Cooley Dickinson Hospital ER
Overwhelming police presence and a rare temporary increase in staffing at AFD managed to keep a lid on the routine end-of-semester party itch combined with sunny spring weather, and a dance concert at the Mullins Center Saturday night of the same genre that the week before produced 24 calls for help with 14 of those requiring ambulance runs to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital for drug or alcohol overdose.
This time the concert produced "only" 14 calls for help with four requiring emergency transport by AFD and one additional alcohol overdose handled by privately contracted Westfield Fire Department ambulance. A good thing since the ER at Cooley Dickinson was busy enough as it was and ten more OD cases could have overwhelmed the system.
Interestingly, with as many as 17 firefighter/EMT professionals on duty Saturday (more than twice the usual), the emergency traffic was such that all the extra help was kept busy. Perhaps why Northampton, our sister city to the west, has roughly that number of firefighter/EMTs assigned all of the time.
Northampton maintains a ration of 2.1 firefighters per 1,000 population vs. Amherst with only 1.1 firefighters per thousand.
On Wednesday night Town Manager John Musante seemed to indicate to Amherst Town Meeting that (after almost ten years) Amherst may increase the current dangerously low minimum AFD staffing level of seven. About time.
And reducing time--getting to the patient, then getting them to the hospital--is what it's all about .
17 comments:
Isn't there a mini ER on University Drive? Wonder if CDH would staff it on spring weekends?
Yes there is, but it is not set up to receive an ambulance.
I hate to confuse anyone with the facts, but there is a legal definition of "ER" -- and some legal obligations that are created by that -- and one of them is the provision of free care to the indigent.
It is not that you just have to be set up to receive an ambulance but that you must receive ALL ambulances and that you must provide free care -- that is why UHS doesn't receive ambulances and why the UM students have to be taken to CDH.
And it is why the UMPD is violating the AntiKlan Act of 1871 ("Section 1983") by "escorting" students over to UHS because the only place they can legally "escort" them to is a licensed ER, which CDH is not.
Oh, this place is a cesspool and I want to be here when the Federal Grand Jury gets convened just to see the folks sweat. And what no one has told the individual UMPD officers is that Section 1983 suits are *personal* liability, the department can't defend you.
Wrong again, Ed.
May 4, 2012 12:05 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Wrong again, Ed
Really?!?!?!
Two of us can play this game: I am right, you are wrong, and your mother wears Army boots. Naanananana...
I may lack judgment but I am very VERY rarely factually wrong.
And as to the UMPD, they are doing a LOT of things that are illegal. If I am not mistaken the officer's own union is suing the department over one of them (the audio recordings). Aren't you?
Ed Said
"I may lack judgment but I am very VERY rarely factually wrong. "
Wrong again, you are very rarely factually RIGHT! And when someone replies with actual facts you either ignore it or say something totally off topic.
Facts matter!
Isn't time to just not respond to Ed?
He craves attention.
If he were ignored, his lack of judgment might go elsewhere.
There is no Ed.
One of Ed's posts claimed that he "was on the [UMass Alcohol Abuse] Task Force with [Chief Barbara O'Connor] back in the '90s..."
The link below leads to the roster of that task force. No Ed.
http://www.umass.edu/senate/fs_docs/SEN_DOC_NO_03-011_ALCOHOL_ABUSE.pdf
Oh...I can assure you, there IS an Ed.
Yes, unfortunately, I can confirm there is an Ed. I have seen him at SC meetings. Not recently but last year.
Yes...he's a talking horse, isn't he?
One of Ed's posts claimed that he "was on the [UMass Alcohol Abuse] Task Force with [Chief Barbara O'Connor] back in the '90s..."
The link below leads to the roster of that task force. No Ed.
http://www.umass.edu/senate/fs_docs/SEN_DOC_NO_03-011_ALCOHOL_ABUSE.pdf
Might I suggest that someone isn't bright enough to understand how UMass numbers documents -- the "03" stands for FISCAL YEAR 2003 -- or November 2002 which is the date on the actual document.
There were TWO alcohol task forces you f***ing moron, maybe even more, and after the first one, which was in the 1990's, I wanted no part of the second one.
Now you want to say I wasn't on something by presenting the membership list of a different one? What planet are you from?
If Ed wanted to actually prove it he would produce evidence instead of namecalling......
Wow. Unstable much, Ed?
We all really should work hard at ignoring Ed. He is like a toddler - he acts out to get attention. If we ignored him he would stop posting ignorant, disgusting comments.
We all really should work hard at ignoring Ed. He is like a toddler - he acts out to get attention. If we ignored him he would stop posting ignorant, disgusting comments.
No. You schmucks are far to fascist to tolerate dissenting viewpoints. You can't help yourselves.
You folk are too fascist to ignore me. You can't just tolerate someone else expressing an opinion.
And exactly what facts were wrong about my point about the legal definition and obligations of an emergency room in the Commonwealth of Taxachusetts?
There is a legal reason why AFD can't just take students to Death Services -- and perhaps someone from the AFD would like to confirm at least that you can't take folk there????
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