Burke EMS Scandal
This story was brought up on “The News Herald” blog at morganton.com It has an ongoing discussion/debate.
The following was submitted by a reader and posted on another blog on 04/06/2005. A month later, this is still a major debate on the News Herald blog. It has been requested to be put into the paper so everyone can read, but nothing has been mentioned about it.
Let me tell you about the EMS scandal. 8 paramedics have quit in the past 3 weeks. It began years ago when the county forced EMS personnel to work a 24 hour shift but only pay them for 16 hours. The county justified this by saying that the paramedics had down time at work where they might be sleeping or watching tv or whatever. The paramedics argued that yes, we have down time, but not as much now as in the past.
As the county continues to grow, EMS, which is one of the few profitable departments of the county was virtually working their employees 20 hours a shift. The employees also argued that even though they might not be on a call they are forced to be away from their families. A number of employees have hired a attorney and are suing for back pay. The current situation is this: Burke county is practically running out of paramedics as they continue to move on to more desirable employment. What is left are EMT’s who do not have experience and are not authorized to perform as paramedics. There are more situations than I can describe where a patient may find himself at the mercy of one of these people who do not have the training or experience of those paramedics who have left. The county has also been forced to hire some employees that they would not otherwise hire. One recent hire worked for Alexander county before pulling out in front of a tractor trailer resulting in a accident. I won’t comment on casualties at this time. This same employee soon after being hired now has a back injury and is alleged to be milking the county of disability benefits.
When the current county manager became involved, (also a reject from Alexander county) his policy was to pay the employees for the hours but cut back on the days that they worked per month. The end result was as much as a 30 percent decrease in pay, forcing many of the experienced paramedics to quit in order to support their families. I am told that these employees consider this payback for the lawsuit. So who is suffering for this? Me and you if we need an ambulance and expect them to do anything other than haul you to the hospital. I have no idea why this story is being kept quiet. Some EMS employees believe that the county manager is keeping the county commissioners in the dark. Maybe. I wonder if the commissioners are not fully aware and are comfortable letting the county manager take the heat. At least till after the election.
So what is the local paper doing about it. Nothing as far as I can tell. Why? Here’s a theory. Well, unless you haven’t noticed, Morganton is a small town with button down conservative values and the newspaper know that you don’t stir certain people at this level or payback may come to them in the form of not allowing reporters on the scene or finding other ways to shut the newspaper out when something is going on like Synthron for instance. It would be easy for the paper to get the EMS story. Just find ex-employees and talk to them. That would force a response from the county manager and others.
Let me also mention one other person that may be assisting with string-pulling. The county attorney. He has been known in these parts as “high dollar Dan”. That is a story also waiting to be looked into but I won’t bore you with the details at this time.
I’ll end by saying that all the information that I have given you on EMS is from people who work there, which forces me to remain anonymous, hence the Burke blogger title. I do not want to jeopardize an EMS employees job by association. They can be fired for speaking out. I also need to remain anonymous in order to keep getting information from my sources. Lastly, I need to remain anonymous because I can’t afford to be attacked by those who will choose to attack the messenger. I’m sure that you have noticed that Duke Conover has not even responded to any of my blogs. Whats up with that? I apparently can’t even bait him to respond. It’s an election year, in Burke county. Just watch and learn.
This entry was moved from politicallyincorrect.wordpress.com with permission of the owner.
167 Comments »
Leave a comment
Uncategorized
Just a question so don't jump me for it. I have lived in AL, MS, and FL. This is the first state/county that I have lived in that has a county ran EMS/ambulance service. Has the issue ever been pressed for private EMS service such as AMR? If it was privatized, would this not solve the problems that are occurring now?
Things were getting interesting earlier tonight. People with ideas had to be shut down over at the News Herald blog. Big Brother was watching. Ideas must be squashed immediately. Only Republicans are allowed to have them.
It is time for Mr. Crawley and Mr. Conover ask for a copy of the county commissioners emails. This includes the county manager and county attorney.
Republican corruption can only be stopped when the media reports what they know. The News Herald would be able to understand the depth of corruption simply by getting a copy of the OPINION that the county paid a consultant for over the old pay and a copy of the Code of Federal Regulations which shows the exact opposite of what the consultants opinion says. The commissioners have known for years that they have been breaking the law.
-
It is time for the News Herald to quit behaving like cowards and stand up in the public interest and demand answers from the county on this issue. It is much bigger than what we are going to name the schools. I take criminal conduct by elected officials seriously. Sheriff McDevitt, are you investigating? Just because you depend on the commissioners for money does not mean that they are above the law.
Just bouncing some numbers for you here Ryan. If the county ran 15 trips per shift and made $400 per pick up, it would amount to 2.2 million per year. If we paid 40 EMS employees an average of 25,000 per year, we have spent 1 million. The county still has to pay for equipment, but if you look closely, they are always doing it on the cheap. I would say that the money is spent elsewhere. Where? Your guess is as good as mine.
Please do not post in someone else's name. If you are caught, your post will be removed. If you continune, you will be reported to your ISP as posting SPAM. I have already removed two post that are posing as Burke Blogger… I do have ways of checking.
All of that crap that Gunner posted on the other sitebwas a distraction from the real issue. But, that was expected, when you don’t know or don’t want to tell what the answer is, you try to redirect focus. What I want to know is how much Burke county is collecting for ambulance trips. How much of what you bill for is actually paid? And if the answer is anything less than 85%, I want to know why. And if it is actually at least 85%, where is the money going? There are counties that surround us that are collecting 90% or better. If the folks who manage the money in Burke county are doing their job, then it would not be necessary to raise taxes in order for Paramedics to be paid fairly. It also would not be nesessary to have crappy equipment and unsafe ambulances. SO, where is the money? We are Burke county residents deserve to know.
I doubt that 85% is collected. I do not know if it is true with ambulance service (I assume so), but doctors make contracts with insurance companies. Commercial insurance companies may only pay 70-80% of what is billed and the rest is written off. On the other hand, Medicare and Medicaid only pay 20-25% of what is billed and the rest is written off by law.
I do work for a medial billing agency and that is what goes on in hospital billing. That is why hospitals charge $10 for an asprin… if you have insurance, insurance pays a portion, a portion is writen off and very little is paid by the patient. But if you don't have insurance, you have to pay the full $10. Isn't it great how the medical system works?!
How much is paid by the taxpayers in a county ran service? I do not know, but county hospitals recieve very little in county taxes and make their money from the insurance companies. Someone said that an ambulance ride in Burke is around $400 plus mileage… how much does it really cost for the ride and how much is profit?
Let's Say
$400.00 – Amount billed
-$30.00 – Pay the medic (1hr x 2 medics @$15/hour)
-$90.00 – Supplies / ride
-$20.00 – Malpractice Insurance / ride
-$10.00 – Automobile insurance / ride
-$12.00 – Fuel (20 Miles / 5 MPG * $3.00 gal)
$238.00 – Profit?? / ride
And these numbers are high gestamants – does it look right?
Ryan- None of what we bill Medicare/Medicaid or private insurance is a write off. If we bill say $600, if Medicare/Medicaid or private insurance does not pay the entire amount, the patient is responsible for the other part. Now, that is one of the places where we lose money. In my opinion, not enough is being done to collect what the patient owes. Also, I do not think enough is being done to prove to Medicare/Medicaid that the ambulance was necessary. Now, I am not saying that freeloaders that use EMS as a taxi service should have Medicare/Medicaid pay for their EMS bill, but there is a gray area that patients fall into that Medicare/Medicaid may or may not pay. The billing department needs to be making sure that Medicare/Medicaid is billed properly so we can be paid. I have no knowledge of the billing practices of Burke County, but common sense tells me that #1, either they are not getting at least 85% return on what they bill or #2, they are getting the 85% and the money is being misused.
Karen, I am looking for specifics for NC, but here is an excert from http://wsjclassroom.com/archive/04dec/econ_markup.htm for VA.
“Then, there was the ambulance ride, from the community hospital in Reston to Inova Fairfax. Mr. Shipman was billed $1,000 for the 16-mile ride by the private company that transported him, Loudoun-Fairfax Ambulance. Medicare says it would have paid only $247 for the ride; Virginia Medicaid says it would have paid as little as $165 in some cases for the same trip. Jeff Laramie, the company’s owner, says that charges for self-paying patients are high to compensate for low reimbursements from the government and other big insurers.”
By law, no one can bill a patient for over what Medicare and Medicaid allows.
Karen, last I knew Burke County had a collection rate in the low 90s. Now that was a few years ago, and with the economy being what it is that may have changed.
I am a former BCEMS paramedic. I, too, felt used and abused, but not just because of the hours. There were other factors, such as the lack of decent trucks/equipment, the “good ole boy” network and the fact that if you didn’t eat, sleep, and live BCEMS, in other words have a life, you were NOT going to get advancement. In fact, you stood a good chance of being held back and denied the opportunity for furthering your education. Especially if you had committed the crime of being born female.
There are, or were, good things about working for BCEMS. The comraderie was one. Has that been lost now as well?
Ok, here we go again with the copying of my name. Oh well, just goes to show that Ron Lewis and his puppets are everywhere and trying to redirect focus from the real issues.
NREMT- I don’t think the comraderie is lost, but it is suffering.
Ryan- What Medicare/Medicaid reimburses for is entirely up to the level of care that is provided. It is all in how it is billed. They pay a flat rate and then milage, which they pay $5 a mile. Medicare just recently made some changes to the reimbursement, for the good and knowing that, I still would like to know where is the money. Medicare/Medicaid has increased how much they pay and BCEMS has cut the cost of what they pay their medics…. How fair is that?
This is absurd!! If you are trying to shut me up, stop trying. It isn’t going to work. I am far too strong of a female to let your antics drive me away.
Hey guys, guess who’s set up a website? I’ll link to it here soon. It’s not a blog, everything is one sided.
Ryan- Some other information that I do know about Medicare/Medicaid. If Ron Lewis does what he is threatening like staff our ambulances with only EMT-basics, our reimbursement will also suffer. Medicare/Medicaid will not pay as much for ambulance service if only EMT-B’s staff the units. They pay for the care that is performed. Burke County can not bill for ALS (Advanced Life Support) if only Basic’s are on the truck.
“staff our ambulances with only EMT-basics” This is the best idea I’ve ever heard, Karen, your not as stupid as everyone thinks after all.
actually on second thought, I think the best idea is to fire everyone and go strickly to volunteer and contract services only.
I’m only joking Karen, you know I love ya
Loved by the devil… Not exactly what I strive for.
We should meet for lunch, my treat.
No thanks. I don’t want to be another tax write off for you.
I can’t believe I was going to let you check my pressure points. Oh well, your loss.
I loved the letter to the editor today by Karen. The only way change can be made is from public pressure. The “powers that be” will not sit down and discuss these issues. Matter of fact, they don’t even concider it an issue. It is amazing that grown men and women can act like two year olds on the playground. You sued us, so we will cut your pay to nothing. I am sure everyone knows what Maynard Taylor said when he was told about the Lawsuit. “Fire them all, fire everyone of them” This attitude other than being childess, is really going to hurt the county. Let me tell you why. Paramedics were not paid for overtime since the 1980’s. It is black and white 100% true. The county has been told it was not legal for years. Matter of fact, the Emergency Services director has documentation where he has told past county managers it was not legal. The county admitted they were illegal last year when they attempted to throw a couple of hundred dolllars at the Paramedics and call it back-pay. At the same time, they changed the pay plan and the normal monthly check was short a couple of hundred dollars. So between the two checks for that month, they both added up to a normal monthly check. They claim it was back pay. If the lawsuit goes to court, a couple of hundred dollars will not even be a drop in the bucket. We are talking thousands and tens of thousand dollars each! So it would make sense the county would try to make the Paramedics happy and try to reach a settlement. Of course they are not going to do that, they cut their pay by 30% and told them if they don’t like it go somewhere else. How did they do it? They went to a 24/72 hour shift which the paramedics asked for. This allows the paramedic to average close to a 40 hour work week. They still work 300 more hours in a year than a 40/hour per week employee. That part was good and welcomed. But what the county did next after the lawsuit went public was to cut the hourly rate from $15 to $9.50. Also 12 holidays were taken away against county policy. So after the hours were cut-back, the hourly rate was changed too. I know you are thinking they can’t do that, it is illegal. You would be correct. The hourly rate should have never ben touched! They are still doing the exact same job they were paid $15/ hour for.
Well, most of the good paramedics have quit and interestingly only 2 of the 14 listed on the lawsuit have quit. There is a rumor of another lawsuit is in the works but I will hold off on showing that hand. This whole issue could have been taken care of and Burke County would still have the best EMS system in the state. All that the Paramedics have asked for is close to a 40 hour week, average pay per hour for a Paramedic ($14/hour based on national average), and equal benefits as other county employees. I don’t see why that is so hard. Instead of doing that, the county commissioners have chosen to run off all of the experianced paramedics and made no attempt to settle past issues. What this will cause is well over $100,000 for the lawsuit and a few citizens will die due to brand-new EMS employees coming to them in a time of need. That is shameful and a result of “look at me I am bigger than you and I am going to knock you down” Just like a two year old.
Well! Maybe some refugees from the News Herald Blog will stop in. I’ll pass it along to some of the others. I’m sure the buzzards are watching here too though. Burke Blogger keep up the good work. I’ve got a little info to pass on if you can work it out.
Thanks for the tip about where to continue posting. Sounds like Gunner finally cracked. Maybe we can check over at Broughton and see who they have admitted in the past few hours.
Tommu,
You’re absolutely right. The sad thing is, the olive branch has been extended several times and has been slapped out of our hands each time. The county knows it has insurance to cover a lawsuit of this type. What they don’t realize is that individuals in government and management have said and done enough wrong to be sued individually. Not to mention a pending legal (possibly criminal) investigation. I bet they don’t have insurance for that. I hate that the citizens stand to lose so much but as for the others, they have it coming.
It is a sad testimony that the first words out of the Paramedics mouths when they come to work in the morning is, who else quit while I was off?
So sad is right. It burns me up to realize that a child or mother or wife or husband of someone is going to die due to the absolute stupidity of a few men that didn’t know that the public did not think that when they promised “no new taxes”, that they meant “even if it kills somebody.” What’s worse is that they could have made the budget work without screwing EMS workers or raising taxes. Our county and our country have never been in such poor hands. We need changes in our government now. I beg all that read this blog to not allow these bozos continue to run this country into the ground.
We can start right here at home. First we demand common sense from the new people running for office. Then we inform them that they will have only one chance to get it right. Then we decide each election if they deserve to keep their jobs. Sounds easy. It is if you take everyone you know to the polls on every election day. Committ yourself today to never allow your county, state, or country to be bullied into doing things that don’t make common sense. The Republican party is in shambles and I have my fancy boots on. Let’s kick-em to the curb.
This is from Mr. Bush’s February 4, 2005 explanation of how he will “save” our Social Security system. It’s similiar to how Burke County explains their pay plan to EMS. Take notes, class, there will be a test:
Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of the United States:
“Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those — changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be — or closer delivered to what has been promised. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU? IT’S KIND OF MUDDLED. Look, there’s a series of things that cause the — like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. This is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those — that that growth is affect, it will help on the red.”
Got that? Never “misunderestimate” our president or his Republican soldiers in Burke County.
Wayne Abele is mad. He can’t understand why Ron Lewis would take so much more authority than he has bee given. Yes, Wayne understands that Ron was “contracted.” The only county manager in Burke Countys history to be contracted. You could say that a “contract” was put out on the citizens of Burke County as well as EMS employees. Go out to the masses, Ron. Give them a bone. Perhaps they will be satisfied. If they are not, get rid of them. Wayne is just echoing what Maynard Taylor is saying at the Hildebran feed trough were he likes to eat. I believe it was, “We need to fire all them EMS people.”
What a guy. Maybe Wayne and Maynard will see how it feels one day when the shoe is on the other foot.
-
The real contract is on the citizens. Some will die due to the negligence of the imperialist commissioners.
How ridiculous it is to have your worth as a human being questioned by a county commissioner that thinks he is above the law.
Ron the “hatchet man” Lewis says that if EMS employees don’t like their pay cut in half “theres the door.” Many (14) have went out the door to make more money in other counties. Can’t blame them. Their families may need emergency services one day and with smooth talking Ron running things we can depend on “you call, we haul.” That’s what Ron feels our county needs. One opinion-Ron’s. How about what the rest of us think? We keep hearing from one person who likes to use several names, but his ignorance can’t escape him so we all know who he is. Should we continue to respond? After all, it will do no good. A person with a “jesus complex” may be really peeved if we become oblivious to his greatness. Objective truth is met with blatant lies by the Republicans. Remember bloggers, smoke screens will only cover the facts for so long. Their argument is don’t even try because we are afraid you might succeed. I suppose that since we can’t think at their level(thank God) we couldn’t hope to understand the pressure that they are under.
I say we begin the process of throwing the bums out. All are not in a position to speak out. If those that are will, this issue will take wings, otherwise, it’s a stall and wait game by the Republicans until after the election.
I just want to take the time to thank all the people that have called me with information that has been essential to telling the EMS story. For those of you at EMS, hang in there, the emperor will soon have no clothes. What is amazing is how the Republicans continue to throw rocks and play childish games on these blogs in an attempt to change the story. The story is not going to go away. Your attempts to bully Karen and others will only enbolden them to speak up and be heard. Think about it folks, we have a true grassroots cause here in Burke county and we are standing up to the dirty politicians and I believe we can make a difference. This battle is not only for EMS workers, but all employees working for tycoons that think of you as slaves that deserve nothing for thier labor. The embarrasment here is that the workers boss is the government. The government that is entrusted to keep this kind of thing from happening in this country. The commissioners have acted with pious impunity in dealing with the EMS. Perhaps it will take some trauma in their lives to realize that they are punishing the very people that may one day save their life. Shame on you Wayne Abele, Wesley Abele, Jack Carroll, Maynard Taylor, Ron “hatchetman” Lewis, and High Dollar Dan Kuehnert. I continue to pray for all of you.
