County Emergency Medical Services Agency Will Hear Testimony, Discuss & May Act Today (Feb. 20) On LB City Hall Request To Test Paramedic Response With 1 Paramedic + EMT On Single Unit + 2nd Paramedic Arriving Separately

LB Firefighters Ass'n and other Firefighter Ass'ns oppose the proposed change; LB City Council has included it in its t FY13 budget

(Feb. 20, 2013, updated text) -- In an action that literally carries life and death implications for residents of Long Beach and thereafter other L.A. County communities, a committee of the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency is scheduled to discuss today a request by Long Beach City Hall to test a paramedic response system that cuts responding paramedics arriving on a single unit from two to one accompanied by a lesser trained Emergency Medical Technician ["EMT"]) with a second paramedic arriving separately on a second fire unit.

Long Beach Fire Chief Mike DuRee, appointed in mid-2012, has said the new deployment model will ensure the presence of two paramedics at every scene but arriving on separate units. Chief DuRee has acknowledged that the requested change has a fiscal component; it would save money (and in Long Beach would avoid cutting four person fire engine staffing to three persons) but the Chief says Long Beach's proposed paramedic response model will provide BETTER patient care and response than the present system.

In City Council testimony, Chief DuRee said that the current paramedic deployment system hasn't been seriously reexamined for decades...and noted Long Beach's proposal is different than a single "1+1" system (one paramedic + one EMT) currently used in all other California Counties except Los Angeles, Orange and Contra Costa (since LB's proposal includes a second paramedic arriving separately).

The LB Firefighters Association says the change would reduce patient care and is a step in the wrong direction propelled by fiscal factors not patient care. In an op-ed piece carried on LBREPORT.com, the Long Beach Firefighters Association stated, "[O]n the issue of two paramedics versus one, the glaring fact is that two paramedics offer the full range of necessary and life saving interventions in a far more efficient and effective manner. An EMT does not have even close to the same scope of practice as a paramedic and so replacing a paramedic with an EMT will mean less effective treatment provided with a far greater timeline."

Los Angeles, Orange and Contra Costa Counties currently require all of their cities to provide two paramedics on responding units but other CA Counties let their cities use a 1+1 system in which one paramedic and an EMT respond. Paramedics have roughly 600 hours of training, a higher level of medical knowledge with a broader scope of practice than EMTs who have about 120-160 hours of class.

The change in allowable paramedic staffing can't be implemented in Long Beach (or anywhere in L.A. County) without the approval of an L.A. Board of Supervisors' appointed entity: the L.A. County Emergency Medical Services Agency. At an August 2012 meeting of the L.A. County Emergency Services Agency, the Long Beach Firefighters Association was joined by representatives of L.A. City and L.A. County Firefighters Associations in criticizing multiple aspects of Long Beach city management's proposal.

The Long Beach proposal has now percolated to the level of draft rules and requirements which will be considered at today's County Emergency Services Agency meeting. If ultimately approved by the County Agency, Long Beach City Hall would be allowed to test the new paramedic response system on its residents and anyone else needing emergency medical services in Long Beach.

A majority of Long Beach City Councilmembers could -- but hasn't thus far -- stopped Long Beach city management from implementing the new paramedic deployment system.

When the City of Los Angeles proposed a cut to a traditional 1+1 model in roughly 1997, it created sufficient controversy to prompt L.A. City Hall to withdraw it. To date no L.A. County city has moved to test it on its residents. Long Beach is L.A. County's second largest city (behind Los Angeles). Long Beach city management takes the position that its proposal isn't a traditional 1+1 model, but is a "rapid response" system that provides two paramedics, simply arriving on two different vehicles.

On August 1, 2012, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and city management included the change as a budget item. In his written budget recommendations at the time: "The Fire Department has proposed a new way to deliver core services more efficiently at lower costs -- and achieve faster medical response times. I wish I could tell you it is a radically new idea; it is not. This service model is in place in Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties -- and has been for years. And since 84% of all the calls for service in Long Beach are for medical response, this one change is emblematic of delivering improved service levels at a lower cost."

The change has still -- to date -- not had a straight up or down City Council vote...and management says such a vote isn't currently scheduled. A Councilmember(s) could agendize such a Council vote but hasn't thus far. Instead, a Council majority -- over the objections of the Long Beach Firefighters Association -- voted in September 2012 to approve including the new paramedic system in City Hall's FY13 budget, meaning that if the new system isn't implemented, the Council would have to make other budget changes.

Developing.