Paramedics

Mayor Nutter took a beating yesterday from one of his closest Council allies over the mayor's efforts to remove paramedics from the fire union on the grounds that they don't fight fires. Councilman Jim Kenney, a longtime Nutter supporter, delivered a blistering speech on the Council floor, asking Nutter to reconsider the move. "I'm asking the mayor as my friend, I'm asking the mayor as the leader of this city to stop this from happening," Kenney said. "We need to hold the line now because these people need our help.

For the last 10 years, from his vantage as a paramedic, Jaime Pitner of Shamong has seen firsthand the grim toll taken along Burlington County's highways. 'Driving through Burlington County, the traffic has gotten crazy," said Pitner, the supervisor of Memorial Hospital of Burlington County's mobile intensive-care unit. "The growth has been unbelievable. " Pitner's unit is called out during medical emergencies to administer advanced-life-support care. He said the increase in traffic in Burlington County can be a "terrible problem" for emergency squads.

When the paramedics in A platoon reported to work at the red brick fire house shortly after 7:30 a.m. yesterday, nobody expected that six hours later they would be engaged in a furious - and ultimately futile - effort to save the life of a Philadelphia legend. But one of the three had an inkling something unusual would happen. During his four weeks as a paramedic trainee at Engine Company 24 in South Philadelphia, rookie Phillip Geliebter had complained of boredom. Yesterday, his partner, Scott Bahner, reassured him it would be different.

A Common Pleas Court judge Thursday extended until Nov. 1 a temporary restraining order allowing city paramedics to continue receiving health-care benefits from Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Judge Paul P. Panepinto ordered the extension at the request of the Nutter administration and the firefighters union, who agreed to continue discussions to break an impasse on the status of paramedics. Panepinto's order, entered last Friday, prevents the administration from shifting about 220 paramedics into the health-care plan that covers independent city employees.

Paramedics should always take extremely ill babies directly to an emergency room. People who are still breathing and have pulses shouldn't be handed by paramedics over to the morgue. There shouldn't have to be rules about such things. It's just common sense. But after two frightening incidents in the last few weeks, it's possible there is a big gap in paramedic rules and regulations in Philadelphia that needs fixing - and fast. At the very least, paramedics may require reinstruction on the basic duty of their jobs, which is: First, save lives.

A state court ruled Thursday that about 200 city paramedics belong to the Philadelphia Firefighters Union bargaining unit, a victory for International Association of Firefighters Local 22 and a blow to Mayor Nutter. In its decision, a three-judge panel of Commonwealth Court reversed a decision by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which had ruled that the city could separate the paramedics from the firefighters. The two groups have always organized as one unit. The appeals court said the two groups should be able to bargain as one because they have worked alongside each other for decades.

The Philadelphia Fire Department is hard at work hiring paramedics, Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said yesterday. But City Council members considering his agency's annual budget were clearly impatient with the pace, since understaffing has been a significant problem. Mayor Nutter budgeted $3.9 million more for the fiscal year that starts July 1 to help the department hire more paramedics and put more medic units on city streets. Ayers told Council that he is short 31 paramedics now but has the money to hire 80 more, meaning he could hire 111 if his department could find them.

They're in the thick of it. They tend to victims of crashes, help residents flee burning homes and respond to other emergency calls. More than 1,600 people volunteer their time to emergency medical services in Montgomery County. In addition to police and firefighters, many county residents rely on the services of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. They offer on-call emergency medical care through 39 ambulance services in the county, according to Beth Ann Bittner, spokeswoman for the county Division of Emergency Medical Services.

For several years, paramedics have watched intently as hospitals around the region reported miracles on ice: cardiac-arrest patients who were rapidly cooled in the ER and, against all odds, woke up a few days later perfectly normal. Now rescue workers are icing heart-attack patients in the ambulance . "The first time we used it," last October, "the woman went home in 10 days," said Bob A. Hotchkiss, chief of Southern Chester County Emergency Medical Services. A handful of other paramedics south and west of Philadelphia have jumped into the icing business in the last 18 months: New Castle County, Del.'s countywide system; Longwood Fire Company; and Delaware County Memorial Hospital's squad.

Philadelphia Fire Department paramedics who went to court to get overtime pay won a significant victory yesterday when a federal appeals court ruled they are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours a week. The 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit came in a case involving about 300 fire service paramedics who are assigned to 40 different units at firehouses across the city. The appellate judges sent the case back to federal district court for a determination of damages.

