Let Peoria Fire Department Operate its Ambulance

Peoria Journal Star Forum Article--February 23, 2005

On Feb. 1 the Peoria City Council voted to sell the only fire department ambulance, which has been sitting idle in a garage. It was never allowed to respond to 911 calls. Numerous firefighters who are certified paramedics are not allowed to use their skills. They have been wasted.

To help rectify this situation, I will purchase the PFD's ambulance at its present market value and donate it back to the PFD if these conditions are met:

1. This ambulance will be used for sick or injured Peorians and staffed by PFD firefighters/paramedics allowed to use their advanced life support skills in Peoria.

2. Doctors George Hevesy and Rick Miller have been directors of the Emergency Department at OSF for the past 15 years. They have controlled all ambulances in the area. Both physicians need to publicly declare any fees, stipends, salaries or other benefits they've received from their relationship with Advanced Medical Transport, the only company allowed to operate in Peoria.

3. OSF's Emergency Medical Services Department needs to provide health-care data for the past decade to the city manager and City Council revealing how Peoria's pre-hospital patients did when cared for and transported by AMT. This data was conspicuously absent in the 149-page consultant's report that evaluated fire and emergency medical services in Peoria last year.

The medical ambulance debacle in Peoria, plagued by conflicts of interest, confusion, and corporate greed for many years, needs to end.

John Carroll, MD
Peoria
2/26/2005


(I never did get an answer from this forum article. It seems that the offer of a free engine to act as an ambulance for Peoria would have interested someone. The three requirements were probably more than Hevesy and Miller wanted to follow because of the answers and piquing the public’s interest. The Peoria Fire Department still remains non transport, i.e. cannot transport patients to any hospital anywhere and cannot give advanced life support even though some Peoria firemen are paramedics.)


John Carroll, MD (3/1/2006)