As Burke County sleeps we continue to enjoy the protection of the hard working people at EMS and the sheriffs department. Our world is better due to these under-appreciated men and women. Human beings with families to feed and that deserve the admiration of the entire community. Our county commissioners may not realize that while they sleep, accidents happen involving the need for critical care paramedics to keep patients alive until they can get more emergency care at the hospital. Our county commissioners may not realize that people need deputy’s at all hours of the night to assist victims of abuse, domestic violence, and worse. Our county commissioners are safe in their beds tonight enjoying a level of life that most of us can not even imagine.
We citizens are often faced with trying to decide which wealthy candidate to elect. I encourage all to make a choice this election that you can live with.
Burke Blogger, it must be difficult for you to traverse through life without being able to traverse through compound sentences.
Our soldiers, in Afghanistan cleaning out the mountains for spring, are doing more good for not only our country, but the entire world. It’s too bad you never served in the military, BB, you could have been a Navy corpsman.
Aparently, Ron had plans on renovating the court house instead of paying EMS more.
From the News Herald:
“Burke County commissioners have evaluated renovation needs to the courthouse within the last year. County Manager Ron Lewis says he hopes in the coming fiscal year a consensus can be reached about what to do with the courthouse and come up with a final design.”
Poor Jack Carroll. It’s an election year and no one told Jack that he wasn’t due to run for re-election. Suddenly Jack has decided to begin writing letters to the editor regarding various issues in order to get his name in the paper. Jack must be worried that some bad news is coming and wants to get out ahead of this bad news.
I wonder what Jack could be so worried about. Maybe he fears that the public won’t receive the news to well that he and his Republican cronies are breaking the law by not abiding by the labor laws of this country. Maybe worry of going to jail has Jacks prostate bothering him. Maybe Jack is worried that he and Maynard Taylor are going to be cell mates. I hear Maynard snores on camping trips Jack so take some ear plugs. As a matter of fact, it might be a good time for all of Burke County to buy earplugs. When the citizens hear how the county commissioners have cheated hard working county employees out of money that they earned, they won’t be so happy.
-
Wayne Abele is reported to have said that he didn’t know where all his supporters were during the primaries. I’ll give you a hint Wayne, try looking over on the other side. The voters want to assist you back into the restaurant business Wayne. By the way Wesley is undercooking the bacon again. But there is always plenty of pork available when one family in the county carries 40 percent of every county commission vote.
-
Lord we pray that you will make these wrongs right.
note to self. when the other sides best argument is a complaint regarding sentence structure, consider the argument won.
Here are the rates allowed by Medicare. You cannot bill a patient for over these amounts. These are taken from Medicare's website and I have condensed them so that they are easier to read.
Ambulance service, advanced life support, non-emergency transport, level 1 (ALS1) – $215.38 + Mileage
Ambulance service, advanced life support, emergency transport, level 1 (ALS1-emergency) – $341.01 + Mileage
Ambulance service, basic life support, non-emergency transport (BLS) – $179.48 + Mileage
Ambulance service, basic life support, emergency transport (BLS-emergency) – $287.17 + Mileage
Advanced life support, level 2 (ALS2) – $493.57 + Mileage
Specialty care transport (SCT) – $583.31 + Mileage
Mileage Rates are: $9.17/mile for miles 1-17 and $7.64 after that.
I am assuming that Burke County Tax Payers pick up the tab on the cost of non-covered services.
*I am not certified in billing for Ambulance Services so take this at will. Also, there may be other factors in the billing.
(So if Burke County charges $400 + Mileage for a ride and a patient has Medicare, they are not going to collect over these fees.)
Let’s say the Ambulance goes out on a basic call 10 miles from the hospital, for a no life threatening emergency this is what would be billed:
$215.38 – Basic Service
$ 91.70 – Mileage (10*$9.17)
$307.08 Total Billed
Burke county does collect like 92% to 94%. If you do not pay your ambulance bill you can have your driving privilages revoked, garnished from your paycheck, etc. It is just like oweing taxes to the county. Last I heard (2 years ago) EMS collected to within $200,000 of paying for it’s self ony $200,000 a year of tax money was being spent. Now I would say it is even closer to due to 14 people quiting and the huge pay cut. Also, it is unheard of for an ambulance service that runs emergency calls to break even and they never turn a profit. It is the nature of the business.
Has anyone heard about the county awarding a contract for a convalesant service to come into Burke County and take all the non-emergency (money making) trips. That would be stupid! Those are the bread and butter. Burke County should get another ambulance to do those.
Has anyone heard about the county awarding a contract for a convalesant service to come into Burke County and take all the non-emergency (money making) trips. That would be stupid! Those are the bread and butter. Burke County should get another ambulance to do those.
new ambulance $90,000
cardiac monitor $15,000
Co2 detector/pulse ox $1100
Ventilator $10,000
Just an example of how expensive things are. I could keep going.
Yes Burke County may collect 92-94% but that is only of what is allowed by the carrier. The example above is Medicare… legally if a patient had Medicare, they cannot bill the patient over what Medicare allows. From the example above, $307.08 is allowed by Medicare and medicare pays 95% of this, the patient can only be billed for the remaining $15.35 that Medicare did not pay.
Say Burke got a wild hare and started billing $5000 a run, Medicare is only going to allow $307.08 and Burke could not bill the patient $4692.92.
Here is another example from my field… Say my doctors bill at $400 an hour, if you have no insurance, you are responsible for the $400, if you have Medicare, they may only allow $100 and pay $90 and the patient is responible for the remaining $10 (I cannot bill the patient any more). If the patient does not pay, my collection rate is 90%. Say a patient has Blue Cross. I have a contract with Blue Cross that I will take a 20% discount. They pay $250. I can bill the patient $50. If I do not have a contract, I bill Blue Cross $400, they pay $250, the patient is responsible for the reamining $150. I doubt that the county has a contract with Blue Cross because the county is the sole provider of EMS services in the county. Therefore the county can bill $400, get paid $250 by Blue Cross, bill the patient for $150. If the patient pays only $100, (from what you said) then the patient can be garnished by the county.
For the second part of Tommu’s first paragraph:
An EMS service is provided by the county. The county has to provide this service, even if it does not make a profit… that is what we paytaxes for.
I believe that if this county had a lot of “rich people” on private insurance, and was making loads of money off the EMS, there would be private EMS services thying to get in here.
For the last portion of Tommu’s comment:
From reading on Medicare’s website, my understanding is that Medicare does not pay for ambulance transportation such as transfering a patient from a hosptial to a nursing home that could normally be transported by another means and cannot afford it. The list above is the only thing that Medicare will pay for ground ambulance. There is a whole list of ambulance services that Medicare will not pay and you cannot bill a patient with Medicare for.
When you factor in people with regular insurance and those rides that are more expensive because of level of care $400 per ride may be close to the average. Regarding the expensive equipment; why should the county not expect the hospitals to provide some of the equipment? Our county ambulances sure are bringing alot of business to their emergency room doors. Has a commissioner ever thought to ask the hospital to pay for stocking an ambulance with life saving equipment. After all, if they arrive in a body bag, the hospital can’t make much off them. At least I hope they can’t.
What bothers me even more is the level of experience that we now have at BCEMS. Burke County has replaced many of our experienced paramedics with people from other counties that were fired due to making critical mistakes. As a citizen, I am heartbroken to realize that we have replaced really good paramedics with EMT-basics or paramedics that could not cut it in surrounding counties. They’re gone. We are not going to get those people back. Each day that this Ron Lewis mess continues the people are put at more risk. God forbid that Dave Crawley allow a word be printed in the paper about it. He’s probably sitting on a couple of local boards that would compromise what he would otherwise consider doing. Like act like a newsman instead of a clergyman.
Burke Co. had a special bill run thru the Legislature back in the early 90’s to allow them to “contract” as if they were a doctors office to allow them to become a provider for BC/BS and other private carriers. This is what allowed collections to get above 25-50%. We are required by law to instruct a pt on medicare or medicaid if we even think that they will not pay. We used to even have to get them to sign a form. If the claim is denied, then the pt is responsible for the entire amount. Before Clint started the current billing system, I think we only collected about 250 thousand and we did not accept assignment of medicare. This allowed some pts to receive the money from medicare but not pay their bill. Clint changed all that. Then Co. manager Tom Robinson assured Clint that if he got collections up so that there was a decrease in tax dollars that were required to run EMS, then he would make sure that more money was placed in the budget to expand and improve the system. IT NEVER HAPPENED! EMS budget remained constant or was even cut some years even though collections increased over 3 fold. Burke Co was the first system in the state to get collections up that high. The county sent me to the EMS Management Institute at UNCC. While there, when I told the class what our collections were, everybody wanted to know HOW. Some didn’t believe me.
Some of what we do is just plain helping people get up out of the floor because they do not have any family or neighbors to help. This is something I consider to be paid for by Tax dollars. How can you bill a pt for just helping them up? Some EMS systems do just that. Especially the private ones.
With over a 90% collection rate, and the services EMS provides, I think the taxpayers get a good “Bang for the buck” here. I know that staff stays current on billing issues and when an increase is due, they do what needs to be done to make sure we are in-line with what is proper.
Jeff, I am not trying to argue about the price and what is collected. I am just trying to make the point for others that Burke County may bill X amount of dollars but they only collect a percentage of X most of the time. It is sometimes misunderstood by people. A lot of people think that because the hospital charges so much that they collect this much. Most people do not realize what a big discount that insurance carriers get. I was very suprized on how much Medicare pays for ambulance serivce. In my field, they only pay about 20% of what we bill.
Burke Blogger: I believe that the two hospitals in Burke County are private hospitals. They are owned by the same company. In my opinion they have no competition. They have no real need to stock an ambulance to make sure a patient is sent to them.
On the other hand, does Frye stock Catawba’s ambulances? They are privately owned where Catawba is not. (Or am I wrong?)
Also, if a hospital “donates” life saving equiptment to an EMS agency and the equiptment fails, is it a liability issue for the hospital?
Ryan,
Didn’t mean to imply an “argument”. Just stating the facts as I know them from first hand experience. I know of not one EMS system, public or private that collects 100%. I could not even do it when I owned my own business. I guess I’ll never be broke…people still owe me money. I do know that some reimbursements are based on what is billed. Sometimes when a charge goes up, medicare/medicaid will continue to only pay X amount until a specified amount of time (like 6 months or a year) has passed under the new billing. Medicare/medicaid are thier own little worlds.
Grace and Valdese are “Managed” by the same Company. Grace is still non-profit I believe. I think you will see more and more Hospitals in a city/county group together. Mission and St. Joseph’s in Asheville for example. I think it is both good and bad. The good is that they can have specialties at each hospital and avoid duplication of services. It allows for better buying power when purchasing supplies. They belong to buying groups anyway. The bad is there is no competition. Some people have to drive farther for specific care. The way Health Care is today, with insurance companies and litigation dictating procedures and payments, it doesn’t matter about competition.
Some Hospitals did restock certain items in the past. I’m not sure about now. I know when they did, we had to pull a sticker off and give it to the ER so the pt could be billed for it.
Ryan- None of the hospitals in Catawba stock our units.
What’s a shame is that the people that we have elected do not have a clue as to how to make the EMS situation better. Burke County commissioners spend taxpayer money on hiring various studies to be done on the problem. If I did not know how to be a county commissioner, I would not run for office. If they want to decide everything that they do with a consultants opinion, then what do we need the commissioners for? Rumblin, bumblin, stumblin along, Wayne, Jack, and Maynard continue to waste our money because they don’t have sense enough to do the right thing. What a pathetic bunch of ninkanpoops.
It is a shame, but do any elected officials have a clue about anything they vote on? Most do not. Look at No Child Left Behind. It sounds great, but it has also been mocked as No Child Can Get Ahead, ect.
Here is another example. There is a new Digital Copyright bill in congress right now. This was basically written by the RIAA and MPAA (the groups that are suing college students and even dead people for downloading music and movies). If this gets passed, many things that we do or have will become illegal. Say you have an HP printer, this law will make it illegal to put and other brand cartridge in it other than HP's. I have even read where this bill would make it illegal to buy music and put it on an iPod or MP3 player. Do you want this? C-Net has an article on it here. This bill is not publicly available so I have not seen it first hand to decipher it.
What gets me is they pay $30,000 for a consultant and totally disreguard their suggestions. Everytime one has been hired, they suggested a large pay increase for EMS employees. None was ever given. This was well before the large pay decrease was inflicted on EMS employees.
Tommu, some people are just stupid. They hire the consulting firm trying, thinking that they will be told that they are doing an excellent job and they can make more money this or that way. They think that they know everything. When they find out that they don’t, they try to cover it up.
I mentioned earlier that I work for a billing company. We are also a consulting firm. We can go into a practices and do audits and consulting. I know of one case where we did an audit and found out that the doctors could be making about twice what they were because of error they were making. Did they follow the consulting firm’s suggestion? No, they are still doing the exact same things that they were doing before.
If Burke County hired a consulting firm, shouldn’t this be part of public record? What about the results of the firm and the decision on why it was not approved.
Would you go to work for a company that makes lamps, if you had spent your life making hats? That’s what we have with our elected officials. They simply don’t know what they are doing or who to believe in many cases. I’m talking about the honest ones that we have had over the past couple of decades. The county commissioners have a history of throwing huge sums of money away on consultations. They seem to never get it right. When they follow the consult it is wrong, when they don’t they are wrong. Why? Because their mind is made up before the consultations are finished. They simply are looking for validation. When they don’t get what they expect they stubbornly pursue the agenda of their political party bosses.
I would like to know how much money Burke County taxpayers have paid for consultations in the past 25 years. The school board is just as guilty as the commissioners. I bet it goes into the 100’s of thousands.
When I tell people that politicians are bought and paid for, what I mean is that in most cases they are going to do what their party tells them to do. Political party’s are controlled by people of wealth. Our country would be better off if everyone was unaffiliated instead of DEM or REP.
Mainly though we need independent thinkers. People that are not afraid to buck their party if they see a reason to. Our country just can’t afford to elect stupid people to run things for us.
We all know Clintons personal weaknesses, but does anyone think that the country would be in such a mess if he were still in charge. Same thing at the county level of government. We need smart people with ideas. Somehow the public thinks of successful businessmen as smart people. Look at the Abeles. Their success in the restaurant business does not mean they can understand the complexities of running a county. Yes they know how to make a BLT, but can they understand that human life is more important than balancing the budget. We want them to balance the budget and not raise taxes, but not at the expense of killing someone. There’s a difference between making a pledge to your party and keeping it and using common sense and doing the right thing. We have to elect politicians that understand that.
Any politician that consistently votes party line should be removed from office. Of course, the wealthy will just continue to trot out drones to do their bidding. What we should never forget is that they may be richer, but we outnumber them at the polls. Follow the money and you will usually find that the politician that spends the most, wins the most. I try to look at their ideas and decide who to vote for.
Most people that vote don’t even know who they vote for. W.C. Fields knew what he was talking about when he said a sucker is born every minute.
Hi BB, How’s the election campaigning going? Sounds like you got a good nights sleep last night, you are actually stepping away from the political fringe. Is this a new strategy; did a political leader give you some sound advice? I hate to disagree with you, but I guess you’re used to it, there isn’t a choice between saving lives OR balancing the budget. As an example: Look how the third world countries struggle to provide food and medicine to their people. In Great Brittian, were health care is paid entirely by the government, there are long lines, and minimal service. There is no black and white to finance, it’s a constantly changing calculus equation, or a balancing act, similarly to adjusting the bass and treble on a stereo depending on the music. You may not believe that running a business is good practice for running government, but it is. Some of the same skilled used for making purchasing decisions, having sales, advertising, etc… all are related to how to make the best with what you have. When prices go up, sales drop, when prices go down, you loose profit. An equilibrium must be made between sales and profit to make the most of your investment. It is a judgment call based on experience, intuition and the unchanging principles of business.
The unchanging principles of business do not factor in human suffering. Human beings must never forget that being placed in a position of power does not give them permission to break the law. Comparing us to a third world country does not allow escape from your human responsibility to help each other to have a better life. What’s wrong with our government is the influx of business trying to tell us what is best for us. I notice that business stands ready to profit at our misery every chance they get. Oil companies and insurance companies routinely take in record profits while their customers struggle to scrape by. Who’s their biggest customer? Me and you and all the Joe taxpayers out there. Lobbying should be banned, period. Congressmen on the take should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Ignorant fools who defend undefensible political positions simply because they belong to a particular party should have their heads examined. Yeah I know, another compound sentence, deal with it.
Welcome to the real world of competition; lions don’t consider the “feelings” of their prey.
Perhaps lions do not consider the feelings of their prey. Neither do tigers. Both are endangered or nearly so. Kind of like the republican party in the upcoming elections.
Maybe the upcoming elections will end your suffering.
Sadly politics is more likely to enhance everone’s suffering. Rational people realize this. Only the politicians and their drones fail to realize how impotent they actually are.
And how does that make you feel?
Empowered
Glad I could help, no charge.
What happened to the comments on the news herald blog? Did duke shut it down?
Computer gremlins.
