I’m sure at some point I’ve previously mentioned that I tend to listen to the evening news podcasts the morning after they are broadcast. My current work flow at night just makes catching up on the news the next day easier but it does have it’s drawbacks. Namely it means that it takes me an extra day to call out insane reports like this one…

Here are some disturbing items (besides the sight of the FDNY Bureau of Emergency Medical Services crew scrubbing a mattress down on a metal stretcher with a broom) that I just want to point out…

• The FDNY is NOT mandated like other services to give their responders the H1N1 vaccine because they are technically not contracted with a health care facility. There is NO guarantee that the FDNY EMT or Paramedic responding to your emergency has been vaccinated for the flu
• FDNY Physician Dr. Carrie Kelly indicates that FDNY members “get the message” to stay home if they feel sick… but according to the Center for Disease Control the people infected with seasonal and 2009 H1N1 flu carry the virus and may be able to infect others with it from 1 day before getting sick to 5 to 7 days afterwards… meaning that someone may be contagious and still be on their shift infecting others who have not received the H1N1 vaccination
• FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta states that, “We have a very high percentage of medical runs.” According to the Fiscal Year 2009 FDNY Vital Statistics, FDNY Fire Suppression responded to 209,547 medical calls or roughly 30% of FDNY Fire volume. However, FDNY BEMS transported 936,488 medical patients during the same year… over 4 times the amount of FDNY Fire medical responses and more than FDNY Fire medical and fire responses put together. Yet they are not required to get the vaccination… which is more evidence in my opinion why we should switch over to an EMS based fire service
• Finally, FDNY is banking on the fact that if they have a high amount of people out sick then there will still be plenty of people willing to work extra shifts. I think this is an overly optimistic outlook, especially since basically what they are saying is that we the taxpayers will be paying for the overtime because they did not mandate their personnel to get a free flu vaccine

Is FDNY really ready for the next round of H1N1? Based on what I know and the report above, I don’t think so.

What do you think?

Fiscal Year 2009 FDNY Vital Statistics