ON A RECENT weekday, two paramedics sat on the cots they almost never have time to sleep on at their neighborhood fire station. Their shift had just begun, and they jokingly bet on how many runs they'd make that day. But before they could finish the thought, a bell rang. First run. Time to go. They hopped into their ambulance, hit the sirens and raced to the scene. Someone had reported a man who was high on drugs, and the paramedics persuaded him to climb in the ambulance and go with them to the hospital.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT sends emergency responders to nearly every 9-1-1 call - without asking whether callers can afford the services. So who pays for that costly ambulance ride and that timely medical attention? If you have insurance - and paramedics correctly record your information - your insurance company does. If you are enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, the federal government pays a certain amount, but city taxpayers cover the rest. And if you don't have any coverage, you get the bill - but taxpayers sometimes end up paying it. City Controller Alan Butkovitz released a report in March detailing inefficiencies with how the city collects payments for emergency medical services.

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER As a Philadelphia firefighter, the most frightening incident Lawrence "Larry" Amaker experienced was battling flames from a building with an earthen basement, sinking into the ground and stumbling over holes as he moved through. As a paramedic, his most gut-wrenching experience was handling the death of a 2-year-old child and confronting the man convicted of the killing, who remained at the scene and needed medical attention. But through these experiences, Amaker, 61, has learned to value every day. Now in his 25th year of service for the fire department, he received the 2012 "Paramedic of the Year Award" from the Philadelphia Fire Department during a ceremony Wednesday morning at the Fireman's Hall Museum.

LOS ANGELES - Actress Demi Moore was receiving medical treatment yesterday after paramedics rushed to her home near Benedict Canyon in the Los Angeles area on Monday night. Details of her condition were not clear, but a source confirmed that Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics were called to the home and treated a patient there. Moore, 49, who recently starred in the movie "Margin Call," announced last fall that she was ending her six-year marriage to actor Ashton Kutcher, 33. "Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health," her publicist, Carrie Gordon, said.

A state court ruled Thursday that about 200 city paramedics belong to the Philadelphia Firefighters Union bargaining unit, a victory for International Association of Firefighters Local 22 and a blow to Mayor Nutter. In its decision, a three-judge panel of Commonwealth Court reversed a decision by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, which had ruled that the city could separate the paramedics from the firefighters. The two groups have always organized as one unit. The appeals court said the two groups should be able to bargain as one because they have worked alongside each other for decades.

Chester authorities were trying to identify a black man whose body was found wrapped in plastic in a vacant lot early Friday afternoon, police said. Police were dispatched at 1:18 p.m. to the 100 block of Central Avenue where the body was found in an overgrown wooded area of the lot. Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. The cause of death was not immediately available. Anyone with information can call Chester police at 610-447-8429 or Delaware County detectives at 610-891-4700.

Police were searching Sunday for the gunman or gunmen who killed a 46-year-old man in the Frankford neighborhood on Saturday. Authorities declined to identify the victim but said he was shot in the chest, back, and stomach around 10:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of Ruan Street. Paramedics took the man to Temple University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police spokeswoman Jillian Russell said. - John P. Martin

Four years ago, City Controller Alan Butkovitz released a report revealing a Philadelphia EMS system in crisis: Sick people waiting too long for ambulances; paramedics dangerously overworked; and non-emergency calls overwhelming the system. The report echoed the pleas of paramedics who had long called for change, and recommended steps to relieve pressure on the stressed 911 system. Four years later, little has changed, Butkovitz said Wednesday as he released a follow-up audit that analyzed Fire Department data from 2009.

An 18-year-old man was shot to death Monday evening in Chester, police said. The victim was shot more than once shortly before 7 p.m. in the 900 block of McDowell Avenue, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. No arrests were reported. Anyone with information is asked to call Chester Police Detective Randy Bothwell at 610-447-8430 or Criminal Investigation Division Detective Robert Fuss at 610-891-4700. - Robert Moran

An 18-year-old man was shot to death Monday evening in Chester, police said. The victim was shot multiple times shortly before 7 p.m. in the 900 block of McDowell Avenue, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. No arrests were reported. Anyone with information can call Chester Police Detective Randy Bothwell at (610) 447-8430 or Criminal Investigation Division Detective Robert Fuss at (610) 891-4700.    -Robert Moran