Constituent letter to Menino-you and Yoon are playing politics with our lives

This is from the Allston/Brighton blogs

7/5/2009


Mayor Menino,

Of all of the elected officials representing the citizens of Boston you have first hand knowledge of the response matrix of Boston EMS to specific medical emergency criteria. You know full well, the need for a rapid response to cardiac or respiratory emergencies and the need for a first responder to initiate CPR or a Cardiac defibrillator within a very limited time limit of 4 minutes from receipt of a 911 call. You took pride in the article published in USA Today which highlighted the working relationship between Boston Fire and Boston EMS working in concert to increase the survival chances of Boston citizens in dire need or emergency medical intervention.

Yet with all of your vast insight into EMS you, your fire department commissioner, the Chief of EMS and the District Fire Chief of District 11 elected for political gain, placing the residents of the Oak Square section of Brighton in harms way by closing Engine 51's house last week. In doing so, it became IMPOSSIBLE for either the BFD's Engine 29 or Ladder 11or Boston EMS A14 or A9 to respond to a 911 emergency medical call within the required 4 minutes or less.

In supporting your idea, Mr. Yoon has also shown himself to be far more interested in his political fortunes then those of the residents of Oak Square. The elderly of Brighton , the cities largest concentration of citizens over 65 including myself, certainly take no comfort in knowing our safety is just another strategic move in your tool box.

The bell can not be unrung! You and your staff of Public Safety experts have made what I consider a terrible decision. You denied us a reasonable chance of survival by making a decision that is clearly outside of established medical emergency response protocols. I for one would be impressed if you simply acknowledged your oversight and insured us that it was a lesson learned and something that would never happen again. If not, then perhaps legal intervention by the taxpayers of Oak Square is the only answer we the residents have left at our disposal.

I look forward to your response,

Thank you,

John Robert Powers