News

Fla. Firefighters Could be at Odds Again With County on Life-Saving Measures

Greg Stanley

09/20/2015

Sept. 20--A five-year peace between Collier County commissioners and North Naples firefighters may be ending.

On Tuesday, commissioners once again will take up a decades-old debate over the extent of lifesaving treatment they will allow the fire district's paramedics to give a patient before a county-run ambulance arrives.

Commissioner Tom Henning will ask the board to work out a personnel-sharing agreement with the district that would be similar to agreements in place with several other fire districts in the county. Those agreements typically place a county-trained paramedic -- instead of a fire department's paramedic -- on a fire engine. Fire engines and quick response vehicles typically beat ambulances to emergencies because ambulances often have to drive to hospitals and there are fewer of them. By having a county medic on a firetruck, residents could be sure that if they need advanced life support -- an IV, lifesaving drugs or an oxygen mask -- a medic would be able to use that treatment if an ambulance is late.

But past agreements between the county and North Naples fire have all failed, in large part because fire district officials and Collier County Emergency Medical Service officials have never gotten along.

The relationship blew up in 2009 and 2010, when Medical Director Robert Tober and then-EMS chief Jeff Page accused North Naples firefighters of cheating on their paramedic tests. Firefighters later were cleared by a state investigation.

Commissioners gave North Naples a certificate of public convenience and necessity, which allowed the fire district to hire its own medical director as well as train and supervise its own medics.

With more paramedics on staff and response vehicles in stations, fire officials say they have been able to improve care. Commissioners renewed the certificate each year with little controversy until the vote come up again early this month. North Naples merged with Big Corkscrew Island fire fighters in January, and the newly formed district asked to use the treatment throughout its new boundaries. Commissioners voted down renewal, saying it would fragment care.

Henning said other fire districts have been able to work out interlocal agreements with the county, and North Naples shouldn't be the only one with a certificate of public convenience and necessity. He said he understands the problems the district has had with medical officials, but now that North Naples has it's own medical director it should run more smoothly.

"The interlocal agreement is so that North Naples can still provide (advanced life support) and have their own medical director," Henning said. "We would direct our county manager and staff to get what they feel is necessary and fair."

But after five years, the fire district has proved that it is every bit as capable as the county at providing advanced treatment, said Jorge Aguilera, deputy chief of emergency medical services for the fire district.

"The last time we were in business with the county through an interlocal agreement it was an unequivocal disaster," Aguilera said. "We were called liars, cheaters and clowns. We were de-credentialed, our protocol was eviscerated and medication was taken out of our boxes. Since we got this certificate we have been out of the limelight, everybody has gotten along and the service has improved."