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Critics Lash Out At DC Fire And EMS: ‘Better Off Calling Uber’ Than 911

(KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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The D.C. Council shredded the D.C. Fire and EMS Department in a hearing Wednesday in the wake of the resignation of the city’s EMS medical director and growing concerns over response times and the ability to reform the system.

Chief Gregory Dean sat through hours of testimony in which Dr. Jullette Saussy and other emergency response experts from cities around the country lambasted D.C. bureaucracy for preventing key reforms that could have saved lives. Saussy sent a scathing resignation letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser Jan. 29 ripping the “toxic” culture in the department, reports WJLA. (RELATED: DC Medical Director Drops BRUTAL Resignation Letter, Calls Out Officials)

“One of my biggest issues is that I haven’t been able to assess the competency,” Saussy said at the hearing. “And when I ask, ‘OK, do you have proof of competency?’ All they have is a roll of who attended a class, but not a check-off of their patient-assessment skills. So, we know they attended, but I don’t know what they did.”

The D.C. Fire and EMS Department has been a headache for the city for years. Poor response times or failed responses to emergencies are all too common, and reform seems to happen incredibly slowly compared to other cities of a similar size. Medical directors from Fort Worth, Texas and Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla., joined Saussy in testimony regarding the lack of standards in D.C. EMS response, reports NBC Washington.

“Every EMS system has a file that they don’t want to talk about, and that’s the file of patients that would have been better off calling Uber rather than 911,” Oklahoma City EMS Medical Director Dr. Jeffrey Goodloe said at the hearing.

Council members at the hearing were highly critical, particularly of Dean. Council member Mary Cheh said she was quickly losing faith in Dean’s ability to reform the troubled system. Other council members chided Dean for failing to take these concerns seriously, arguing lives are literally being put at risk by the department’s negligent actions.

“The status quo is unacceptable,” said council member Elissa Silverman at the Wednesday hearing. “It’s unacceptable. It is costing lives and millions of District dollars in settlements to families who lost loved ones because we just didn’t get it right.”

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