I sent Duke Conover an email Saturday, and told him among other things that he was not a newsman. I complained that I was ashamed of my hometown paper for selling out to the right wing of the Republican party. I told him that he was forcing me to take my opinions to Burke Independent and mentioned that perhaps that was his plan. I said that he was given truck loads of information about the EMS scandal that his readers had an interest in reading. I pointed out to Duke how he had been used when he reported the salaries of the workers just before salaries were cut by a third. I told Duke that he was not a newsman and would never be a newsman. I won’t repeat all that I said. Duke’s reply was “thanks for sharing”, then he blew up the site. That’s kind of like impaling himself on his own sword. If I had allowed Gunner to make a mockery of my work, I might have considered doing the same thing.
Wohoo. Burke Independent now has over 750 hits and I have shed myself of that Morganton rag in one fell swoop. In my opinion the News Herald is nothing but a media propaganda arm of the Republican party. They don’t report news they police the news. Conover’s pie-in-the-sky vision of our county belittles the rest of us who read anything that he writes.
Dave Crawley feeds from the trough of the religious right wing of the Republican party. It is obvious that Dave supports the Holy War in the middle east. Young soldiers are dieing every day and the newspaper hides this information deep within their bowels. Dave understands the attention span of most 18 year old boys. Dave knows that the young men that we are sending to fight in that war rarely read beyond the front cover of their newspaper.
I encourage all that subscribe to get online and find out what is really happening. But of course, I’m preaching to the choir (put that in for you Dave). That’s right, I have heard that Crawley reads the Burke Independent. It’s probably the only information that he receives all day that hasn’t been filtered and diluted to pamper his delicate nature…
Perhaps if enough of us were to approach the Charlotte Observer they would assign a reporter to this area and we could get our news from an unbiased source. Businesses here would be compelled to advertise and we could get NEWS not be spoon fed VIEWS.
Spinner: It seams that I heard that the Charlotte Observer was sold to Media General, the parent company of The News Herald. I do not know if they would run with the story.
Has everyone seen the agenda for tomorrow nights commisioner meeting? They are voting on to make Marc Collins(senior planner)to promote him to asst. county manager so ron lewis who makes every morning trips to pat’s snack bar on county time can set on his rear and draw six figures,must be nice. This raise that mr colins will get will take his pay from 35,000 to 64,000 a year.And his job saves lives everyday,I don’t think so.People you better notify your commisioners to do the right thing that is if they will answer there phone.This money has to come from somewhere in the budget and i think this is where ron got his idea to cut ems pay.Seems funny that they just had budget meetings this past week and know this is on the agenda.Just a concerned citizen doing some research.
News Heralds silence speaks volumes. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Did anyone see this article?
“Members on the board of commissioners, along with county staff, plan to travel to Raleigh on Wednesday to talk to legislators and hold a strategy meeting.”
The Republicans used the Medicaid cost debate as a photo-op. I bet no one from the News Herald will be sent to these meetings or allowed to sit in on them if they go. What the above paragraph is code for is Jacumin saying, Come on down to Raleigh boys, we will figure out how to get Wayne elected. The “lil general” understands that this is a year that Abele can use all the help he can get.
Legislators in other states have long since made Medicaid a state issue. North Carolina like in many things again is last to fix a problem among the 50 states. But the picture of the back of Wesley’s head was good…
This morning I saw a few people out that have let me know of other things that the county has tried to pull by on the citizens. I let them know about the site. They did not know of the site, but they knew about some of the EMS issues that are being told about. It is getting around the county. Maybe the addition of the cards will help spread the word of this site. The more it is spread, the more people will know about what is going on and then maybe some will pull some strings to get things settled faster.
I was sitting in the barber shop this week and heard lots of talk about the EMS fiasco. Comments were running about 3-1 in favor of the EMS employees. One guy said that he owed his daughters life to an EMS guy that was also a first responder. She was choking on a piece of hard candy from Sonic and the EMS guy just happened to be in the car behind and realized something was wrong.
God works in mysterious ways and the county commissioners and county manager and county attorney will soon find that out. Evil will prevail only if we allow it to. Go vote in November.
What I want to know is why people are talking about the EMS pay problems and not the issue of one of the officers who works for the college that took nude pictures in the classroom and gave the come on aggressively to other female students. The word is he also had a camcorder in the bathroom while a group of high school girls were changing clothes. Female employess have been sexually harassed and assaulted and no one did anything. What is going on in that office. What other things have they done wrong. Did they expect the paramedics too stay quiet forever.
@ CindyLouWho – This is a story that we would like to post on here. I personally know nothing of it, nor have I seen it reported in other media outlets. If you can, or anyone else can, send me all the information that you know about this so that I can get this posted. We are all about reporting what others do not.
admin AT burkeindependent DOT com
My email works. Contact me there.
I was sitting in the barber shop this week and Tommy Sain told me he was voting for Abele for County Commissioner.
BB, tell us what the negative comment was about the PMS employees down at the barber shop and with what propaganda you started the conversation. I assume the reason the overweight PMS driver got out of his vehicle was to speed up the line because he was hungry. I read a letter to the editor telling the opposite, where someone wasn’t helped in a similar situation.
Call 911
Morganton News Herald
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Call 911
I was sitting in West End BBQ in Hickory eating and my wife got very light headed to the point of passing out.
One of the workers at the barbecue saw a Burke County ambulance across the street at Sunhouse gas station, so he ran across to ask them for assistance for my wife and the worker was told, “No. It’s not in our jurisdiction, call 911.”
He didn’t come over to at least check her out or anything.
Burke County, I really feel sorry for you to have such uncaring paramedics in your county.
Thank God we don’t have to put our lives in the hands of so called wanna-be paramedics in Burke.
We were in the Catawba emergency room from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. Thank you Catawba paramedics for a job well done.
Sonny Shilling
Hickory
Read it, word is that your Republican friends authored it. I hear the woman’s husband is a freind of a certain county commissioner that once tried to blog.
Standard operating procedure (SOP) in the county says that a
full time medic must be on every truck. So technically the truck should have been shut down since a full time medic was not on that truck on that day. You see, Gunner, there are no longer enough full time paramedics in the county to put one on every truck. Never mind that it did not happen like it was told. Your side knows that EMS can’t respond, but I can. The EMS has been gutted by the Republican county commissioners led by Wayne Abele.
You probably cost Tommy about 15,000 dollars this year with that Abele for president remark. Hawhawhaw…
How do you always manage to be long on wind and short on facts? Must be the mush.
BB, tell us what the negative comment was about the PMS employees down at the barber shop and with what propaganda you started the conversation.
Sonny Shilling is a 53 years old preacher and Vietnam Veteran. I don’t see your point in trying to concoct a conspiracy against him, he’s not even a registered voter. Just because you are very close with McDevitt doesn’t mean that he is your puppet-master, or does it?
When someone brings facts to this blog that you have conveniently ignored, you attack the messenger. You try to silence people who challenge your distorted misinformation.
What kind of preacher attacks someone in the newspaper without verifying what happened? He sent a stranger over to deliver a message. Then with second hand information he attacked them in the paper. Sounds like he go a little to much agent orange in his system. I didn’t hear you deny that the “preacher” is friends with Jack Carroll.
You haven’t brought a fact since you have been blogging. Just second hand information and you can’t even get that right. Why don’t you hang out at the barber shop sometime and maybe you can pick up on the gossip. Poor ole Tommy, you cost everyone you know.
I have several questions for you. When the day comes that the EMS comes to assist you, do you plan on making fun of them and minimizing their lifes work? It will be ok if you do. They will still do all that they can for you. When you deal with human misery for a living you soon realize that there is a nut on every corner.
The second question is why did the county not follow SOP and shut down the truck when they did not have a full time paramedic to put on it? Oh I forgot, your head is full of mush.
Sonny Shilling is a 53 years old preacher and Vietnam Veteran. Who just happened to be out bar hopping after midnight.
Sonny Shilling is a 53 years old preacher and Vietnam Veteran. Who offers a blanket condemnation of an entire systems Paramedics over the alleged acts of 2. Sonny Shilling is to Christianity what Osama Bin Laudin is to Islam.
Seems like EMS employees will not only try to kill patients to prove they are indispensable, but they will character assassinate anyone that doesn’t believe their lies.
Do you need another piece of paper for your enemies list?
Enemies of Burke County EMS:
Preachers
Combat Veterans
Republicans
Christians
Blacks
Rich People
Poor People on food stamps
Lawyers
Newspaper Editors
County Commissioners
Taxpayers
Skinny People
Dan Kuehnert
Motorcyclists
Volunteers
Mexicans
Barbers
Richard Epley
Drinkers
Conservatives
Anonymous Bloggers
Non-anonymous letter writers
EMS-Basics
Germans
Wayne Abele
Women
Former Democrats
People who eat tuna
Old people
Mis-spellers
Jesus
Smart People
BB, why do you refuse to tell us what the negative comment was about the PMS employees down at the barber shop and with what propaganda you started the conversation. Do you have something to hide?
Since you have Jesus and “mis-spellers” on your side I am feeling the hand of Republican redemption on my backside. No wait a minute, you’re just taking more money for taxes out of my pocket. Just like a Republican, say one thing, do what pleases the wealthy. After all, they are the ones that grease your hemorrhoids.
The president that we warned you about:
George Bush, led the deregulation of the S&Ls
his son Neil, who ran a corrupt S&L
and Neil’s brother George, for whom Ken Lay sent thugs to Florida in 2000 on the Enron plane.
A corrupt family leads the country. A corrupt Republican party embraces him. You can’t run and hide from these facts.
Why did the county not follow SOP and shut down the truck when they did not have a full time paramedic to put on it? Oh I forgot, your head is full of mush.
Gunner you left a few off your list:
Crooked county commissioners
Crooked county managers
Crooked county attorneys
Stupid people (thats you Gunner)
Neo-conservative idiots (thats you Gunner)
Predator governments
Presidents who don’t understand first amendment rights
Incompetent leaders
Crooked congressmen (either party)
power brokers at the county, state, and national level
Big ole Oil companies
Lobbyist
Drug companies
Insurance companies
Bloggers who have a Jesus complex (thats you Gunner)
War mongerers
Bloggers who refuse to accept the truth (thats you Gunner)
Bloggers who can’t comprehend a fact (thats you Gunner)
Bloggers who want this country to continue to be dragged through the dirt as their own party tries to distance themselve from the mess that they have made.
Your party has had it’s turn and the country is in a mess. It is time that you got your sad ass out of the way. Go back to your rock and don’t climb out from under it for about 10 years. Maybe we will have made some headway by then.
Gunner, you keep chastising BB for not backing up his comments with proof. I would like to see your proof that an EMS employee past or present has tried to “kill patients”, “prove they are indispensable”, “character assassinate anyone”, or told “lies”.
Gunner May 23, 2006
Seems like EMS employees will not only try to kill patients to prove they are indispensable, but they will character assassinate anyone that doesn’t believe their lies.
If you have the proof, please share it. I have not seen it posted here, on the NH blog site, or anywhere else for that matter.
I have said and will continue to say that this is not personal…it’s just business. I do not always agree with everything that is posted by you or BB. I believe in what is right and disagree with what is wrong. Some people in this world believe that there are always “grey” areas. I believe that life is like being pregnant. You either are or you are not. It is right or it is wrong. The only difference is what an individual believes in. Anybody who believes that they are always right and can never be wrong is a fool. They are also a danger to society.
Responsibility for ones actions, being able to learn from mistakes, and being able to admit it to yourself when you are wrong or make a poor choice, is what defines what type of person you are.
No one person is indispensable. A former employee once said, “You will be remembered here as long as it takes for the whole to fill in when you pull your hand from a bucket of water.” I was once told by the former Department head, Nick Waters, that I should be glad that he let me work at Burke EMS. I told him I was and that if I had not wanted to work for him, we would not be having this conversation. My point is…life is a two-way street and is also a circle. What goes around, comes around.
As far as trying to kill someone…Paramedics nation wide are held to a higher level of accountability that most other health care providers. If you want your proof, go to the General Statutes and compare the requirements to maintain certification/license of a Paramedic vs a nurse or Doctor. Look at how much con. ed. hours are required each year and how many times skills are tested. If I were to even try to hurt someone, it would be brought forward by the ER Doctor before I could leave the ER. All he would have to do is make a phone call, and I would be on my way home shortly thereafter and the proof of my innocence or guilt would come later. In a matter such as this, I am guilty until I can prove my innocence before I would be allowed to work again. I’m not real sure, but I believe that a nurse or Doctor has to go before a board of inquiry before they are stripped of thier ability to work.
I believe that what Mr. Shilling presented in the paper was not an accurate account of what took place. It is impossible to say what the “employee” who spoke to the Paramedic said to him or to Mr. Shilling. I also believe that it was looked into by management. Mr. Shilling should have received a phone call informing him of what happened and what has been done about it. If he didn’t, maybe he should have called to check if something was done. If he was wrong, he should write a letter stating the facts. No letter of clarification can come from the County as it pertains to a “personnel” action. If Mr. Shilling was wrong about the true facts, and does not write a letter of correction, then all that is left is the damage that has already been done.
My only intentions have been and will always be, to improve the system to the best it can be. I feel that the public has a right and a duty to know what is going on.
BB, why do you refuse to tell us what the negative comment was about the PMS employees down at the barber shop?
Advertisement:
Are you looking for a job in the medical field? Does the sound of dying babies make you smile? Then we have the job for you, the wonderful world of EMS. Only by causing multiple deaths can an EMS-B hone his sKILLs to climb the corporate ladder to become a Paramedic. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, all Paramedics have been force to take a life to learn proper procedures. Don’t feel bad, Sooner or later, everyone must die. Your new carrier has been endorsed by the following people:
“a few citizens will die” – Tommu May 3rd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
“someone is going to die due to the absolute stupidity of a few men” – Burke Blogger May 7th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
“UNEMPOLYED PEOPLE WILL COME HELP YOU IF YOU ARE DIEING OF A HEART ATTACK OR CHOCKING TO DEATH. DON’T CALL.” – Herschell Bodden Apr. 30 at 12:07 PM
“you now may have to watch the person die” – Byrd May. 03 at 11:50 PM
“lifespan will decrease” – Hub Lafevers May. 08 at 05:30 PM
“lives of the public at risk” – Goober Lail May. 08 at 05:39 PM
“lives will surely be at stake.” – Burke Blogger May. 03 at 11:22 PM
Must be 18 or older to a apply. All applicants must be democrat and caucasian.
The pot calls the kettle black…wasn’t it you that said something about leaving out words?
Gunner Says:
May 23rd, 2006 at 1:42 am
BB, I couldn’t help but notice that you changed my quote. Perhaps there is something wrong with the copy and paste functions on your computer. A word magically disappeared from the middle of my quote.
Second chance… Show me the proof that a current or past EMS emoloyee has TRIED to kill someone. Show me a name of an employee that has done this. Show me you practice what you preach. Put up or shut up and move on to the next topic.
I would like to be there to see the look on Gunnerrhea’s face when the political bosses decide he has contributed all he can and they cast him aside. Poor Gunnerrhea. I suppose he has lots of coats so that he can change coats as often as he puts on a new face.
Jeff Weller, first of all I never said they tried, I said it seem they try. But, if you insist, I can prove that they are at fault.
From what can be gathered by reading the posts from PMS employees, they have taken the stand that someone is to blame for loss of life. From the numerous people that you have killed while an EMT-Basic, we can draw the conclusion that deaths at your hands were the fault of “someone”. If you take credit for saving a live, must you not also take the blame for loss of life? All of your actions are intentional, whether they be politically motivated or financially motivated. Going on strike, quitting for higher pay, and refusing to help someone because they are outside the county line are all intentional acts that have consequences. If the PMS employees are correct in there assertion that blame must be placed, then that blame is placed on EMT-Basics. Otherwise, nobody is to blame. Perhaps a more accurate description would be “Seems like EMS employees will not only succeed in killing patients to prove they are indispensable, but they will character assassinate anyone that doesn’t believe their lies.”
@CindyLouWho-
I think the whole point of what Mr. Shilling published was missed. Yes, 2 employees were (and rightfully so) condemned. But the point is, it is a trend as to the poor quality of care that BCEMS is providing. When you hire folks that are fresh out of medic school, place them on the truck as a lead medic the day they got their certificate, or hire folks who cannot get hired anywhere else, bad things are bound to happen. I still have some very good friends that work with BCEMS, I consider them my family, but it is a crap shoot as to who you are getting when you call 911. Now days, BCEMS is like a box a chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get.
Gunner, care to go for strike three? I still have not heard one bit of proof or a reference to anything that can be considered proof.
I have always said that all I have done is be in the right place that God intended. If someones life is spared, it is because God intended for it to be spared and He used me as a method. As far as I know, any action that I have taken has not been a direct cause of a death. I’m sure if it had, I would be the first to know and would not have a valid National Registry certificate in my wallet right now.
When you state it “seems like” and “from what can be gathered”, those are your opinions. Not proof or fact.
If your reasoning is correct, then every Doctor, Nurse, or anybody who has either acted or failed to act is responsible for participating in killing. If you have ever driven by an accident and did not stop to help or even if you did, and a person died, the you are guilty too. Your theory does not hold up.
Some individuals have placed blame which is their right and opinion. Your right to just stir the pot is just as important as it is for others to place blame. Will you take responsibility for your actions? Maybe you just prefer to hide and throw rocks to hurt others with no sense of remorse. Be part of the solution, don’t add to the problem.
Ladies and Gentlemen please do not take a psychopath with a Jesus complex seriously. Gundler is a sick human and we must pity him. He stirs the pot because the stick is in his hand. He does not know any better. As best as I can tell his only fan was Geraldine and it is obvious that she just had the hots for him.
