS fly-car is an “emergency room on wheels,” when in fact, it is one paramedic in an SUV with a limited number of medications and equipment. Importantly, the fly-car cannot take a patient to the hospital, regardless of the situation.
Most critically, the standard of care for a patient with a major cardiac issue is at least two providers, preferably four or more, not one person, working alone, sweating bullets, doing their best, waiting desperately for additional help.
And when a person suffers a stroke, minutes make the difference between recovering and being permanently diminished—but a medic cannot supply any treatment—the protocol is to get to a stroke center in under an hour. So, you need an ambulance. This is why every other community in Westchester has one.
Local officials have taken some steps to fix this, but they need the support of the community. Pelham has come together to get all sorts of things done to make this a special place. Let’s come together for this and get an ambulance—it is literally the difference between life and death.
I am a nationally certified EMT.
Mark Cardwell
86 Reed Avenue
Gene Iannuzzi • Jun 3, 2023 at 8:46 pm
I am a semi-retired paramedic and emergency department and trauma RN. I am also the former Director of the paramedic degree program at Borough of Manhattan Comunity College.
Mr. Cardwell and I have shared many passionate conversations about the need to upgrade and modernize Pelham’s EMS system and will likely continue to do so. Although he is factually incorrect about the capabilities of paramedics and standards for staffing fly cars, no disagreement should obscure the fact that a system that worked for the Town years ago is inadequate to meet rising call volume and greater demands on EMS locally and regionally. We MUST have a dedicated ambulance in town NOW.
Your readers should also know is that there are town residents with significant expertise in EMS systems, operations, and policy who have been working behind the scenes with town and village officials since last year to secure not only a full time, dedicated ambulance, but to address other inequities in EMS response capabilities between the villages. The request for proposals to provide the ambulance was an outgrowth of this cooperative effort and the responses to the RFP are now on the table.
The critical issue now is funding, and this is an issue which ALL residents should get behind, putting politics and any Village vs Village v Town finger pointing and blame gaming aside. The proposed tax increase necessary is a tiny fraction of the amount residents gladly fork over to fund our schools and a community like ours has no reason to oppose it, especially given recent and tragic events.
Unfortunately, there are also well meaning but misinformed individuals lacking in EMS expertise who now at the last minute are injecting outmoded alternatives into the mix that would take years to implement and likely be unsustainable. We must reject these as unecessarily delaying and obstructing the process.
I join Mr Cardwell and appeal to my neighbors to put aside any disagreements and rally to support the funding necessary to expedite a modern EMS system in Pelham.
Solange Hansen • Jun 3, 2023 at 9:39 am
Thank you for this thoughtful letter detailing what we currently have in our community and what we must find the resources to secure as soon as possible.
Ralph Pilla • Jun 3, 2023 at 9:17 am
Thanks for this information. Not sure why a community with so much wealth doesn’t provide standard of care for the community.