Monroe County Michigan Emergency Medical Transport
If you have a heart attach or become involved in a serious accident in the City of Monroe, you want to pick the spot carefully. Years ago, the city council became convinced that the county commissioners would never be able to quickly put together any type of county wide system. Indeed the county board is still hassling with lawsuits brought under the Freedom of Information Act and at least one member filing for a Writ of Mandamus, a court order requiring an official to do his or her job.
The fight continues to this day
while our many good township volunteer fire departments struggle with a system
that is exacerbated by increasing urban sprawl and regulations that waste
valuable minutes in cases where tine is critical. The volunteers must respond but upon arrival await
contracted professional transport companies which are often slow to arrive.
One of Several City of Monroe Advanced Life Support Fire-Rescue units photographed at the Central Fire station on Scott Street near Front
The solution was to train the city firemen who volunteered as skilled paramedics so a secondary commercial ambulance provider would not need be needed. This got our city out of the circus of the intrigue of the Democratic Party controlled board of Commissioners, the board that appoints The Monroe County Emergency Medical Authority.
Those Firefighters who volunteer are trained at city expense and are paid a bonus for these skills. To avoid an unfair burden on the taxpayer a fair and reasonable charge is rendered for the service.
The remainder of the county relies on a patchwork of providers in cluding this provider from another county. This photo was taken from a public right of way near Monroe Mercy Hospital.
The preferred but costly method of transporting patients to hospitals with superior facilities to that of Monroe Mercy Memorial is by helicopter. Both the Hospital Administrator Daniel Wakeman and the web keeper agree that this method is overused. However it is preferred by staff persons such as Cindi Shankle RN, simply ambulances are unavailable for an hour or more under the present system. See:
http://www.historicmonroe.org/hospitals/cindi-shankle-luna-pier.htm
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