Fla. Fire Department Sues To Provide ALS Before Ambulances Arrive
Oct. 21--The North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District, which serves about half of the county's population, has sued Collier County commissioners for the right to practice advance medical treatment on patients before an ambulance arrives on scene.
The district claims in the lawsuit that commissioners didn't give fire officials a fair hearing last month when they denied their application for an advanced life support certificate. Fire officials also argue that the county's rules governing certificates are too vague to give any entity that applies for one a fair chance at receiving it.
"Collier County acted in an arbitrary manner in basing its decision on a personal bias based on consolidation or political concerns," the district argues in its complaint filed this month in Collier County Circuit Court.
The district asks the judge to order commissioners to issue the certificate.
The two sides are still meeting to try to hash out an agreement that both could live with, but any agreement would likely have to include an advanced support certificate, said fire commissioner Jim Burke.
"If we have the certificate, then we can agree to put a county paramedic on our truck so they can get training as a firefighter or come up with things like that to accommodate each other," Burke said. "But if the board of commissioners doesn't grant the certificate, it all falls through."
The fire district has been practicing advanced life support under a certificate for the last five years. Fire engines routinely beat ambulances to the scenes of emergencies and commissioners have renewed the district's license to use the treatment each year with little controversy. But this year, North Naples fire merged with the Big Corkscrew Island fire district, expanding its boundaries into Golden Gate Estates. When fire officials sought to renew the certificate last month. they also sought to expand it to the former Big Corkscrew area. It expires Jan. 1.
Commissioners voted down the renewal, 3-2, saying it would fragment patient care.
Without an agreement, or an immediate court ruling, the 75 paramedics of North Collier fire will not be able to practice advanced life support next year. They will be limited to basic treatment such as CPR and using a defibrillator until paramedics on a county ambulance crew arrive to the scene who can use advanced treatment such as regulating airflow or starting an IV.
All of the ambulances in Collier County are run through the county's emergency medical services department. County officials have long argued that it is better to have fewer highly-trained paramedics practice advanced support than many.
Commissioner Penny Taylor, who voted against issuing the certificate with Tim Nance and Tom Henning, said her goal is to make sure patient care has the same training and standards throughout the unincorporated county.
"We need to make sure protocols are standardized and unified and that the training is consistent throughout the county," Taylor said.
If no solution is reached by the end of the year, North Collier residents will still receive advanced life support, only from the county, which, until five years ago, was the sole provider of the treatment in North Naples for many years, Taylor said.
"We've done this before. We can do this again," Taylor said. "We stand ready in the county to put our folks up there if we need to."
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