Aren't you glad you don't have Orland Park's trustees?

I am continuing my "Aren't you glad you don't work in..." feature which highlights cluelessness, ineptitude or general bizarre behavior by municipalities toward those providing EMS. This week we'll talk about Orland Park, Illinois trustees.

The Orland Park Star printed an interesting article in reference to fire response to medical emergencies.

Orland Park sends an engine company if one is closer than an ambulance. This is pretty common practice and makes sense. In fact the Orland Park FD has an interesting web site explaining their "4 personnel in 5 minutes" benchmark. The site includes this video explaining their services and policy.

It seems the trustees don't get it. For example, trustee Kathy Fenton is quoted as saying:

"I live in the area of station five," Trustee Kathy Fenton said. "If we call for an ambulance, we get a fire engine, and if someone has to go to the hospital, we wait there for an ambulance to come take them to a hospital. I don't understand."

Let me see if I get this right. It is better to wait alone, without medical care, until the ambulance arrives?

Trustee Ed Schussler adds meaningful dialogue (NOT!)

"I think it's an accident waiting to happen when you have these big fire trucks. If they get into an accident with a vehicle, the citizens in the vehicle are going to lose," Schussler said.

Orland Park is doing the right thing for their citizens with the right attitude and getting their chops busted by politicos who just don't understand.

I originally thought that the fire department may not have educated their trustees properly. I did see that it was an acting chief addressing the group. But after seeing Orland Park's web site it doesn't seem education is the issue.

Perhaps the only thing that can fix this is the next election.