6 EMS INSIDER DECEMBER 2015
across the U.S., and was generally
understood to be part of the job.
As a paramedic working for a large
private ambulance company at the
time, I too wore a vest whenever I was
assigned to an ambulance either downtown or in close proximity to known dangerous areas of the city and county. As a
backup to DG, my agency had the potential to be exposed to the same types of
calls they were running, as well as the
same risks. However, if I was working in
the more suburban areas, I rarely wore
my body armor because I thought those
neighborhoods were considered safe.
Ballistic vests were not considered
essential PPE, and if you wanted to wear
one you had to purchase one at your
own expense. A number of EMTs and
paramedics could not afford the cost,
so they did not wear vests. My vest was
hot, uncomfortable and not designed for
EMS personnel, but I looked at it as a
necessary evil.
Flash forward 25 years later to today,
and we still don’t see ballistic vests
being issued to EMS and fre respond-
ers. We are responding to more calls of
potential violence on a more frequent
basis, and we know that assaults against
our personnel are occurring. EMS and
fre agencies regularly respond to calls
of domestic violence, assaults, behav-
ioral health evaluations, intoxicated
patients and, unfortunately, we now
have to add in terrorist events, active
killer incidents and mass killings. It’s not
just in the metro areas where we experi-
ence these types of calls.
Some agencies have started down the
path to provide ballistic vests and hel-
mets to certain personnel, and others
are obtaining PPE for each riding posi-
tion, or seat, on the unit. Technology has
improved over the years and many vests
now offer some level of stab protection
in addition to ballistic protection.
While this is all a good start, it needs
to be taken further. Every single person
in your agency should be issued their
own ballistic vest. It should be issued the
day they start and should be considered
part of their uniform. Yes, there is a cost
associated with this, but there always is
with PPE. The cost of PPE will be far less
than the costs your agency would incur
for an on-the-job injury or loss of life. Our
people are our most valuable asset and
we owe it to them to provide the necessary equipment to do their job effectively
and safely. Will this PPE prevent all injuries or deaths? No, but it gives our personnel a fghting chance.
We know that violence, some of great
magnitude, can occur anywhere. As
public safety consultant Gordon Graham
preaches, “predictable is preventable”
and the time is now to step up and give
our EMS and fre responders the PPE
they need to operate more safely while
providing service in this mad world.
In a story reported by the Deseret News of
Salt Lake City, Utah, the discovery that up
to 4,800 patients at McKay-Dee Hospital
in Ogden may have been exposed to hepatitis C was traced back to a former nurse
who was stealing morphine.
In the past 10 years, at least 84 nurses,
pharmacists or pharmacy technicians have
been disciplined by Utah’s Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing for
stealing medications from their employers.
A nationwide wave of prescription drug
abuse is forcing health offcials to reckon
with the consequences of addiction en-
tering the workplace. When people steal
pharmaceutical drugs—usually powerful
painkillers like oxycodone or fentanyl—
it’s called “drug diversion,” and drug diver-
sion cases involving healthcare workers
are occurring more and more, according
to John Eddington, an agent with the Drug
Enforcement Administration offce in Salt
Lake City.
Several high profle cases in past years
have accelerated discussion about wheth-
er more can be done. In 2009, a Denver
hospital technician infected at least 18
patients with hepatitis C by swapping sy-
ringes of pain medication with used ones
containing saline. After that case, Colo-
rado health offcials urged hospitals to
work more closely with the public health
offcials so they could use their own data
to look for any signs of disease transmis-
sion. In Minnesota, after a series of widely
publicized cases of healthcare workers
stealing controlled substances, a coalition
of health offcials and hospitals released
new guidelines for investigating prescrip-
tion drug theft, including the recommen-
dation that hospitals create diversion
teams and engage local law enforcement
as early as possible.
Questions remain about whether
healthcare facilities have an obligation
to inform patients that their medica-
tion—or even the quality of the care they
received—may have been affected by an
employee diverting drugs. The CDC rec-
ommends that if a healthcare provider is
found to be diverting medications, the pa-
tients should be informed and tested for
communicable diseases.
fyi Drug Theft on the Rise Hepatitis C scare at Utah hospital leads to former nurse who was stealing morphine
MAD WORLD
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Norris W. Croom III, EFO, CEMSO,
CFO, is the Deputy Chief of Operations for the Castle
Rock (Colo.) Fire
and Rescue Department. He currently
serves as International Director for
the IAFC’s EMS Section, and as Vice
Chair and EMS Representative on the
CPSE Commission on Professional
Credentialing.
