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!
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
I don't know who wrote this letter but I gotta tell ya, BRAVOOOO, or is it BRAVAAAAAA? Doesn't matter, nothing like putting the ball back in the muddy end of the court. Sadly, I doubt you will get results you request, it's not their style. You will more than likely end up having to hire a lawyer and fight Paul Wilber, the city and SFD, in court over this. What I do hope comes out of it is Gordy, See and anyone else involved in this get their collective asses reamed. That bunch has gotten a little to big for their britches, time to bring them down a peg or two.
ReplyDeleteWatch desk=You might as well hit the Send Button.Your dealing with first class anals and they think their chit don't stink and are untouchables. GOOD LUCK and takem down.
ReplyDeleteI'd hit the send button on the second letter you have ready. The first one going to the mayor will only be ignored. It's time for the SFD to know there is such a thing as BROTHERHOOD. Just because they have a new building doesn't mean they can forget the VFF. What happens if all of them decide not to go on calls because it might be them that this happens to next time? Are they treating her this way because she's a woman? If so that's another address that should be added to that letter.
ReplyDeleteHey Vollies, wanna piss Gordo Corleone and the rest of that bunch off? Don't give them the check for the new fire trucks. THAT will really piss them off.
ReplyDeleteNice letter. From the admin side they would tell you it is a personel matter and I doubt they will respond to any of this. The FF with the issure should file a formal complaint with the city or start with her chain of command if she has not already. If she doesnt get the results she wants she should contact a good lawyer that can help her out. I wonder how the career people get treated that need the job. Do they get talked out of treatment or get hassled for seeking treatment?
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that the City wants to turn their back but MD LAW "REQUIRES" all fire fighters and EMS Personel to have the Hep B Vaccine (all 3 shots) prior to riding or providing care! If she has had her series of shots the concern should not be quite as high.
ReplyDeleteBeing vaccinated is a good thing. Relying on vaccines is quite another thing. If they were so effective why are all of these children that are loaded up with vaccines such as measels and chickenpox still contracting measels and chickenpox. The vaccine does not insure you will not get Hep B. She should be tested and she should be treated if necessary, PERIOD. If the city administration and its department heads would just do what is right they wouldn't have so many problems. Is it to much to ask that the right thing be done, for once? If that was Bill Gordy's son you can bet the farm his boy would have had the testing and treatment requested without hesitation. Quit being assholes and do the right thing for once in your miserable lives.
ReplyDeletelawyer up, and do it fast.
ReplyDeleteWatch Desk keep on top of this . Make sure they do everything by the book on notification and request. Keep good documentation such as date ,time, who, what and when. Put reasonable deadlines for responses and then immediately follow up. Make sure the second letter send button is hit within a short time after the first has been sent and the deadlines reached for response. I went thru something simular with a fellow Correctional Officer at ECI. They waited to late to really press the issue and the results were not as good as could have been because of the extended delay. They can thank the Administration for that because they fed them a line and they believed it. As for as the HEP vacine, if your employer does give you a blood test to see if it took you will never know if the vacine was bad or not. The employer will not tell their employees this because of the cost. Help this individual all you can and I encourage everyone to support this individual and be discrete. With the Administration refusing Medical attention to this individual should constitute immediate firing, with no appeal and no benefits paid, for all who had knowledge. They are just as guilty of refusing Medical attention. You might want to contact Clifford B. Sobin, 1-800-827-2667, out of Baltimore. He is with Berman,Sorbin&Gross,LLP. They handle workmans comp cases and have a very high success rate.
ReplyDeleteCome on SFD, step up to the plate and help those people who have help others and helped you. You should be completely ashamed of yourselves. You are completely wrong here. Step up to the plate and do what is right by your people and the people who are serviced by the SFD. To the young lady, I hope this turns out fine for you and that you are not infected. As someone that used to be in the healthcare profession, I know it is one of your worst nightmares and not knowing is probably the worst part. If you do not get satisfaction very soon, I would certainly seek a really good lawyer. I know there are some that would absolutely love to jump on this case.
ReplyDeleteGoodluck
12;52, listen to him, out of town attorney is best ideal, maybe even get settlement to cover your lawyer bills.
ReplyDeleteThe citizens of Salisbury should file a class action suit against SFD for not taking care of this person. They work for us, the taxpayers. We should sue for negligence, mal,mis,non feaseance. Or we could sue them for being just plain ignorant.
ReplyDeleteHere is something no one knows, if the individual did not immediately (at the hospital) begin the paper work (prehospital exposure and workman's comp) then the whole issue is that she did not follow SOP.
ReplyDeleteIf she was pressured in any way to NOT follow SOP, that dog won't hunt.
ReplyDeleteThe "MD EEOC" is really the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. I believe they have an office in Cambridge, too. A friend of mine dealt with them and said they are faster than the Fed EEOC.
Good luck to this FF.
This situation makes me ill.
You have to file State EEOC before the Feds recognize your case. Make sure you check the space to have it also filed Federal. Be careful because they will attempt to get you to settle instead of continuing to get the maximum settlement. Yes file in Cambridge not in Baltimore. They are more effiecent and professional. Baltimore is very arrogant and unprofessional because they treat you like you are an inconvience to them.
ReplyDelete