From The Watchdesk

Attention Salisbury Fire Dept!!!!!

Well, seems that a very close, dear friend of mine is being screwed with. This young lady, who is fairly new to the Fire Service, while operating as a member of your organization, came in contact with bodily fluids of a patient while on an EMS run. Patient was confirmed to have an infectious disease. My young friend immediately reported the incident within her volunteer chain-of-command, and requested immediate action, due to the fact that she had a scratch and was genuinely concerned.

Seems that certain members of your organization are more concerned with stonewalling her, in what appears to be false hopes that “it will go away.” From the moment that the incident was reported to certain individuals, they have taken it upon themselves to distort the truth, hide the facts, and bury the evidence. They have denied her claims, delayed action on their part, and have been constantly stalling her. She is constantly questioned about why she is acting on the exposure, and is told that it is totally unnecessary. Apparently she even had to visit the Emergency Room at PRMC to obtain more medicine when the folks at the Fire Dept. appointed physicians office denied her. Additionally, a certain someone violated HIPAA regulations not once…..but gasp….TWICE! Who gave you the right to speak to her mother without her consent or permission? Or was this a feeble attempt on your part to “downplay” the situation and try to get her mother to talk her out of taking any action???? And the second infraction? Talking to her on the phone, discussing intimate details of her personal health, while multiple other unknown persons were in the same room, apparently laughing while they made mockery of the situation? Shame on you! I wonder what the HIPAA gods would think? I wonder what MEIMSS would think?

Whatever the motivation for this is- financial?? (Perhaps the Fire Dept. does not want to open their clutched hands and pay for her medical coverage) Personal (someone just doesn’t like her and is screwing with her) or Political (shhhhh! we can’t let word get out!) I really don’t know and I really don’t care. What I do know is this-

The shit stops now. You know who you are, and you know what you are doing. She had better start receiving respect and courtesy from the administration of the SFD. Any and all benefits for this exposure had better be paid, in full, and on time. She had better not receive any bills or demand for payment from anyone regarding this matter. I don’t know what the Workman’s Comp laws are in the State of Maryland, but where I am, Volunteer Firefighters may file a workman’s comp claim if they are out of work for seven work days or more. Seems the medicine she is taking to fight off any infection (that she had to beg and plead for) has a side effect of making you extremely drowsy, causes headaches, nausea/vomiting and left her incapacitated to work her job. And before you go and claim it was “just her”, I encourage you to go to www.cdc.com and look up Kaletra or Combivir. As of this time she has returned to work, but 8 days of no pay has left quite the hole in her pocket. If she files for workman’s comp, no one had better try and “discourage” her from doing it, and the Fire Department certainly had better not deny her the benefit.

Now, you all could easily dismiss this as some Internet Wacko just trying to jockey a position for a little bit of justice. Well, that may be partially true. I hate to see a Fire Department treat their members in such poor taste, especially the volunteer members. I bet if she were one of the paid members and this happened to her, Local 4246 would be jumping up and down screaming bloody murder and calling for heads! What is totally true is that I know a thing or two about blood borne pathogens and exposures; because on top of being a Career firefighter in another jurisdiction for over 10 years (as well as a volunteer for 20) I also work part time in Industrial Safety and Health, training industrial employees in exposure control and associated topics. I certainly hope that the SFD has a written exposure control policy as required by MDOSH.

Additionally, what is also totally true is that a letter is written. This letter currently sits in the “composed” box of my ISP’s mail server. This letter discusses the situation in extreme detail, from the moment that it happened to today. The address bar of the email contains email addresses of persons and organizations. People like Dave Statter, Billy G, Mayor Tilghman, and Governor O’Malley. Organizations such as The Maryland State Fireman’s Association, The National Volunteer Fire Council, MEIMSS, and MDOSH. Oh, and did I mention that the email is also addressed to the Salisbury Daily News. The Baltimore Sun, WBOC, and WMDT just to name a few. If she does not stop getting stonewalled, the “send” button is gonna get clicked. All she wants is the following:

1. For the SFD Administration to immediately cease and desist in any and all acts of denial, stonewalling, or otherwise purposely delaying or attempting to deny her claims.
2. For any and all of her “Injury On Duty” claims to be immediately filed in whatever official capacity that they need to be, including at the state level. The exposure shall be fully documented and placed in her personnel file, for future reference in case of sickness.
3. For any documented out-of-pocket costs borne by her, to be reimbursed upon request without hassle or lengthy delay.
4. For any and all SFD personnel to adhere to all HIPAA regulations, and not discuss the matter with anyone, without her written consent.

Now, before you guys go and get all these delusions of grandeur and decide to retaliate against this young lady in some fashion, which would be an unfortunate and un-needed reaction on your part; did I happen to mention that a second, far-better version of the aforementioned letter exists within the coffers of my ISP’s email server; one for the explicit purpose of distribution in the event that the young lady is retaliated against????? The address list is just as long, except there are a few more individuals and organizations…..People with the title of “Esq.” after their name. Organizations like The State of Md. EEOC (yes, believe it or not, volunteers come under EEOC when it comes to messing with their benefits!) There are more, but I don’t want to bore you any more lurid details. Let it be a surprise, if it has to!

Just do the right thing. Give her what she is legally entitled to, without complaint or further delay.

Thanks for listening and have a nice day!