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Mayor - "Fire-Paramedic integration can work"
Mayor joins Fire Chief, Union President, to tour integration success stories
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NEWS @ A GLANCE:
From March 16-18, Mayor Katz will join Fire Paramedic Chief Wes Shoemaker and United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg (UFFW) president Alex Forrest on a frontline tour of three integrated fire paramedic services in the Western United States—Los Angeles, San Diego and Tucson—which are widely considered to be models of successful integration between fire and paramedic services. (for more details, please read the full media release below)
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MEDIA RELEASE:
WINNIPEG March 14, 2006 - Committed to seeing the successful integration of Fire and Paramedic service in Winnipeg, Mayor Katz will join Fire Paramedic Chief Wes Shoemaker and United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg (UFFW) president Alex Forrest on a frontline tour of three integrated fire paramedic services in the Western United States this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The three departments chosen by Winnipeg fire/paramedic officials – Los Angeles, San Diego and Tucson - are widely considered to be models of successful integration between fire and paramedic services.
Winnipeg City Council endorsed a policy looking to merge the fire and paramedic services over seven years ago. The policy was adopted to provide better service and create efficiencies. As separate departments, the two services often deploy separately, sending multiple vehicles on different communication systems to the same emergency.
At peak efficiency, a merged service could deliver flexible teams of staff and vehicles to perform both fire suppression and paramedic roles. However, implementation of that merger has been repeatedly stalled by internal disagreements over operational issues.
“The Fire Paramedic Service integration has continued to drift and stall for almost a decade,” said Katz. “We need to move forward on the same page, and this frontline tour will give Chief Shoemaker, Mr. Forrest, and myself, some quality time together to see firsthand the positive examples of how fire paramedic integration can work to serve the citizens of our city. The UFFW President has shown an interest in the U.S. fire-based model for integration of the services, and we’re going together to see if this is the solution we’ve been looking for.”
“Resolving this long-standing problem is a high priority,” said Katz, pointing to over $4 million in new investments in the Fire Paramedic Service budget in the draft 2006 Operating Budget as proof of this commitment. “Our new investments will mean much more if we can end the uncertainty around integration.”
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