Everyone is aware that the point being made is that EMT-b’s do not have the experience or the authority to do certain procedures that could save lives.
Gundkelr does not want to understand. He is a sick child who would rather strike out when given the chance. When he is old enough he will probably be a neo-conservative like the parents who used to beat him when he was small.
Jeff Weller, first of all when I said it “seems like”, that should have ended the conversation, but because you pushed, that part of the conversation in not part of the proof. Proof and facts are gathered, are they not? How can you possess the facts for proving something if you are not allowed to gather them.
So, please clarify, because you guys
seem tohave two different versions of the situation:1) We didn’t kill nobody
2) EMT-Basics will kill somebody
Is it not true that you used to be a new EMT-B?
If new EMT-B’s kill, you must have killed. Why are these deaths not highlighted?
If you didn’t kill, then EMT’s will not kill.
Please pick a single answer and get back to me.
“Your theory does not hold up.”
It’s odd that you should say that, because it was your logic that was applied to my theory. If my theory is inccorrect, so is yours. Nobody is to blame for deaths.
Gunner- Intentionally killing someone and not being trained to the point of being able to stop someone from dying is 2 entirely different things. But you know that. You argue for the sake of arguing.
When we make comments about people’s lives being in danger, we are speaking of EMT-basics working where Paramedics should be. You are beating a dead horse over this one. Burke County citizens deserve to have quality, well-trained, seasoned PARAMEDICS. Why does Ron Lewis want to punish innocent citizens? Why does Ron Lewis think he has the right to make that decision for citizens of Burke County? Who the heck does he think he is?
Karen Burleson – Intentionally killing someone and not paying overpriced wages to overweight lazy Paramedics to alleviate the tax burden of senior citizens so they can buy high blood pressure medicine to stop someone from dying is 2 entirely different things. But you know that. You argue for the sake of arguing.
When you make comments about people’s lives being in danger, you are speaking of Paramedics unwillingness to train EMT’s to the education level they should be. You are beating a dead horse over this one. Burke County citizens deserve to have quality, well-trained, carrier oriented EMT-B’s. Why do Paramedics want to punish innocent citizens? Why do Paramedics think they have the right to make that decision for citizens of Burke County? Who the heck do they think they are?
You call, we haul. That’s what we will have from now on. And yes the sad truth you sad slob is people will die. They will die because of the ignorance of people like you.
A farmer can plow a field with a horse or a tractor. One is more efficient than the other. Hay is $2 a bale, gas is $3 a gallon. You have to spend more but you make more. You think like a child. You don’t have the ability to win the argument so you change our words around so that when we say someone will die, you say we will kill.
The only thing that you understand is that there is an election coming up and you need to exercise big time damage control. You don’t care about the people that may one day need the best of service in a life and death situation where experience and every second makes a difference. You call, we haul. You cut services and spent the money on a park at the expense of human life. How stupid are you? Incomprehensibly, beyond mortal belief stupid. Thank God, we know who you are.
Strike Three!…You’re out! Just as I thought, you cannot prove that anyone “kills”.
Yes, I started out as an EMT and progressed to an EMT-Intermediate for several years before I advanced to the EMT-Paramedic level. Notice anything about those different levels? They ALL have EMT in front of them. Once and EMT, always an EMT.
FYI I work with several Basic EMT’s now. Burke County already has some working, however; they are currently being trained to an advanced level.
If you will research the archives of the AMA, JEMS, JAMA, Emergency, and other publications, you will find studies that show a lower morbidity rate in an area with a Paramedic ALS service than one that has only a Basic system in place. The Federal Govt. even has a standard that specifies how much time is appropriate for arrival of BLS care as well as ALS care. It takes an entire system of EMD telecommunicators up to Paramedics working together to make an EMS system. Studies have shown time and time again, that if you do not have ALS care available in an appropriate time frame, morbidity rates rise.
If the good people of this county wish to have only a basic system, so be it. I think that you would have a hard time getting enough “Votes” to get something like that accomplished. The only real “Votes” that really matter right now, are the ones that each Commissioner casts every 1st and 3rd Tuesday night. I cannot believe that such a vote would even take place, much less pass.
If we went back to a basic system or farmed it out, taxes would only go down about 1 to 1.5 cents/100, if they decided to send the saving back to the taxpayers. I do not think that the amount saved will even buy one months worth of a brand name blood pressure medicine. (Unless your property is valued at over a million dollars) So keep that paddle stroke’n…you might still get somewhere cause your dogs won’t hunt.
Gunners cowardly attacks on innocent people whild posing as a “christian” should tell any true christian reading this that the Republican party has stabbed them in the back.
What the majority of voters want to say to you Gunner is:
Don’t blame me, I voted for Gore.
What the majority of Democrats want to say to Gunner is:
Don’t blame me, I voted for Kerry.
Your moral majority is the cause for the poor shape this country is in. You reap what you sow.
Gunner- Just because someone is overweight, that does not make them lazy. Lazy is a county manager who takes money out of the hands of people who actually WORK for a living and give himself and his buddies a raise. Being a Paramedic, Firefighter or Police Officer is not a gravy job. It is work. MANUAL LABOR. We deserve to be fairly compensated for our labor. And Burke County citizens deserve to have the best quality of care available.
Why are you guys putting the citizens of BC in danger by standing in the way of bringing up some new recruits! Doesn’t everyone have the right to work their way up the ladder of success without being impeded by a bunch of overweight Paramedics that care more about job security than insuring that more personnel are placed in the system and trained. Who’s going to take your place when you retire? The way you put down new employees in pathetic! You think nobody is better than you, but you refuse to admit that you used to kill people when you were new. If you could admit that, you could prove your point.
“wish to have only a basic system”
Will it still be “basic” 20 years from now after the EMT-B’s have proven to you and everyone else that they are not lazy, greedy, overweight, good ol’ boy political hacks and that they care more about helping people than political bickering and gouging the taxpayers. In 20 years the EMT-B’s you accuse of killing people will prove that they truly are an asset to this county. Your fear-mongering is a facade of lies.
If you don’t like parks why don’t you go to the meetings and say something about it, I’ve already stated in my very first post at the TNH that I’m against dog parks.
Karen, you are very fortunate that you even have a job as uneducated as you are in the field of medicine. You’ve already shown that you lack basic medical knowledge about endorphins and pressure points. Maybe you should spend more time studying and less time blogging.
Reading Gunner’s pungent remarks have constipated me but I’ve instructed my endorphins to relieve the pain. As for ability to be a paramedic, if you haven’t done it you have no right to criticize those that do. Your skinny behind probably could not load a pie into the back of the bakery truck. Speaking of overweight medics, when I needed an ambulance years back, it wasn’t his waistline that worried me as much as his ability to start an IV as I was being bumped along on the springless stagecoach that we use for an ambulance. But the important thing is that we don’t raise taxes. God forbid the commissioners spend wisely. That would be to much to ask.
I think buying a new ambulance is a great idea, but how do we get the $100,000 when the Paramedics have sued the county to satisfy their food cravings.
Greetings your igonorance,
Perhaps you should put that question to the county manager and county attorney who put the county in a position to get sued.
Especially since the employees have given the county several chances to make things right.
I want to take this opportunity to salute our military men and women who have fought and died to protect and defend our way of life.
Stand strong and together good people, we will fight the good fight and not surrender to the power brokers and naysayers and crooked politicians who would destroy what we have worked so hard to build.
I’m sure that Burke County’s military would not want me to forget that our lawmen, EMS, firefighters, and first responders also are there to serve us as well. They work for low wages and at times for free. They receive undue criticism from our Republican county commissioners who hide behind false names and remain anonymous while enjoying the freedom and protection provided.
Thank God for all these people and God bless this country.
For my Brothers and my Sisters who have given me the gift of freedom, purchased with their own precious blood, I am eternally grateful.
Today, we honor the dead of our wars. We recall their valor and their sacrifices. We remember they gave their lives so that others might live.
It must be really embarrassing for you Gunner to be caught posting in my name. What a great way to confuse the public. Wonder who gave you the freedom to pose as the Burke Blogger back on May 9.
Quit pretending you care so much about the veterans, you were the last one to post a comment.
“First law of holes, if you get in one stop digging.” (Anonymous)
-Rumsfeld Rules, 1974
I just think it’s a shame that so much pressure was put on the News Herald to remove Jack and Maxine Carroll’s blogs bashing EMS. It shows the bias that the News Herald has toward the EMS story. It’s more than just being embarrassed for getting the story wrong in the first place. Jack and Maxine just did not want the rest of you to know how blog challenged they really are. I hope that none of will mind to much if I just repeat a couple of the blogs back in April from the NH site since they have been conveniently removed.
Gosh, I just have a habit of saving everything. Enjoy and have a great weekend. It all got started on 4/15/06 when “Blogger” who turned out to be Republican commissioner Jack Carrolls wife posted the remarks below, then others chimed in on the given dates.
Blogger says: Apr. 15 at 02:03 PM
To date there has been only one side of the EMS discussion aired. Whats the other side? For about ten years there has been very little leadership in the EMS department, mostly run by the lower ranks. Up until Mr. Lewis became county manager EMS employees worked as many hours as they wanted, some earned $50, $60 thousand a year. The county was paying thousands of dollars in overtime. Do you know that many employees were paid for sleeping, can you imagine that. Now that more employees have been hired no more overtime, or very litle. This is why Weller, Ryan and others are so upset.
You would think EMS employees should be very happy with the new schedule, they have more time with their family and to BLOG, of course you are aware there are many counties out there who have EMS departments and may be looking for experienced employees at better pay and benefits. On the other hand Burke County EMS employees may not be as bad off as they claim.
Take heart, more changes may be in the works, stay tuned and keep in touch.
J.Rowe RN-Emergency Room says: Apr. 15 at 06:25 PM
Hi- I have been reading some of these blogs and just want everyone to know how all of these changes will affect our community, families, and loved ones. As we have read, most of our experienced EMS workers have left to go to other counties. We used to have the best EMS service in our surrounding counties. Now, they continue to hire basic paramedics to work all shifts and the experience continues to dwindle down. In a nutshell, you now have a smaller chance to get an experienced professional taking care of you during an emergency (you now depend on someone whom has been trained to read from a list of instructions, instead of recognizing a life-threatening situation and treating it)This also means that in the event of an emergency, if you are in the emergency room and need to be transported to a trauma center, or cardiac(heart) unit, we as the nurses will have to call EMS for transport ASAP. You will then have to cross your fingers and hope that a critical care team is available to transport you. If not we will hope that another county will have personel trained for your care, and we will wait for them to arrive. Any extra time is to long when your life is on the line(or your mom’s, or dad’s, etc…)You have to have personel with certain knowledge to carry you when you have specialized drips in your IV.(you want them to know what they are giving you and why- remember- it could mean life or death). -And we as nurses cannot ride along, because we have too many patients in the ER.
J.Rowe Emergency room says: Apr. 15 at 06:39 PM
I have great respect for all of the trained EMTs who work these long hours with little to no sleep, or time to eat. I have read many comments about them getting paid for sleep. Obviously these people have never worked a night shift before, or probably 12 hour shift. Sometimes we don’t have time to eat.Let me tell you, after that long with no food or breaks, you can’t think as well or as fast as you normally can. With our jobs, your life depends on us thinking clearly when we give you medicine. I have never understood why they let EMS work 24 hours anyways. I invite any of you reading this to attempt to go through first responder training, then work your regular 8-10 hour work day, go home, go to bed, and go on volunteer calls at night. Sometimes there are 2-3, sometimes >10. How many people would work on the drop of a dime in the middle of their sleep for nothing? I can’t think of many. Luckily we do have some in our county that love to help people so much that in their time off they respond to calls. I am so worried about the knowledge and experience of our EMERGENCY responders declining. I just hope and pray that for all of our community that the right workers are available when we need them. Who knows, next time it could be you or your family. It sure makes a difference when it hits home. Let me tell you, when the nurses get nervous, so should the community. I am still upset that we are losing so many EMTS that we have come to know and TRUST.
TCryan says: Apr. 15 at 07:34 PM
One other comment regarding sleep.. and J Rowe can back me up on this one… next time you visit the Emergency Room in the middle of the night, and it is a slow night… look around, no Doctor… but don’t worry he is there, back in his room, resting, and de-stressing, as he waits to make that next life or death decision. This is same situation faced by Paramedics during their shift… Thanks J Rowe for the words of support.
speakupbeheard says: Apr. 15 at 10:52 PM
Hi I have been reading this blog over the last few days. I did not know about it until then. But I have to put my two cents worth in on this EMS stuff. I want to know if a tax paying person can go ride along at the EMS? If so who do you contact? Then maybe some of the people who have a hard time understanding the job of a Paramedic or what it takes to do their job would get a better understanding. I think that a person should get an honest days pay for an honest days work. To me, a person working 24 hours in a high stress job should earn more than 10 or 11 dollars an hour. I would also like it if someone would post the number of call being run in a day. And then break that up into day and nights so that we the general public will know how many calls you guys make. It may even help put some light on things if we could know what it was like for you guys five years ago compaired to now.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 01:36 AM
I just want to make sure that everyone knows that “blogger” is not Burke Blogger. I wouldn’t want to be identified with an idiot like that.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 02:15 AM
I got to wondering who would have information on yearly pay for long time paramedics and checked “bloggers” email. With a little investigating jcmccarr@bellsouth turns out to be none other than REPUBLICAN COUNTY COMMISSIONER JACK CARROLL. Hi Jack and Maxine, hope all is well over there on Sequoyah Circle. Jack can also be reached at camcar@bellsouth.com
Sorry about the idiot remark Jack, I really don’t hold you in that high-esteem.
John Hamel MD says: Apr. 16 at 02:15 AM
As the former EMS Medical Director of Burke County EMS I would be happy to answer and enlighten anyone who may not quite understand what has happened to Burke County EMS.
By the way … who is the Medical Director now ?…. where does he live ?….what hospital does he work at?…and why did I resign? Was it hair removal?
John Hamel MD
TCryan says: Apr. 16 at 03:12 AM
Speakupbeheard, that is an great idea, and one that I am very much in favor of (esp for ppl like Mr Carroll, who should have some idea of what they are being tasked with making decisions about). You would need to contact Major Ken Anthony, EMS Training Officer @ 828 430-4213. Oh by the way, just to clarify another one of Mr. Carrolls comments on pay, the person who made $60k last year was an EMS Supervisor, who has been with the County almost longer then anyone else. As part of procedure, when several Units go out at night the Supervisor is to be awake, so when he would get up at night to keep track of his crews, that was considered enough qualification for him to receive the addition hours of pay on the old pay plan. With his years of service, his salary was already higher then most, and when you add the extra hours, you will obviously get such a high figure on a W-2. there are several similar examples for this. You would think a County Commissioner would be able to comment factually on such things. Also, Mr Carroll, before you go running to “tell on me” for voicing my opinion, you should review my posts about how I have already resigned. My sole purpose now is to be a voice for my friends and colleagues who feel too threatened by you and your colleagues.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 03:45 AM
Dr. Hamel, We are honored to have your presence on this blog. I personally can’t wait for you to answer all the questions in your last paragraph. Enlighten us Dr. Luv, and thanks for caring and engaging in this conversation when you didn’t have to.
Jack Carroll says: Apr. 16 at 10:40 AM
Response to Burke Blogger, I agree with the comments my wife made concerning the Burke County EMS. One of the reasons we have been togather for more than 52 years is the fact she has a mind of her own.
I know something about treating the sick and injured. I served more than twenty three years in the US Army in the medical field. I have treated hang nails, foot blisters, broken limbs, spinal injuries, head injuries, gun shot wounds, sucking chest wounds, common colds and the list goes on and on. This did not take place in a septic setting of a hospital or ambulance.
The controversy taking place concerning the Burke County EMS needs some truth on the issues. The recent revamping of the work schedule of EMS employees was a move that should have taken place years ago. Many thousands of tax payer dollars were wasted on overtime that was not necesary. Here is the “RUB” on this issue “we don’t get the overtime”.
Fron reading all of the blogs one would assume (you know about that word) EMS employees are on the road 24 hours a day providing care for the sick and injured. The fact is about 80% of the call outs for EMS service is fron Grace and Valdese to transport patients fron hospital to hospital and from hospital to nursing homes, nursing homes to hospital. The average number of trips for all EMS stations is abou 7 per 24 hour day for each station, so that would mean each shift handles two calls. These numbers are from public records and available to all.
Max says: Apr. 16 at 11:09 AM
Hi Guys,thanks for the greeting.You are right Jack did not read your blogs,i did and informed him about what was being said about the county, and that i was going to write my opinion so if you want to vent then vent at me,i may be a little ole lady but i can take what ever you dish out.How many of you would work for free and take the trash that is being said?
Jack Carroll says: Apr. 16 at 11:39 AM
This is a continuation of my earlier remarks.
I want the majority of EMS employees to understand my remarks are not directed to those who report to work each day to provide service to the people without complaining and you do a good job. There is a small minority who are in the game for self only.
As a county commissioner I will continue to seek ways the county can save money and still provide professional services to the people. An example; if a patient is trasported by EMS a short distance the bill is about $450.00, the same patient could be transported for as little as $50.00. Its the tax payer who foots the bill.
EMS is not my only concern about county government.
Seakupbeheard says: Apr. 16 at 12:24 PM
Jack where is the information you are talking about? You said it is public I would like to read it. How many years has it been since you were in the Army medical field? What was your job title? Have you ever went to ride along with the Paramedics? I think you should and report back to us. But please stay the whole 24 hour shift.
Dr Hamel Why did you resign??????
Speakupbeheard says: Apr. 16 at 12:27 PM
I am sorry about the typing error in my name. I left the “p” out.
