Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is head of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department?
In June 2015, Jullette M. Saussy was named the medical director of DC Fire and EMS.[10] On January 29, 2016, she announced her resignation from that position in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser. In her letter, she called the department's culture "highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital medical care."[11]
The Columbia Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to Columbia, Missouri. It protects an area of and a population of approximately 100,000 from 9 stations strategically located around the city. The department is responsible for an area of with a population over 117,000.
A number of other, smaller controversies have occupied DCFEMS during Ellerbe's tenure as Fire Chief.
Ellerbe retaliated or allegedly retaliated several times against department employees who criticized him.
In June 2015, Jullette M. Saussy was named the medical director of DC Fire and EMS. On January 29, 2016, she announced her resignation from that position in a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser. In her letter, she called the department's culture "highly toxic to the delivery of any semblance of quality pre-hospital medical care."
Government of the District of Columbia Fireboat John H. Glenn Jr. Benjamin C. Grenup Monument to the first D.C. firefighter killed in action
The scandals led to a significant reduction in trust placed in the DCFEMS emergency medical services division, and on June 28, 2013, the public safety committee of the D.C. City Council rejected Ellerbe's altered plan.
Fire departments are traditionally the major providers of local emergency medical services outside of major cities in their respective areas of responsibility, which usually coincide with the territory of a municipality. Virtually all of the more than 400 fire departments include an emergency medical services unit. The services are provided through the use of the departments' own equipment and/or, with equipment delegated by INEM. In major cities, the emergency medical service units of fire departments serve as backups or reinforcements to INEM.
The first firefighting organizations in the district were private volunteer companies. To end the problems created by rivalries between these companies, District of Columbia approved in 1864 an act to consolidate them and organize a paid fire department.[5] Seven years passed before it was implemented on September 23, 1871, creating the all-professional District of Columbia Fire Department with a combination of paid and volunteer staff.[3] The department had seven paid firefighters and 13 call men to answer alarms, manning three engines and two ladders.
at the Wayback Machine(archived December 8, 2003)
On January 13, 1803, District of Columbia passed its first law about fire control, requiring the owner of each building in the district to provide at least one leather firefighting bucket per story or pay a $1 fine per missing bucket.[5]
DCFEMS was profiled in the fifth episode of Discovery Channel's "Nerve Center", which first aired in June 2011. The episode followed the department's activities on October 30–31, 2010, which included providing emergency medical services at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear and the 35th Marine Corps Marathon.
Fire protection within the city limits is provided by the Austin Fire Department, while the surrounding county is divided into twelve geographical areas known as Emergency Services Districts, which are covered by separate regional fire departments. Emergency Medical Services are provided for the whole county by "Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services".
On July 10, 2000, Ronnie Few took over as Fire Chief at DCFEMS, replacing Don Edwards, who was fired after it was found that he lived in Maryland despite a D.C. law that required cabinet-level city officials to live in the District of Columbia. Few was hired over Acting Fire Chief Thomas N. Tippett, a highly popular career firefighter and former firefighter's union official. Few was the fourth fire chief or acting fire chief in 18 months.
But the department was troubled. Training levels were low and customer service poor. The city's fleet was aging and in constant repair. Several fire stations were closed because they had no equipment with which to fight fires. Despite the delivery of a few trucks and engines in 2000, the department still needed to replace at least $7 million worth of old vehicles.
In 1882, the City of Winnipeg established the "Winnipeg Fire Department", followed by the "Winnipeg Ambulance Department" in 1974. Prior to 1974, ambulance services were provided by local private ambulance companies. In 1983 the Winnipeg Fire Department introduced the use of first responders to start assisting the Winnipeg Ambulance Department on medical calls. As of 2000, both departments amalgamated to form the "Emergency Response Service of Winnipeg", which was later renamed as the "Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service".The "Winnipeg Emergency Medical Services" is the branch of the "Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service" that provides paramedic and ambulance emergency patient transport to the citizens of Winnipeg. The service uses a dual response system in which the "Winnipeg Fire Department" has a licensed Primary Care Paramedic on most fire apparatus who can assist the paramedics on ambulance. WEMS has 25 ambulances, 1 Major Incident Response Vehicle (MIRV), 1 bariatric ambulance, 4 District Medical Supervisors and 1 Superintendent of EMS operations. Since 2002, WEMS operates 1 PACER (Paramedics Active in Community Education and Response) which is a pair of specially outfitted paramedics deployed on bicycles during the summer months (weather and staffing permitting). District Medical Supervisors use chase vehicles to assist paramedics on ambulance with pediatric and high acuity calls and review paramedics' performance for continuous quality improvement. The superintendent oversees all EMS operations and if required can respond as a medical supervisor. WEMS operate out of 3 stand-alone Ambulance stations and 20 of the 27 Fire Station.
The history of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, which began in 1884, has been marked in recent years by various controversies and scandals.
In the wake of the fires, firefighters' union president Edward Smith called for a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the department fleet.
The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, (also known as DC FEMS, FEMS, DCFD, DC Fire, or Fire & EMS), established July 1, 1884,[3] provides fire protection and emergency medical service for the District of Columbia, in the United States. An organ of the devolved district government, Fire & EMS is responsible for providing fire suppression, ambulance service and hazardous materials containment for the federal district.[4]
The department also saw shift in the type of services it was called upon to provide. The number of fire alarms plummeted, thanks to improvements in building fire safety and fire suppression, but worsening public health and a crisis in health care availability led the public to call on DCFEMS to provide much more emergency health care. In 2002, there had fewer than 100 fire alarms per month but 8,000 to 9,000 calls for medical assistance. By 2013, the number of calls per month had risen to almost 13,350, of which about 10,700 were for emergency medical care.
While campaigning for mayor in 2006, Adrian Fenty pledged to undo the merger of fire and emergency medical services despite these improvements. But Fenty reneged on his promise, and the merger remained intact throughout his tenure as mayor of the District of Columbia (2007 to 2011).
The plan drew national attention as well. An emergency medical services director from Connecticut said that redeployment was common, but downgrading the quality of care at night was "unusual". Paul Werfel, director of the paramedic program at the University Medical Center at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, said the plan gave commuters better care but provided less to those who lived in the District of Columbia. The severity of the calls should be taken into account, Werfel said, not just the number of calls. A nationwide survey of medical professionals conducted by the "Washington Times" said Ellerbe's plan would be unique. A DCFEMS spokesperson said the department treated all calls as equally serious. Don Lundy, president-elect of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, praised Ellerbe for his innovativeness, but questioned whether the District should rely on fire engines to transport a single paramedic or EMT. Lundy suggested providing paramedics and EMTs with their own, far less costly vehicles.
The fire department was established on July 1, 1884.
Eleven fire districts, two city fire departments, and a regional fire authority provide fire prevention, fire fighting, and emergency medical services. Each fire district is governed by an elected board of commissioners. Most districts have three commissioners. Fire districts receive most of their revenue from property taxes. All of the fire districts and the regional fire authority have volunteer or paid-call firefighters and emergency medical technicians (EMTs), as does the City of Lynden Fire Department.
The EMS division was rocked by leadership scandals in 2004 and 2005. In August 2004, D.C. emergency medical services officials breached confidential patient records by taking them home, a blatant violation of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. EMS Medical Director Dr. Fernando Daniels III was terminated, and city investigators said that many or most of the EMS division's 35 managers could be fired. Daniels' successor, Dr. Clifford H. Turen, resigned on March 1, 2005, after it was learned that he had not yet received a license to practice medicine in the District of Columbia and his speciality was not in emergency medicine.