Support EMS says: Apr. 16 at 12:31 PM
Well hello Dr. Hamel, and to answer your questions. The new MD has a dogs name let’s see oh yea its Saint Bernard, and he lives in Marion and works at the hospital in Marion. And he was the MD for Burke County EMS for several months before anyone saw him. Well I’ll say 6 months or more, sure was different when you were there…I might not have agreed with everything you done but the patient care was the best around when you were the MD. Guess that hair removal job paid off after all……And one other thing why did you resign? Rumor was that they fired you. LOL. And if they did why didn’t they get a doctor in Burke County to fill your position instead of going out of county….I’m sure you can enlighten us on these issues…………Thanks again for your support…….
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 03:51 PM
Jack Carroll, I am so glad that you responded using your real name. It takes courage to not hide behind your wife. If I were your age(73), I would want the best EMS service in the country. You never know when you might need it.
You say that the ambulances are just going from hospital to hospital or nursing home. What are you implying Jack? That nursing home patients deserve a lower level of care. The ambulances are not going from Valdese to Grace. They are going to Charlotte, Asheville, and Winston.
My ride in a burke county ambulance felt like riding flat of my back being pulled by a horse drawn wagon at 55 mph. Perhaps you would like to try it sometime before you actually need it.
Your comment about a small minority in it for self is hogwash. A typical political tactic that has no place in this discussion. Since you brought up the $450 fee, if you think it is too much then lower it. Perhaps you could enlighten us at how the county decided to charge that much. It does explain how EMS turns a profit while the rest of the county is in the red.
I challenge you to work a 24 hour shift this Friday or Saturday night and to also lay on the bed in the ambulance for a short ride. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU to work a 24 hour shift. Just see how much sleep you get. Just see how long it takes you to recover. You might even find out who the Burke Blogger is. Rest assured that you will be treated with respect by all. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU JACK. Bring LION Wesley too.
TCryan says: Apr. 16 at 05:23 PM
Did anyone else have trouble figuring his call volume math? To follow his math: 7 calls per 24hr day for each station, ok. How did he get TWO calls per shift out of that? There are 4 primary stations. Simple math says that 7 X 4(. Thats about 26 more per shift then the TWO he posted. However, I think that the “7 calls” number is supposed to be per Unit. There are 5 Primary Units, and a M-F day time unit. So, 7 x 6B calls per shift. This number does not include calls run by the Supervisor or Jonas Ridge Unit. Anyone know a good math tutor for the Commissioner? I will agree that there are a lot of trips to/from nursing homes. BUT how many are 911 calls requiring transport to the ER. The same is true for the Out of Town trips. Those happen 3 or 4 times a shift, at all hours, and they are to get very sick people to facilities that offer care not available in Burke County. Also, the back of my ambulance may be more “septic” then a battle field, but it is by no means any calmer or more secure. And a place that is just as horrifying and life threatening to treat a critical patient is on the side of I-40, in the pouring rain or snow, their dead spouse in the seat next to them, with trucks flying by. OR… have you ever treated a head injured pt in the middle of the night from the back of a 4wheeler for 2-3 hours, or over night even. Army field medicine of his time was the basis for what we do now, but now that Medic is an extension of the ER, giving much more advanced care.
Jimmy Winters says: Apr. 17 at 06:44 AM
I am concerned that Commissioner Carroll considers the EMS employees to be greedy people. I would think that a lot of people enjoy a little OT in any work place. I imagine that the employer would have to offer such in some form or fashion for the employee to take it. It amazes me that no one said anything about overtime from the inception of the old pay system in the mid 1980’s until Jan 2005. Guess why? It was very hard to get it and like today the employees stood ready and willing to work for the citizens of Burke. There is not only a local problem with Paramedic salary, but in many areas a national problem. While I am on the subject of work, I know what the common denominator in the success of our EMS system has been over the years. You folks know, you call 911 and you get hardworking people there in a reasonable time. Answer: THE EMPLOYEES.
Guess what RUBs my hinny? A lack of factual information. It is imperative that our public officials become educated on 1st hand information, not what someone else has fed them. Mr. Carroll I would like for you to come and ride with me. I promise not to speak about the lawsuit. We will talk about the future and what we need to do for our citizens to ensure a bright future. I know you can be the man the leads out front of the crowd. It will take defined leadership and a resistance to make all our issues personal. The County has a great responsibility to its citizens. When we point fingers we spend valuable time making accusations,
Jimmy Winters says: Apr. 17 at 06:49 AM
Sorry cont;
time that should be used to solve problems. I pray our Lord will watch over all us during this time. Please; each side of the issues should be informational and not personal. (TO ALL CONCERNED: BE PART OF THE SOLUTION NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM) Thanks JWinters
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:16 AM
Everyone must keep in mind that when TRUE identities are hidden, it allows for hidden agendas to be pushed forward. What I meant when I posted to the fake ID of R. King, if you are not afraid of ridicule or retaliation by not putting your true ID on your opinions, does that mean you have other than honest motives for what you write? Mr. Carroll, glad to hear from you. Problems can only be worked out through communication. One of the main problems I see that County Administration has, is trying to deal in averages in every thing they do. That will get you in the ballpark, but will not tell you the exact score. Your math is a fine example. Sometimes it takes a hands on look at things with an unbiased viewpoint. I echo what Jimmy has said and would welcome the chance to show you what we do. Don’t limit it to 1 day either. Spend one 24 hour and then some other daily visits to just get to know everyone. I have seen days where I was in a truck for 22 out of 24.5 hrs because I ran 12 or 15 trips that day. I have also worked the entire 24.5 without turning a wheel. Some days are all emergencies and some are mostly convalesant trips. The main point is that there was a trained Paramedic available to be enroute within 3 min., as our regulations require. If no one needs the assistance of EMS, Deputies, or any other county employee that day, then everyone is having a “Good day”. Does that mean you should send us home because we are not needed? Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:34 AM
If people do not pay taxes say during the months from May to Nov., should the tax office be closed? Any job has down time and it is different from job to job. We have trucks/equipment/buildings to clean, errands to run on county business, endless paperwork to do, etc. The problems at EMS and the rest of the County are not unique to our little corner of the world. I am glad you are trying to think outside the norm for solutions. I appreciate the experience and knowledge you bring to do the work of the people. Thank You! As far as the cost of an EMS bill, it is my understanding that the amount is set by a national standard and approved by the Commissioners before being implemented. @ B. Blogger,EMS does not turn a profit, but limitsthe amount of tax dollars used by offsetting it with user fees like the Landfill, Health Dept., and Building inspections, etc. A large portion of these fees are paid by Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Insurance policies, not tax dollars. Pt’s. are even billed for their deductables. Burke Co. has one of the highest collection rates in the country. If user fees are cut from $450 to $50, it will mean that the monies not collected will most certainly be made up with tax dollars. Your wife, whom i have had the pleasure to talk to at a Commission MTG, is a wonderful person. I just want her to know that EMS has not been run by the lower ranks for the most part, we have not been allowed to work as many hours as we wanted, I am not upset, and I am happy Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:52 AM
with the new schedule. As for there only being one side aired to date, Silverstreak, Nos-Ellen/Naa Naa’s friend, LION (Wesley,if it IS you), and Blogger/Maxine, are all people who are “In the know”. Now even Mr. Carroll has weighed in. I’d say that is a fair representation of the “Other side”. Also, we have actually had our meal and sleep time DEDUCTED from time at work, even though we were not completly relieved from duty, up until the pay change of Jan. 14, 2006 that was put into place by Mr. Lewis and staff. The “New” plan even has OT “Built In”. I am intrigued with the comments of “more changes may be in the works”. My only question is, are these changes going to be made in an open forum or will they be made “in smoke filled rooms” as printed in the News Herald? As for Mr. Carroll’s remarks about a “small minority” at EMS that are only out for self…I will ask you directly, am I one of the people to whom you refer? As to LION’s statements that this problem is complicated by the shortage of healthcare workers and the lawsuit shows me that you are lumping all problems into one basket. If our current pay plan is so just, why are so many Medics leaving since its inception? If the County knows there is a shortage of workers, why are they letting experience walk out the door? Blaming the lawsuit is silly, as only 2 of the 9 that have left were parties to that suit. Maybe it is because the County advertised starting salary as $29,324/yr which may Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 11:02 AM
increase with OT, Training, Holiday pay, etc., but when your pay is explained to you, your base salary is around $22,000/yr and after you get built in OT, Holiday pay, and built in Training pay your TOTAL compensation is around that $29,000 dollar mark. If you take off for ANY reason, you lose your OT (unless you take off on a Tuesday) so the overall compensation drops. If that is not a pay cut then I do not know what is. @ Speakupbeheard, all statistics and call records are public record and available to anyone at the offices located at 200 Avery Ave. downstairs. I have always been suppoertive of anyone riding with us to learn more about what we do. The same goes for Police and Fire services too. Ther are many complicated issues that face our County in the near future. I hope that the public cares enough to become aware of the issues at hand and go find out for themselves what’s up. Unbiased FACTS are what needs to be brought forward so peopkle can make informed decisions and form oppinions based on the truth instaed of emotions. Sorry this was so long, but this is what I felt needed to be said.
Libby Lineberger says: Apr. 17 at 12:28 PM
of the people of Burke County. And I AM concerned about loosing so many medics. I love what I do and I love the people of this county. But how long can we work this kind of hours and still provide the quality of care that the people here so deserve?! That is my main concern and so should be yours.
I, too, welcome you to “work” with me for one week. Although I lack the experience that both Jimmy and Jeff have, I would be delighted to have you or any other Commissioner with me. Not just for one shift, but for an entire week, extra shifts and all. Be assured there will be no more “Blogs” from me, but this one, I just had to write.
Libby Lineberger says: Apr. 17 at 12:54 PM
Since the first part didn’t earlier for some reason, let’s try again.
Commissioner Carroll sent a comment that I would like to reply to him about.
Mr. Carroll, I am a paramedic with Burke County. Before “the recent revamping of the work schedule” on Jan. 14th, it was lik pulling teeth to get OT. Go ahead and pull my time sheets for the entire year of 2005. Since the “revamping”, there has been no end to the OT. Take last week, (April 8-15) for instance. The county owes me 59.5 hrs in OVERTIME for this week alone. Total hrs worked: 99.5. The two weeks prior to that I averaged 80-85 hrs/wk. So you see, I don’t get the “RUB” on this issue. And, of course, much of this time was spent transporting pts form hospital to hospital, hospital to nursing homes, and nursing homes to hospital. But the point is, SOMEONE had to be there to do it!!
I am not invoved with the lawsuit in any way, shape or form. I don’t even want to know what is going on with it. But I AM involved in the CARE of the people of Burke County. And I AM concerned about loosing so many medics. I love what I do and I love the people of this county. But how long can we work this kind of hrs and still provide the quality of care the people here deserve? This is my main concern and so should be yours!!!
I also would like to let you know that I am not 20 yrs old, just out of school and looking to make a million dollars. I am 46 yrs old and trying to make a living.
The rest came through earlier.
John Franklin says: Apr. 17 at 01:50 PM
Lets see if I have this right, grown men and women who are SCARED to use their God give names telling other people how to do some thing ? Burke County is in a sad state of affairs. To boot the gentle man can not do simple math, and he is an elected official? Man am I scared now . To my brother Medics I suggest you definitely look else where, I know Im now very glad I chose NOT to work for Burke County. Oh and by the way I am a NREMT-P, N.C.Paramedic Instuctor,N.C. FF II and ERT so I think I can speak on that side of the fence. Oh and by the way I am aresident of Jonas Ridge and a tax payer so I can talk from that side too. Johnson City Tn recently LOST a similar suit in FEDERAL court, so I m thinking things are looking bad for the Commissioners. That means we will all end up paying later rather than sooner but at what cost?? Also know the law of supply and demand will dictate the raise in pay if we want to keep what we have.In the mean time I suggest experienced providers should look else where to provide for no. 1. Remember back in school the first think we learned? Look out for no. 1 as no one else will. May I suggest Avery County? We can use part time and definitely appriciate experience.Kudos to the honest people who use their names . If you are that afraid its really not worth saying.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 17 at 03:22 PM
My first name is Burke. My last name is Blogger.
It should not matter to you who I am. The problem with most of us is that we don’t listen to what is said as much as who is saying it. If my words resonate with you, then we stand on the same side of the issue. If you knew my political views, you may choose to not hear anything that I say. If you knew my religious views you may choose to shut me out if they are different from your own. I only ask the readers of this blog to reason with me using good common sense.
Some will call me a hypocrite for outing Jack Carroll on this blog. I hold representatives of the people to a higher standard. By the way, I really didn’t know it was Jack. Being anonymous allowed me to take an educated guess. Ole Jack walked right into his on pile of doo-doo. I blog…
Tim Hubbard says: Apr. 17 at 04:05 PM
Let me start by saying that I like to think I am a fair person and try here both sides of every story. Over the last few years I have seen lots of changes in EMS. Some good and some bad. I want to say that I love my job and for the first time in 23 years with the county I am scared for what I see and the future of EMS. We have lost alot of personnel to other countys. These were and STILL are my friends and can no way shape or form be replaced here. For all that are listening can we PLEASE work for a common goal and come up with some kind of solution so we lose no more of my unreplacable FRIENDS!!. I am proud of the the ones in here that support us and it is a privelidge to work beside you ALL!I know the sacrifices that you have made!
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 06:22 PM
@ T hubbard. AMEN BROTHER (as an old friend used to put it)
EMS Supporter says: Apr. 17 at 06:33 PM
Here is a site you should view to see roots to what your county Manager is.
http://politicallyincorrect.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
CCEMT-P says: Apr. 17 at 07:51 PM
Well i would like to start by saying I am a Critical Care Paramedic. I have recently moved to this area with my wife who is also a paramedic. I have been in EMS since 1995 and plan on doing nothing else. Before we moved we had looked at trying to get jobs with Burke County EMS because of the great training and the reputation of the system. Unfortunatly, a very good friend of mine was a EMT-P for Burke county. He left due to the problums. He told me of the sad story of the way the “powers at be” had done the EMS system with the pay. So Burke county lost two multi year EMT-P’s before they even applied. Burke County citizens need to no that your EMS, Fire and Law Enforcement people need your HELP! I would never work in any area for the pay the people behind the desks want the EMT-P’s to work for. I have always said it is easy for the “powers” to make decisions and nothing changes untill they need one of the services. Then things change. By the way I bet their pay didn’t drop. I worked for a county that had some major pay issues. We worked 24/72 and it took 10 EMT-P’s and multiple deputies to resign their jobs and leave for things to change. For those of you EMT-P’s that are hanging in my hats off to you. I hope for your county’s sake they make things right and I will continue to help you and the citizens with my posts. As Burke County cant fire me or my wife.. I hope the citizens get the EMT-P’s side of the story and I hope I can help them get it.. Your EMS/police/fire services deserves it…
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 19 at 12:56 AM
I really hate to hear that County Manager Ron Lewis is angry. I hope he is angry for the 8 paramedics who had to quit the job that they loved in order to uproot their families to find a similiar job that pays a living wage. I hope he is angry for his own intolerance of anyone with an opinion that differs from his own.
I hope that Ron gets over his “mad.” The Burke Blogger is pulling for Ron. The Burke Blogger hopes Ron will not have to pull up and start over himself.
Ron, I hope that the next time you are told to find a solution to a problem, that you won’t take it to mean that you can run roughshod over the people that make this county a great place to live. I hope you understand that when you make decisions, human beings may suffer. I want a kinder-gentler Ron. We all do.
My thoughts are with you Ron. I only wish there was some way that I could assist you through this difficult time. Perhaps Dr. Hamer could give you some medical advice. Perhaps our esteemed county commissioners will weigh in. I know that Jack Carroll has some ideas. Jack admires his wife for having a mind of her own, so it is reasonable to believe that he would expect no less from his fellow EMS bloggers.
We have laid out the problems well and now it is time to suggest solutions. And Ron, I believe the remaining EMS employees already know to not let the door hit them in the ass on their way out, with your sparkling reference in hand.
Be careful what you wish for.
Nyoka Rich says: Apr. 19 at 02:15 PM
When well I hear from you again in the paper or on the web? Please let us know.
thank you a citizen of burke county
Nyoka Rich says: Apr. 19 at 08:27 PM
Duke were are you? Please answer my question paper or web?
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 19 at 11:47 PM
Jack Carroll says that some EMS employees (a small minority), are “in the game for self only”. Since Jack has chosen to question the character of this small minority, I have a question for Jack. What is your motivation for running for County Commissioner? Did you do it as a way to give back to the community, or are you Jack, in the game for self only?
I am glad to hear again this year that the Republicans are BIG on education. Perhaps someone will give Jack a calculator to assist him with division. Perhaps Ron Lewis can assist him. Ron is obviously good at subtraction, maybe he is good at division too. Maybe Ron and Jack will get together for lunch and figure out this equation:
If each EMS station runs 7 trips per 24 hour shift, how many trips would they run in 24 hours. Jack has said in a previous blog that the answer is 2. This is what the Republicans often refer to as FUZZY MATH. I am still trying to wrap my brain around Jack’s blog. My head hurts.
I will be surprised if we see Jack doing anymore blogging in the near future. Jack is currently being handled by the many volunteers that it takes to prop up a fossilized, out of touch county commissioner. High double D, Ron, and even Wesley have lamented the error of Jack’s ways. Jack has learned his lesson. Thinking for himself is better left to Maxine.
Jax wife wants us to vent at her instead of Jack. Jack, as usual didn’t argue with her…
THIS IS WHAT PASSES AS LEADERSHIP IN BURKE COUNTY.
Leroyholmes,jon’sbrother says: Apr. 20 at 08:56 PM
Where is everyone? Reading this is great entertainment! Come-on let’s hear some more! I know………… some of you may have enrolled in a math class. My bad.
This is the only way to figure out what is really going on in the county. You will never see any of this in the paper, it is not sterile enough!
Ryan W says: Apr. 20 at 11:27 PM
@Leroyholmes – Exactly, this is good entertainment. No this won’t ever show up in the News Herald because it is entertaining. We need some more topics though. I don’t think that Duke expected all of this when he started this blog. Let’s give him some more and show him what the readers really want.
This came from another reader and it was asked that I post these comments on the site.
I just think it’s a shame that so much pressure was put on the News Herald to remove Jack and Maxine Carroll’s blogs bashing EMS. It shows the bias that the News Herald has toward the EMS story. It’s more than just being embarrassed for getting the story wrong in the first place. Jack and Maxine just did not want the rest of you to know how blog challenged they really are. I hope that none of will mind to much if I just repeat a couple of the blogs back in April from the NH site since they have been conveniently removed.
Gosh, I just have a habit of saving everything. Enjoy and have a great weekend. It all got started on 4/15/06 when “Blogger” who turned out to be Republican commissioner Jack Carrolls wife posted the remarks below, then others chimed in on the given dates.
Blogger says: Apr. 15 at 02:03 PM
To date there has been only one side of the EMS discussion aired. Whats the other side? For about ten years there has been very little leadership in the EMS department, mostly run by the lower ranks. Up until Mr. Lewis became county manager EMS employees worked as many hours as they wanted, some earned $50, $60 thousand a year. The county was paying thousands of dollars in overtime. Do you know that many employees were paid for sleeping, can you imagine that. Now that more employees have been hired no more overtime, or very litle. This is why Weller, Ryan and others are so upset.
You would think EMS employees should be very happy with the new schedule, they have more time with their family and to BLOG, of course you are aware there are many counties out there who have EMS departments and may be looking for experienced employees at better pay and benefits. On the other hand Burke County EMS employees may not be as bad off as they claim.
Take heart, more changes may be in the works, stay tuned and keep in touch.
J.Rowe RN-Emergency Room says: Apr. 15 at 06:25 PM
Hi- I have been reading some of these blogs and just want everyone to know how all of these changes will affect our community, families, and loved ones. As we have read, most of our experienced EMS workers have left to go to other counties. We used to have the best EMS service in our surrounding counties. Now, they continue to hire basic paramedics to work all shifts and the experience continues to dwindle down. In a nutshell, you now have a smaller chance to get an experienced professional taking care of you during an emergency (you now depend on someone whom has been trained to read from a list of instructions, instead of recognizing a life-threatening situation and treating it)This also means that in the event of an emergency, if you are in the emergency room and need to be transported to a trauma center, or cardiac(heart) unit, we as the nurses will have to call EMS for transport ASAP. You will then have to cross your fingers and hope that a critical care team is available to transport you. If not we will hope that another county will have personel trained for your care, and we will wait for them to arrive. Any extra time is to long when your life is on the line(or your mom’s, or dad’s, etc…)You have to have personel with certain knowledge to carry you when you have specialized drips in your IV.(you want them to know what they are giving you and why- remember- it could mean life or death). -And we as nurses cannot ride along, because we have too many patients in the ER.
J.Rowe Emergency room says: Apr. 15 at 06:39 PM
I have great respect for all of the trained EMTs who work these long hours with little to no sleep, or time to eat. I have read many comments about them getting paid for sleep. Obviously these people have never worked a night shift before, or probably 12 hour shift. Sometimes we don’t have time to eat.Let me tell you, after that long with no food or breaks, you can’t think as well or as fast as you normally can. With our jobs, your life depends on us thinking clearly when we give you medicine. I have never understood why they let EMS work 24 hours anyways. I invite any of you reading this to attempt to go through first responder training, then work your regular 8-10 hour work day, go home, go to bed, and go on volunteer calls at night. Sometimes there are 2-3, sometimes >10. How many people would work on the drop of a dime in the middle of their sleep for nothing? I can’t think of many. Luckily we do have some in our county that love to help people so much that in their time off they respond to calls. I am so worried about the knowledge and experience of our EMERGENCY responders declining. I just hope and pray that for all of our community that the right workers are available when we need them. Who knows, next time it could be you or your family. It sure makes a difference when it hits home. Let me tell you, when the nurses get nervous, so should the community. I am still upset that we are losing so many EMTS that we have come to know and TRUST.
TCryan says: Apr. 15 at 07:34 PM
One other comment regarding sleep.. and J Rowe can back me up on this one… next time you visit the Emergency Room in the middle of the night, and it is a slow night… look around, no Doctor… but don’t worry he is there, back in his room, resting, and de-stressing, as he waits to make that next life or death decision. This is same situation faced by Paramedics during their shift… Thanks J Rowe for the words of support.
speakupbeheard says: Apr. 15 at 10:52 PM
Hi I have been reading this blog over the last few days. I did not know about it until then. But I have to put my two cents worth in on this EMS stuff. I want to know if a tax paying person can go ride along at the EMS? If so who do you contact? Then maybe some of the people who have a hard time understanding the job of a Paramedic or what it takes to do their job would get a better understanding. I think that a person should get an honest days pay for an honest days work. To me, a person working 24 hours in a high stress job should earn more than 10 or 11 dollars an hour. I would also like it if someone would post the number of call being run in a day. And then break that up into day and nights so that we the general public will know how many calls you guys make. It may even help put some light on things if we could know what it was like for you guys five years ago compaired to now.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 01:36 AM
I just want to make sure that everyone knows that “blogger” is not Burke Blogger. I wouldn’t want to be identified with an idiot like that.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 02:15 AM
I got to wondering who would have information on yearly pay for long time paramedics and checked “bloggers” email. With a little investigating jcmccarr@bellsouth turns out to be none other than REPUBLICAN COUNTY COMMISSIONER JACK CARROLL. Hi Jack and Maxine, hope all is well over there on Sequoyah Circle. Jack can also be reached at camcar@bellsouth.com
Sorry about the idiot remark Jack, I really don’t hold you in that high-esteem.
John Hamel MD says: Apr. 16 at 02:15 AM
As the former EMS Medical Director of Burke County EMS I would be happy to answer and enlighten anyone who may not quite understand what has happened to Burke County EMS.
By the way … who is the Medical Director now ?…. where does he live ?….what hospital does he work at?…and why did I resign? Was it hair removal?
John Hamel MD
TCryan says: Apr. 16 at 03:12 AM
Speakupbeheard, that is an great idea, and one that I am very much in favor of (esp for ppl like Mr Carroll, who should have some idea of what they are being tasked with making decisions about). You would need to contact Major Ken Anthony, EMS Training Officer @ 828 430-4213. Oh by the way, just to clarify another one of Mr. Carrolls comments on pay, the person who made $60k last year was an EMS Supervisor, who has been with the County almost longer then anyone else. As part of procedure, when several Units go out at night the Supervisor is to be awake, so when he would get up at night to keep track of his crews, that was considered enough qualification for him to receive the addition hours of pay on the old pay plan. With his years of service, his salary was already higher then most, and when you add the extra hours, you will obviously get such a high figure on a W-2. there are several similar examples for this. You would think a County Commissioner would be able to comment factually on such things. Also, Mr Carroll, before you go running to “tell on me” for voicing my opinion, you should review my posts about how I have already resigned. My sole purpose now is to be a voice for my friends and colleagues who feel too threatened by you and your colleagues.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 03:45 AM
Dr. Hamel, We are honored to have your presence on this blog. I personally can’t wait for you to answer all the questions in your last paragraph. Enlighten us Dr. Luv, and thanks for caring and engaging in this conversation when you didn’t have to.
Jack Carroll says: Apr. 16 at 10:40 AM
Response to Burke Blogger, I agree with the comments my wife made concerning the Burke County EMS. One of the reasons we have been togather for more than 52 years is the fact she has a mind of her own.
I know something about treating the sick and injured. I served more than twenty three years in the US Army in the medical field. I have treated hang nails, foot blisters, broken limbs, spinal injuries, head injuries, gun shot wounds, sucking chest wounds, common colds and the list goes on and on. This did not take place in a septic setting of a hospital or ambulance.
The controversy taking place concerning the Burke County EMS needs some truth on the issues. The recent revamping of the work schedule of EMS employees was a move that should have taken place years ago. Many thousands of tax payer dollars were wasted on overtime that was not necesary. Here is the “RUB” on this issue “we don’t get the overtime”.
Fron reading all of the blogs one would assume (you know about that word) EMS employees are on the road 24 hours a day providing care for the sick and injured. The fact is about 80% of the call outs for EMS service is fron Grace and Valdese to transport patients fron hospital to hospital and from hospital to nursing homes, nursing homes to hospital. The average number of trips for all EMS stations is abou 7 per 24 hour day for each station, so that would mean each shift handles two calls. These numbers are from public records and available to all.
Max says: Apr. 16 at 11:09 AM
Hi Guys,thanks for the greeting.You are right Jack did not read your blogs,i did and informed him about what was being said about the county, and that i was going to write my opinion so if you want to vent then vent at me,i may be a little ole lady but i can take what ever you dish out.How many of you would work for free and take the trash that is being said?
Jack Carroll says: Apr. 16 at 11:39 AM
This is a continuation of my earlier remarks.
I want the majority of EMS employees to understand my remarks are not directed to those who report to work each day to provide service to the people without complaining and you do a good job. There is a small minority who are in the game for self only.
As a county commissioner I will continue to seek ways the county can save money and still provide professional services to the people. An example; if a patient is trasported by EMS a short distance the bill is about $450.00, the same patient could be transported for as little as $50.00. Its the tax payer who foots the bill.
EMS is not my only concern about county government.
Seakupbeheard says: Apr. 16 at 12:24 PM
Jack where is the information you are talking about? You said it is public I would like to read it. How many years has it been since you were in the Army medical field? What was your job title? Have you ever went to ride along with the Paramedics? I think you should and report back to us. But please stay the whole 24 hour shift.
Dr Hamel Why did you resign??????
Speakupbeheard says: Apr. 16 at 12:27 PM
I am sorry about the typing error in my name. I left the “p” out.
Support EMS says: Apr. 16 at 12:31 PM
Well hello Dr. Hamel, and to answer your questions. The new MD has a dogs name let’s see oh yea its Saint Bernard, and he lives in Marion and works at the hospital in Marion. And he was the MD for Burke County EMS for several months before anyone saw him. Well I’ll say 6 months or more, sure was different when you were there…I might not have agreed with everything you done but the patient care was the best around when you were the MD. Guess that hair removal job paid off after all……And one other thing why did you resign? Rumor was that they fired you. LOL. And if they did why didn’t they get a doctor in Burke County to fill your position instead of going out of county….I’m sure you can enlighten us on these issues…………Thanks again for your support…….
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 16 at 03:51 PM
Jack Carroll, I am so glad that you responded using your real name. It takes courage to not hide behind your wife. If I were your age(73), I would want the best EMS service in the country. You never know when you might need it.
You say that the ambulances are just going from hospital to hospital or nursing home. What are you implying Jack? That nursing home patients deserve a lower level of care. The ambulances are not going from Valdese to Grace. They are going to Charlotte, Asheville, and Winston.
My ride in a burke county ambulance felt like riding flat of my back being pulled by a horse drawn wagon at 55 mph. Perhaps you would like to try it sometime before you actually need it.
Your comment about a small minority in it for self is hogwash. A typical political tactic that has no place in this discussion. Since you brought up the $450 fee, if you think it is too much then lower it. Perhaps you could enlighten us at how the county decided to charge that much. It does explain how EMS turns a profit while the rest of the county is in the red.
I challenge you to work a 24 hour shift this Friday or Saturday night and to also lay on the bed in the ambulance for a short ride. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU to work a 24 hour shift. Just see how much sleep you get. Just see how long it takes you to recover. You might even find out who the Burke Blogger is. Rest assured that you will be treated with respect by all. I DOUBLE DOG DARE YOU JACK. Bring LION Wesley too.
TCryan says: Apr. 16 at 05:23 PM
Did anyone else have trouble figuring his call volume math? To follow his math: 7 calls per 24hr day for each station, ok. How did he get TWO calls per shift out of that? There are 4 primary stations. Simple math says that 7 X 4(. Thats about 26 more per shift then the TWO he posted. However, I think that the “7 calls” number is supposed to be per Unit. There are 5 Primary Units, and a M-F day time unit. So, 7 x 6B calls per shift. This number does not include calls run by the Supervisor or Jonas Ridge Unit. Anyone know a good math tutor for the Commissioner? I will agree that there are a lot of trips to/from nursing homes. BUT how many are 911 calls requiring transport to the ER. The same is true for the Out of Town trips. Those happen 3 or 4 times a shift, at all hours, and they are to get very sick people to facilities that offer care not available in Burke County. Also, the back of my ambulance may be more “septic” then a battle field, but it is by no means any calmer or more secure. And a place that is just as horrifying and life threatening to treat a critical patient is on the side of I-40, in the pouring rain or snow, their dead spouse in the seat next to them, with trucks flying by. OR… have you ever treated a head injured pt in the middle of the night from the back of a 4wheeler for 2-3 hours, or over night even. Army field medicine of his time was the basis for what we do now, but now that Medic is an extension of the ER, giving much more advanced care.
Jimmy Winters says: Apr. 17 at 06:44 AM
I am concerned that Commissioner Carroll considers the EMS employees to be greedy people. I would think that a lot of people enjoy a little OT in any work place. I imagine that the employer would have to offer such in some form or fashion for the employee to take it. It amazes me that no one said anything about overtime from the inception of the old pay system in the mid 1980’s until Jan 2005. Guess why? It was very hard to get it and like today the employees stood ready and willing to work for the citizens of Burke. There is not only a local problem with Paramedic salary, but in many areas a national problem. While I am on the subject of work, I know what the common denominator in the success of our EMS system has been over the years. You folks know, you call 911 and you get hardworking people there in a reasonable time. Answer: THE EMPLOYEES.
Guess what RUBs my hinny? A lack of factual information. It is imperative that our public officials become educated on 1st hand information, not what someone else has fed them. Mr. Carroll I would like for you to come and ride with me. I promise not to speak about the lawsuit. We will talk about the future and what we need to do for our citizens to ensure a bright future. I know you can be the man the leads out front of the crowd. It will take defined leadership and a resistance to make all our issues personal. The County has a great responsibility to its citizens. When we point fingers we spend valuable time making accusations,
Jimmy Winters says: Apr. 17 at 06:49 AM
Sorry cont;
time that should be used to solve problems. I pray our Lord will watch over all us during this time. Please; each side of the issues should be informational and not personal. (TO ALL CONCERNED: BE PART OF THE SOLUTION NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM) Thanks JWinters
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:16 AM
Everyone must keep in mind that when TRUE identities are hidden, it allows for hidden agendas to be pushed forward. What I meant when I posted to the fake ID of R. King, if you are not afraid of ridicule or retaliation by not putting your true ID on your opinions, does that mean you have other than honest motives for what you write? Mr. Carroll, glad to hear from you. Problems can only be worked out through communication. One of the main problems I see that County Administration has, is trying to deal in averages in every thing they do. That will get you in the ballpark, but will not tell you the exact score. Your math is a fine example. Sometimes it takes a hands on look at things with an unbiased viewpoint. I echo what Jimmy has said and would welcome the chance to show you what we do. Don’t limit it to 1 day either. Spend one 24 hour and then some other daily visits to just get to know everyone. I have seen days where I was in a truck for 22 out of 24.5 hrs because I ran 12 or 15 trips that day. I have also worked the entire 24.5 without turning a wheel. Some days are all emergencies and some are mostly convalesant trips. The main point is that there was a trained Paramedic available to be enroute within 3 min., as our regulations require. If no one needs the assistance of EMS, Deputies, or any other county employee that day, then everyone is having a “Good day”. Does that mean you should send us home because we are not needed? Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:34 AM
If people do not pay taxes say during the months from May to Nov., should the tax office be closed? Any job has down time and it is different from job to job. We have trucks/equipment/buildings to clean, errands to run on county business, endless paperwork to do, etc. The problems at EMS and the rest of the County are not unique to our little corner of the world. I am glad you are trying to think outside the norm for solutions. I appreciate the experience and knowledge you bring to do the work of the people. Thank You! As far as the cost of an EMS bill, it is my understanding that the amount is set by a national standard and approved by the Commissioners before being implemented. @ B. Blogger,EMS does not turn a profit, but limitsthe amount of tax dollars used by offsetting it with user fees like the Landfill, Health Dept., and Building inspections, etc. A large portion of these fees are paid by Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Insurance policies, not tax dollars. Pt’s. are even billed for their deductables. Burke Co. has one of the highest collection rates in the country. If user fees are cut from $450 to $50, it will mean that the monies not collected will most certainly be made up with tax dollars. Your wife, whom i have had the pleasure to talk to at a Commission MTG, is a wonderful person. I just want her to know that EMS has not been run by the lower ranks for the most part, we have not been allowed to work as many hours as we wanted, I am not upset, and I am happy Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 10:52 AM
with the new schedule. As for there only being one side aired to date, Silverstreak, Nos-Ellen/Naa Naa’s friend, LION (Wesley,if it IS you), and Blogger/Maxine, are all people who are “In the know”. Now even Mr. Carroll has weighed in. I’d say that is a fair representation of the “Other side”. Also, we have actually had our meal and sleep time DEDUCTED from time at work, even though we were not completly relieved from duty, up until the pay change of Jan. 14, 2006 that was put into place by Mr. Lewis and staff. The “New” plan even has OT “Built In”. I am intrigued with the comments of “more changes may be in the works”. My only question is, are these changes going to be made in an open forum or will they be made “in smoke filled rooms” as printed in the News Herald? As for Mr. Carroll’s remarks about a “small minority” at EMS that are only out for self…I will ask you directly, am I one of the people to whom you refer? As to LION’s statements that this problem is complicated by the shortage of healthcare workers and the lawsuit shows me that you are lumping all problems into one basket. If our current pay plan is so just, why are so many Medics leaving since its inception? If the County knows there is a shortage of workers, why are they letting experience walk out the door? Blaming the lawsuit is silly, as only 2 of the 9 that have left were parties to that suit. Maybe it is because the County advertised starting salary as $29,324/yr which may Cont.
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 11:02 AM
increase with OT, Training, Holiday pay, etc., but when your pay is explained to you, your base salary is around $22,000/yr and after you get built in OT, Holiday pay, and built in Training pay your TOTAL compensation is around that $29,000 dollar mark. If you take off for ANY reason, you lose your OT (unless you take off on a Tuesday) so the overall compensation drops. If that is not a pay cut then I do not know what is. @ Speakupbeheard, all statistics and call records are public record and available to anyone at the offices located at 200 Avery Ave. downstairs. I have always been suppoertive of anyone riding with us to learn more about what we do. The same goes for Police and Fire services too. Ther are many complicated issues that face our County in the near future. I hope that the public cares enough to become aware of the issues at hand and go find out for themselves what’s up. Unbiased FACTS are what needs to be brought forward so peopkle can make informed decisions and form oppinions based on the truth instaed of emotions. Sorry this was so long, but this is what I felt needed to be said.
Libby Lineberger says: Apr. 17 at 12:28 PM
of the people of Burke County. And I AM concerned about loosing so many medics. I love what I do and I love the people of this county. But how long can we work this kind of hours and still provide the quality of care that the people here so deserve?! That is my main concern and so should be yours.
I, too, welcome you to “work” with me for one week. Although I lack the experience that both Jimmy and Jeff have, I would be delighted to have you or any other Commissioner with me. Not just for one shift, but for an entire week, extra shifts and all. Be assured there will be no more “Blogs” from me, but this one, I just had to write.
Libby Lineberger says: Apr. 17 at 12:54 PM
Since the first part didn’t earlier for some reason, let’s try again.
Commissioner Carroll sent a comment that I would like to reply to him about.
Mr. Carroll, I am a paramedic with Burke County. Before “the recent revamping of the work schedule” on Jan. 14th, it was lik pulling teeth to get OT. Go ahead and pull my time sheets for the entire year of 2005. Since the “revamping”, there has been no end to the OT. Take last week, (April 8-15) for instance. The county owes me 59.5 hrs in OVERTIME for this week alone. Total hrs worked: 99.5. The two weeks prior to that I averaged 80-85 hrs/wk. So you see, I don’t get the “RUB” on this issue. And, of course, much of this time was spent transporting pts form hospital to hospital, hospital to nursing homes, and nursing homes to hospital. But the point is, SOMEONE had to be there to do it!!
I am not invoved with the lawsuit in any way, shape or form. I don’t even want to know what is going on with it. But I AM involved in the CARE of the people of Burke County. And I AM concerned about loosing so many medics. I love what I do and I love the people of this county. But how long can we work this kind of hrs and still provide the quality of care the people here deserve? This is my main concern and so should be yours!!!
I also would like to let you know that I am not 20 yrs old, just out of school and looking to make a million dollars. I am 46 yrs old and trying to make a living.
The rest came through earlier.
John Franklin says: Apr. 17 at 01:50 PM
Lets see if I have this right, grown men and women who are SCARED to use their God give names telling other people how to do some thing ? Burke County is in a sad state of affairs. To boot the gentle man can not do simple math, and he is an elected official? Man am I scared now . To my brother Medics I suggest you definitely look else where, I know Im now very glad I chose NOT to work for Burke County. Oh and by the way I am a NREMT-P, N.C.Paramedic Instuctor,N.C. FF II and ERT so I think I can speak on that side of the fence. Oh and by the way I am aresident of Jonas Ridge and a tax payer so I can talk from that side too. Johnson City Tn recently LOST a similar suit in FEDERAL court, so I m thinking things are looking bad for the Commissioners. That means we will all end up paying later rather than sooner but at what cost?? Also know the law of supply and demand will dictate the raise in pay if we want to keep what we have.In the mean time I suggest experienced providers should look else where to provide for no. 1. Remember back in school the first think we learned? Look out for no. 1 as no one else will. May I suggest Avery County? We can use part time and definitely appriciate experience.Kudos to the honest people who use their names . If you are that afraid its really not worth saying.
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 17 at 03:22 PM
My first name is Burke. My last name is Blogger.
It should not matter to you who I am. The problem with most of us is that we don’t listen to what is said as much as who is saying it. If my words resonate with you, then we stand on the same side of the issue. If you knew my political views, you may choose to not hear anything that I say. If you knew my religious views you may choose to shut me out if they are different from your own. I only ask the readers of this blog to reason with me using good common sense.
Some will call me a hypocrite for outing Jack Carroll on this blog. I hold representatives of the people to a higher standard. By the way, I really didn’t know it was Jack. Being anonymous allowed me to take an educated guess. Ole Jack walked right into his on pile of doo-doo. I blog…
Tim Hubbard says: Apr. 17 at 04:05 PM
Let me start by saying that I like to think I am a fair person and try here both sides of every story. Over the last few years I have seen lots of changes in EMS. Some good and some bad. I want to say that I love my job and for the first time in 23 years with the county I am scared for what I see and the future of EMS. We have lost alot of personnel to other countys. These were and STILL are my friends and can no way shape or form be replaced here. For all that are listening can we PLEASE work for a common goal and come up with some kind of solution so we lose no more of my unreplacable FRIENDS!!. I am proud of the the ones in here that support us and it is a privelidge to work beside you ALL!I know the sacrifices that you have made!
Jeff Weller says: Apr. 17 at 06:22 PM
@ T hubbard. AMEN BROTHER (as an old friend used to put it)
EMS Supporter says: Apr. 17 at 06:33 PM
Here is a site you should view to see roots to what your county Manager is.
http://politicallyincorrect.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
CCEMT-P says: Apr. 17 at 07:51 PM
Well i would like to start by saying I am a Critical Care Paramedic. I have recently moved to this area with my wife who is also a paramedic. I have been in EMS since 1995 and plan on doing nothing else. Before we moved we had looked at trying to get jobs with Burke County EMS because of the great training and the reputation of the system. Unfortunatly, a very good friend of mine was a EMT-P for Burke county. He left due to the problums. He told me of the sad story of the way the “powers at be” had done the EMS system with the pay. So Burke county lost two multi year EMT-P’s before they even applied. Burke County citizens need to no that your EMS, Fire and Law Enforcement people need your HELP! I would never work in any area for the pay the people behind the desks want the EMT-P’s to work for. I have always said it is easy for the “powers” to make decisions and nothing changes untill they need one of the services. Then things change. By the way I bet their pay didn’t drop. I worked for a county that had some major pay issues. We worked 24/72 and it took 10 EMT-P’s and multiple deputies to resign their jobs and leave for things to change. For those of you EMT-P’s that are hanging in my hats off to you. I hope for your county’s sake they make things right and I will continue to help you and the citizens with my posts. As Burke County cant fire me or my wife.. I hope the citizens get the EMT-P’s side of the story and I hope I can help them get it.. Your EMS/police/fire services deserves it…
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 19 at 12:56 AM
I really hate to hear that County Manager Ron Lewis is angry. I hope he is angry for the 8 paramedics who had to quit the job that they loved in order to uproot their families to find a similiar job that pays a living wage. I hope he is angry for his own intolerance of anyone with an opinion that differs from his own.
I hope that Ron gets over his “mad.” The Burke Blogger is pulling for Ron. The Burke Blogger hopes Ron will not have to pull up and start over himself.
Ron, I hope that the next time you are told to find a solution to a problem, that you won’t take it to mean that you can run roughshod over the people that make this county a great place to live. I hope you understand that when you make decisions, human beings may suffer. I want a kinder-gentler Ron. We all do.
My thoughts are with you Ron. I only wish there was some way that I could assist you through this difficult time. Perhaps Dr. Hamer could give you some medical advice. Perhaps our esteemed county commissioners will weigh in. I know that Jack Carroll has some ideas. Jack admires his wife for having a mind of her own, so it is reasonable to believe that he would expect no less from his fellow EMS bloggers.
We have laid out the problems well and now it is time to suggest solutions. And Ron, I believe the remaining EMS employees already know to not let the door hit them in the ass on their way out, with your sparkling reference in hand.
Be careful what you wish for.
Nyoka Rich says: Apr. 19 at 02:15 PM
When well I hear from you again in the paper or on the web? Please let us know.
thank you a citizen of burke county
Nyoka Rich says: Apr. 19 at 08:27 PM
Duke were are you? Please answer my question paper or web?
Burke Blogger says: Apr. 19 at 11:47 PM
Jack Carroll says that some EMS employees (a small minority), are “in the game for self only”. Since Jack has chosen to question the character of this small minority, I have a question for Jack. What is your motivation for running for County Commissioner? Did you do it as a way to give back to the community, or are you Jack, in the game for self only?
I am glad to hear again this year that the Republicans are BIG on education. Perhaps someone will give Jack a calculator to assist him with division. Perhaps Ron Lewis can assist him. Ron is obviously good at subtraction, maybe he is good at division too. Maybe Ron and Jack will get together for lunch and figure out this equation:
If each EMS station runs 7 trips per 24 hour shift, how many trips would they run in 24 hours. Jack has said in a previous blog that the answer is 2. This is what the Republicans often refer to as FUZZY MATH. I am still trying to wrap my brain around Jack’s blog. My head hurts.
I will be surprised if we see Jack doing anymore blogging in the near future. Jack is currently being handled by the many volunteers that it takes to prop up a fossilized, out of touch county commissioner. High double D, Ron, and even Wesley have lamented the error of Jack’s ways. Jack has learned his lesson. Thinking for himself is better left to Maxine.
Jax wife wants us to vent at her instead of Jack. Jack, as usual didn’t argue with her…
THIS IS WHAT PASSES AS LEADERSHIP IN BURKE COUNTY.
Leroyholmes,jon’sbrother says: Apr. 20 at 08:56 PM
Where is everyone? Reading this is great entertainment! Come-on let’s hear some more! I know………… some of you may have enrolled in a math class. My bad.
This is the only way to figure out what is really going on in the county. You will never see any of this in the paper, it is not sterile enough!
Ryan W says: Apr. 20 at 11:27 PM
@Leroyholmes – Exactly, this is good entertainment. No this won’t ever show up in the News Herald because it is entertaining. We need some more topics though. I don’t think that Duke expected all of this when he started this blog. Let’s give him some more and show him what the readers really want.
I think it is astonishing at how disrespectful people are to Jack Carrol, he is a good man. All the disgruntled trashy X-employees are NOTHING but cry babies.
Good men don’t destroy other good men and then sit back and trash them. You reap what you sow.
Good men don’t need to close the doors to pull the wool over the county’s eyes. The public may still not know that Burke County no longer has the paramedic services it once had.
Good men and women in Burke County no longer have the luxury of experienced paramedics at their door in an emergency. They all left for a decent wage in Caldwell and Catawba County.
Thank your good man for the foolishness of his ways. He and his cronies cost every one of the citizens a top notch paramedic force that you may need one day to save your life.
BB, have you been drinking again? PMS is much better than it was with the cry babies running it.
The only cry baby that I see is you. Gunner, Sam, anonymous, or what ever you are calling yourself this week. I guess if you write under different names it will look like someone agrees with you. I’ve got a good name for you. Stupid. It describes you perfectly.
LOL, you forgot Geraldine. Hey, does anyone know what happened on the blog @ the NH? I guess, out of sight, out of mind. So much of what we posted, you are no longer able to read. Did we hurt someone’s feelings? What a shame! It doesn’t make the problems go away though. They are still there.
It looks like the NH’s Republican friends put the pressure on them to get rid of comments made by blog challenged Jack Carroll and his idiot wife. Let’s face it, the newspaper is so obviously biased that the Kuehnert family has made the newspaper their personal diary.
Imagine how you might go about grooming your children to be politicians and public figures. Home school them and when they finish first in their class,(duh) begin to send in letters and pictures to the paper about how well that they are doing. Can’t blame the parents. They use a model of free publicity that is taught to the wealthy at an early age. Of course, if you have plans to be more than the county attorney, you come off as the perfect dad. It’s self serving and the newspaper doesn’t have to get off their butts and search for news. The Repubs send it to them and we all know what upstanding self righteous citizens they are.
They knocked the county out of a top notch EMS service and the citizens won’t know what they lost until they need the service. Pulled the wool over everyones eyes and standing back and beating their chests like they did something right.
By the way Karen, I copied most of what Duke destroyed if you want a copy of it to pass around at election time. Just like a bunch of Republicans, shredding documents, blowing up blogs where they got their tails kicked. Republican dirty tricks. Hillary was right! There is a vast right wing conspiracy. The good news is that they are blog-challenged.
Bwahahahaha.
VOTE FOR HILLARY! FUGWB
Don’t forget to stop by Case Farms and tell all the Guatamanian workers how the Democrats are going to help them with free government hand-outs so they don’t have to work so hard. Maybe we can borrow a van from the NC Democratic party to take a load of them to the County office building on Parker Rd. so they can all get signed. That should get us some votes. We have spent trillions of tax dollars giving to the poor, the least they can do is vote Democrat. As soon as we win more elections we can get rid of Bushes tax cuts.
BB, you think “The good news is they are blog challenged”? Here is a picture from the liberal blog convention called the Yearly Kos featuring Howard Dean. Compare those left wing moonbats to a highly professional Conservative blog at lucianne.com
Soros Insider-Trading Conviction Upheld by Paris Appeals Court
George Soros’s bid to overturn an insider-trading conviction has been rejected by France’s highest appeals court, ending the billionaire’s fight to erase a legal stain on his 40-year investing career. The Court of Cassation, the tribunal of last resort in France…
Lieberman Weighs Re-Election Bid Options
ABC News
Conn. Sen. Joe Lieberman Faces Decision on Whether to Seek Re-Election As Independent Candidate
Forecast for N.C. lottery’s take trimmed
Despite cut from figure cited by backers, officials say game doing its job
Lottery officials don’t believe the payoff from a state game will be as big as lawmakers and Gov. Mike Easley think it will be.
N.C. Education Lottery commissioners guessed Powerball and other games will bring in $402 million in the lottery’s first full year in a budget approved Tuesday.
That’s $23 million less than the amount Easley touted in pitching the game to lawmakers.
Democrats New Mantra: Winning Means Retreat
Just when we thought we knew all of the Democrat spin-positions, Rep. Jane Harmon (D-CA) gave us a new one! On Fox News Sunday, Ms. Harmon told Chris Wallace that the US’ killing of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi means that we should now pull our troops out. Democrats are truly an amazing group.
In the past, Democrat leaders have told us, over and over and over again, that we are losing the war in Iraq—and that we should pull out troops out of that country. Now, they tell us that the killing of Zarqawi, and the other raids which commenced thereafter, show a victory over one of the terrorists’ major symbols, so—we should pull our troops out of that country.
Democrats are now telling us that we need to pull out of Iraq, whether we are winning or losing. They’ve got it covered both ways! Don’t you find that bizarre? I certainly do. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a political party that both relishes and revels in the thought of defeat as much as does today’s Democrat Party. Waving their white flags, even in the face of victory, actually seems to give its members a strong boost of adrenalin! Can anyone say “mental disorder”?
On Chris Wallace’s FoxNews Sunday, Rep. Jane, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Wallace: “While we’re part of the political solution [in Iraq], we’re part of the military problem.” Despite the fact that Harmon’s statement may seem “profound” to some (although no intelligent people I know), it’s simply Democrat double-speak. Ms. Harmon, there would be no “political solution” in Iraq was it not for the US military. The opposite of being a “problem”, the US military in conjunction with the coalition forces in Iraq is the only reason Iraq has any political options at all.
This is not your father’s Democrat Party, folks, and it probably hasn’t been since the late 1960’s. Former Democrat Presidents John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt must be spinning in their graves. Has anyone recently checked their burial sites for any odd quake activity?
To people having the ability to think and accurately discern truth, it is generally recognized that pacifism and appeasement fosters neither liberty nor freedom. Conciliation to those who would destroy said liberties and freedoms encourages suppression. Democrats Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy understood that. They were warriors who recognized the real price attached to freedom—just as did Republican Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, George HW Bush and now President George W. Bush. These men also understood that the promise of liberty is a false one, unless it is backed up by the willingness and ability to fight and die for it. Yet Democrats Pelosi, Murtha, Kerry, Durbin, Kennedy et al continue to tell us that our troops in Iraq are “in harm’s way”. Uh—that’s where soldiers are supposed to be. That’s their purpose, duty and mission. Holy smokes! Were any of these individuals ever taught what warfare actually entails? If so, the lesson fell on deaf ears and blind eyes. I would have thought that at least Murtha and Kerry, who have each personally claimed “war hero” status, would understand this fairly simplistic and self-evident reality.
However, these are members of the crop of “New Democrats” who view our US military, the courageous and dedicated men and women who fight and die to keep the rest of us safe, as “the problem”. These New Democrats are also bound and determined to turn this war into Viet Nam. Of course, it’s not. All of the men and women currently in the US Armed Forces are volunteers. For our Democrat friends, that means they chose to enlist. No one forced them to do so. Also, the vast majority of our soldiers choose to re-up for another tour of duty.
But, modern-day Democrats continue to change the definitions of both words and concepts—so that they now hold the opposite of their intended meanings. For example, Al Gore didn’t lose the 2000 presidential election. Instead, Democrats tell us “it was stolen”. Of course, it wasn’t. In fact, it was the most heavily scrutinized of all presidential election in the history of the USA. “Hanging chad” is now used as a noun, verb and adjective! And John Kerry didn’t “lose” the 2008 presidential election to President Bush. Again, it was “stolen”. This time, Democrats tell us there was a “conspiracy” in Ohio to “steal the votes”. This claim was also investigated ad nauseam—with no “theft” found. Still, they persist. Well—if Democrats can redefine “lose” to mean “stolen”, is it any wonder that they are now attempting to transform the meaning of “defeat” to mean “victory”—and vice versa? Following that illogic, it’s not a stretch for them to develop the peculiar and wacky notion that to “win” one has to “retreat”. It seems apparent that they are also working on a new definition of winning. I suspect the New Democrat Dictionary will contain the following: “winning: to lose; retreat; redeploy troops to Kuwait or Hawaii.”
The bottom line is that to win means to be victorious and to lose means to go down to defeat. The concepts resulting from these definitions are not difficult to understand. But, the New Democrats seek muddy the waters, so that clarity of thought is no longer possible. There is, however, on thing that remains crystal clear—at least to me. Talking to a New Democrat is like trying to have a conversation with a brick. It accomplishes nothing and, ultimately, leaves one largely dissatisfied.
Sher Zieve is an author, political commentator, Staff Writer and Program Director for The New Media Alliance (www.thenma.org)*. Zieve’s Op/Ed columns are widely carried by multiple Internet Journals and sites and she also writes hard news. Her columns have also appeared in The Oregon Herald, Dallas Times, Boston Star, Massachusetts Sun, Sacramento Sun, in International news publications and on multiple University websites.
The New Media Alliance is a non-profit (501c3) national coalition of writers, journalists and grass-roots media outlets.
I see we’re back to the cut and paste thing. Slapped a September 11th widow today Gunner?
No counter to my facts? You should take up your complaint about cut and paste to the webmaster that posted the mega text.
I don’t hide behind the skirts of victims like the so-called leaders of your party. If those 4 millionaires want to step into the political ring, they are asking for it. No one gives me any slack for being a combat veteran do they? You have nothing to say about your gang attacking a veteran and preacher that revealed the truth about PMS employees in TNH.
This is all Bush’s fault:
Wall Street Rally Takes Dow Above 11,000
AP, by Christopher Wang
NEW YORK -Wall Street rallied for a second session Thursday as strong earnings from Bear Stearns Cos. and mild economic data helped stocks regain their footing after several weeks of hefty losses. The Dow Jones industrials surged more than 185 points to surpass the closely watched 11,000 level. Although the day’s data gave mixed signals on economic growth, investors again brushed aside worries about inflation and interest rates following a month of selling
06/15/06 FOX News Poll: Victories in Iraq, Bush Approval Up
Fox News, by Dana Blanton
NEW YORK — A new FOX News poll finds that Americans overwhelmingly see Iraq finalizing its government as a victory — and most see the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi that way as well. President George W. Bush’s job approval rating is out of the thirties for the first time since February and currently stands at 40 percent.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist blueprint shows a weakening insurgency
AP, by Patrick Quinn
BAGHDAD, Iraq – A document purportedly captured in an al-Qaeda hideout portrays the insurgency in Iraq as being in “bleak” shape, saying that it is losing strength and proposing ways to stir up trouble between the U.S. and Iran to divert American attention.
Al-Qaeda ‘facing destruction’
The Scotsman, by Gethin Chamberlain
HUNDREDS of insurgents have been captured or killed as a result of information gleaned from the hunting down of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, it was claimed yesterday.
by Alan Caruba
Noticeably missing from the press reports was any mention of what Coulter actually wrote. “The 9/11 Commission was a scam and a fraud, the sole purpose of which was to cover up the disasters of the Clinton administration and distract the nation’s leaders during wartime. Not only did the Jersey girls claim credit for this Clinton whitewash machine, they spent most of the hearings denouncing the Bush administration for not stopping the 9/11 attacks from the weak position handed it by the Clinton administration.”
The gist of what Kristen Breitweiser, Lorie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg, and Patty Casazza claimed was that an August 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing should have alerted Bush to order immediate action to prevent 9/11. Coulter notes in her book that “all the information about bin Laden in the August PDB comes from the nineties. Not one fact in the PDB is more recent than 1999.” This inconvenient fact was rarely, if ever, mentioned by the media.
Party of Rapist Proud to Be Godless
by Ann Coulter
My book makes a stark assertion: Liberalism is a godless religion. Hello! Anyone there? I’ve leapt beyond calling you traitors and am now calling you GODLESS. Apparently, everybody’s cool with that. The fact that liberals are godless is not even a controversial point anymore.
In addition to the consensus position that liberals are godless, no one has made a peep about that swipe I took at Hillary, proposing that she have a chat with her husband before accusing others of being “mean” to women in light of Juanita Broaddrick’s charge that Bill Clinton raped her. Hillary beat a hasty retreat on her chubby little legs and is now hiding behind Rahm “Don’t Touch My Tutu” Emanuel.
Security Sweep Leads to Peaceful Day in Baghdad
10 Killed, 20 Hurt in Iraq Mosque Bombing
Published: 6/16/06, 7:05 AM EDT
What do you consider peaceful?
Here’s some more good news courtesy of the GOP:
Inflation Makes a Surprising Return
The parents of our soldiers will like this one:
Baghdad Plan Calls for More Troops
MIAMI (AP) – A children’s book about Cuba must be removed from all Miami-Dade County school libraries, the school board ruled.
Have you picked out a place for your book burning yet?
I can’t wait for the GOP to amend the pledge of allegiance:
with liberty and justice for some.
GOP=Gestapo On Patrol
My personal favorite:
AP Enterprise: 9/11 Thefts Not Prosecuted
Published: 6/16/06, 7:45 AM EDT
2 guys reported their company for receiving stolen goods from the WTC and Pentagon. The GOPverment after investigating found that many FBI agents and even Donald Rummysfeld had also stolen souveniers from ground zero. The end result? The GOPverment couldn’t prosecute the company without prosecuting it’s own. What happened?
They fired the whistleblowers of course.
What a Burke County thing to do.
Black Republican Will Challenge Cynthia McKinney
Cybercast News Service, by Nathan Burchfiel
A little known African American woman announced Thursday that she will try to unseat Georgia Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who has been mired in controversy since she struck a U.S. Capitol policeman in the chest with her closed fist.//She favors a strict approach to immigration reform…
While the First Amendment to the United States Constitution recognizes our right to freedom of expression, it does not recognize a supposed right to lie. Lying is often a criminal act. Lying under oath in a court of law is perjury. Lying under oath, while promising to protect and defend the Constitution, can be construed as treason. Lying to official police investigators is obstruction of justice. Telling certain types of lies to children is corruption of the morals of a minor.
Lying to school children should never be acceptable to the librarians or school board members who continue to insist upon keeping the books, Vamos a Cuba and Cuban Kids, available for the indoctrination of Miami-Dade students. Whoever insists upon keeping these repugnant books in the schools is an enemy of the truth, of democratic society, of Cuba, of America, and of the children.
Vamos a Cuba, written for primary grade students from about 5 to 8 years of age, presents an entirely deceptive picture of life under the genocidal, totalitarian tyranny perpetuated in Cuba by the brutal terrorist regime of Fidel Castro. On page 5 of Vamos a Cuba, we read “In Cuba the people eat, dress, and work like you.” This simple message, uncontradicted by the remaining ideas expressed throughout the book, promotes the absolute lie that in Cuba everything is fine and normal, that the murderous Castro regime is not a terrorist organization, but a legitimate and benign government, and that the people are content.
In fact, Castro is responsible for far more murders than the deposed President Slobodan Milosevic, who was charged with genocide by the International Court in the Hague. Castro is guilty of enslaving almost the entire population of Cuba, of torturing, imprisoning, starving, terrorizing, and impoverishing 11 million people, as well as separating many thousands of families and degrading Cuban society. In addition, he is guilty of many atrocities throughout the world.
The other book, Cuban Kids, continues to build upon the structure of deception whose foundation is laid by Vamos a Cuba. Written for slightly older students, Cuban Kids introduces more complex ideas with the purpose of further convincing students that all is well in Cuba, as well as to accept that America is the villain, and not the totalitarian, terrorist-sponsoring, drug-trafficking, revolution-exporting Castro regime. The two books form a well-thought-out indoctrination program, planting the erroneous information in the small child, fertilizing it in the older child, and creating in him the mind that must willingly receive every lie that the socialist professors of FIU, UM, and MDC wish to teach, in their faithful support of leftist ideology.
Since we do not want to disorient young students with lies designed to turn them into servants of genocidal tyrants, therefore, we do not want to permit such gross distortions of truth as Vamos a Cuba and Cuban Kids to remain in the schools.
There are books, documents, and documentaries, which could easily be adapted for school children, that accurately reflect the abominations that Cubans must daily suffer under Castro. Las Torturas de Castro and Children of Paradise, for example, provide more truth than a sensitive person could stand. The truth is known about Castro’s Cuba. But it is not to be found in the books Vamos a Cuba and Cuban Kids. Stop lying to the children with whose education you have been entrusted. Teach the truth and only the truth. Don’t aid America’s enemies by becoming their publicists, committing high treason against the American Republic and the American People.
US inflation fears spun up by numbers game
By Philip Coggan – Financial Times
it takes 12-18 months for interest rate moves to affect the economy. Meanwhile, they believe the recent increase in inflation is largely a lagging indicator, reflecting the increases in oil and other commodity prices over the past two years. If the Fed just waited, inflationary pressure would subside, especially given the recent falls in commodity prices.
Investors are also critical of the way the inflation numbers are calculated. Normally, investors complain that inflation has been understated. This time, however, they are concerned about the measure of rental costs within the core inflation numbers.
Trade Deficit Posts Surprising Improvement
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
The Commerce Department reported Friday that America’s current account trade deficit fell to $208.7 billion in the January-March quarter, down 6.5 percent.
Consumer mood rises on lower gas prices
Reuters, by Chris Reese
NEW YORK – U.S. consumers were more optimistic in June as once-soaring gasoline prices eased, and the government reported that a key measure of the nation’s trade deficit narrowed more than expected in the first quarter. The University of Michigan’s preliminary June index of consumer sentiment read 82.4, up from May’s final reading of 79.1 and above Wall Street expectations for a reading of 79.0.
The Border and the Boom
One argument for curbing immigration is that the economy can’t absorb so many new entrants – there aren’t enough jobs for them. Is it true? Data released just last week strongly suggests that labor markets are so strong that the United States is easily absorbing immigrant labor; what’s more, the economy is producing so many jobs that we’ve entered a labor shortage.
There’s a gratuitous mention of Donald Rumsfeld having an artifact in his possession – I believe it’s a small fragment of the aircraft that crashed into the pentagon. I think it’s mounted on a plaque, he said he keeps it visible to remind him of that day.
149 Democratic Congressmen Vote Against Victory
by Hugh Hewitt
June 16, 2006 10:25 AM PST
House Resolution 861 passed by a vote of 256 in favor, 153 opposed. here is the text of the resolution that three-quarters of House Democrats opposed:
RESOLUTION
Declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.
Whereas the United States and its allies are engaged in a Global War on Terror, a long and demanding struggle against an adversary that is driven by hatred of American values and that is committed to imposing, by the use of terror, its repressive ideology throughout the world;
Whereas for the past two decades, terrorists have used violence in a futile attempt to intimidate the United States;
Whereas it is essential to the security of the American people and to world security that the United States, together with its allies, take the battle to the terrorists and to those who provide them assistance;
Whereas the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other terrorists failed to stop free elections in Afghanistan and the first popularly-elected President in that nation’s history has taken office;
Whereas the continued determination of Afghanistan, the United States, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be required to sustain a sovereign, free, and secure Afghanistan;
Whereas the steadfast resolve of the United States and its partners since September 11, 2001, helped persuade the government of Libya to surrender its weapons of mass destruction;
Whereas by early 2003 Saddam Hussein and his criminal, Ba’athist regime in Iraq, which had supported terrorists, constituted a threat against global peace and security and was in violation of mandatory United Nations Security Council Resolutions;
Whereas the mission of the United States and its Coalition partners, having removed Saddam Hussein and his regime from power, is to establish a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq at peace with its neighbors;
Whereas the terrorists have declared Iraq to be the central front in their war against all who oppose their ideology;
Whereas the Iraqi people, with the help of the United States and other Coalition partners, have formed a permanent, representative government under a newly ratified constitution;
Whereas the terrorists seek to destroy the new unity government because it threatens the terrorists’ aspirations for Iraq and the broader Middle East;
Whereas United States Armed Forces, in coordination with Iraqi security forces and Coalition and other friendly forces, have scored impressive victories in Iraq including finding and killing the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi;
Whereas Iraqi security forces are, over time, taking over from United States and Coalition forces a growing proportion of independent operations and increasingly lead the fight to secure Iraq;
Whereas the United States and Coalition servicemembers and civilians and the members of the Iraqi security forces and those assisting them who have made the ultimate sacrifice or been wounded in Iraq have done so nobly, in the cause of freedom; and
Whereas the United States and its Coalition partners will continue to support Iraq as part of the Global War on Terror: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives–
(1) honors all those Americans who have taken an active part in the Global War on Terror, whether as first responders protecting the homeland, as servicemembers overseas, as diplomats and intelligence officers, or in other roles;
(2) honors the sacrifices of the United States Armed Forces and of partners in the Coalition, and of the Iraqis and Afghans who fight alongside them, especially those who have fallen or been wounded in the struggle, and honors as well the sacrifices of their families and of others who risk their lives to help defend freedom;
(3) declares that it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq;
(4) declares that the United States is committed to the completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure, and united Iraq;
(5) congratulates Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Iraqi people on the courage they have shown by participating, in increasing millions, in the elections of 2005 and on the formation of the first government under Iraq’s new constitution;
(6) calls upon the nations of the world to promote global peace and security by standing with the United States and other Coalition partners to support the efforts of the Iraqi and Afghan people to live in freedom; and
(7) declares that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the noble struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.
Liberals hate God
By Nathan Tabor
In some places, judges have taken swearing on the Bible out of the courtroom: no more “So help me, God” oaths allowed. Now there is an effort afoot to take “In God We Trust” off of our money, and “One Nation, under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rules – Please read number 7
These are subject to change at anytime.
1. Valid e-mail addresses only. (post with invalid e-mail addresses will be removed unless you answer a validation e-mail)
2. Do not pretend to be anyone else.
3. No cursing.
4. No name calling.
5. No Spamming.
6. No double posting. (if your post does not come up, it may have been flagged for a moderator to approve)
7. Please do not post links to other news stories on other sites unless they have something to do with the post and you also have other comments. (This has been getting out of hand. Future post will be removed.)
I have the right to remove anything including post that:
* violate these rules
* are not appropriate
Elections are coming. Let’s get this blog started back up. Repukes have wrecked this county and this country. Don’t be a lemming. Your county and country need you.
Gunner bring your sorry butt out and defend your failed policies.
Gunner is deep in a foxhole protecting her children from Republican sex perverts. Or maybe she’s checking her freezer to see if she can find some frozen cash to throw onto the Repub bonfire. Or possibly she is making sure none of her relatives are going to Iraq where there is an attack on our troops every 15 minutes. Or maybe she has her calculator out trying to figure out why Repubs rejected spending 300 million additional money on Homeland Security last week while she listened to Imperialist Bush say on his radio address this week that in a few months we begin spending 9 BILLION dollars on rebuilding a country that does not want us there. I predict that they will blow up the buildings faster than we can build them. She could be in that bunker storing food in preparation for the “nookler” war that Bush is trying to start. Here’s a hint little george, don’t bluff if you’re not prepared to back it up. Kim Jong 2 vs George Bush 2. Dumb and dumber and they both have nuclear weapons. If that don’t scare the snot out of Gunner, nothing will.
The corruption of the Republican party knows no bounds. Republicans it turns out don’t even respect the Religious Right zealots that have kept them in office for the past 12 years. Behind closed Whitehouse doors people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Robertson were being called nut cases, insane, and ridiculous. Imagine that… Friends there’s power, WONDER WORKING POWER, in Republican politics. We all know that Jesus is a Republican and the rest of us are going to hell. Cause Gunner said so, so it must be true. I’ve got to go, the news is on and Republican’s have confused the “no child left behind” plan with Repub Foley’s “that pages cute behind” plan. Democrats will have to be careful that fair and unbalanced Fox news doesn’t blame them for not catching Republicans when they tried to screw our children. Wake up people, the children aren’t the only ones the Repubs have screwed. Clinton looks like a choir boy compared to these filthy bastards.
I AM THE BURKE BLOGGER AND I’M BACK, MAD AS HELL, AND AIN’T TAKING IT NO MORE. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
No matter if you agree with Gunner or not you must admit she is the consummate corporate whore.
For those of you following this go to “Let’s get it started again” on Burke Independent for the latest information.
http://bobrdobr.ru/tags/user/videobon/%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%82.html ï ï ÿ ï ÿ ï ï ÿ
netwad88822jul
If you go to the above link you will be identified and your computer will have virus.
http://sweetylolita.com/free-lolita-thumbs.html free lolita thumbs