Dolphin Discipline

[ChgoEng106]

I'd like to find out more about the paramedic who recieved time off for transporting a dolphin in his ambulance. If anyone has info please send it to me. Medispatch@aol.com It seems our superiors have forgotten that a life is a life. A dolphin or a person. A life is a life.

[Medic 25]

Give the medic a congratulations!!!
I would have done the same thing. The County supervisor should give him a night on the town!

[iwood51]

Three cheers for the medic !!

[Chief 50]

Obviously the Paramedic is a very caring person. His action was an act of compassion, and I congratulate him for doing so. This Paramedic is the kind of employee I want. As opposed to one who could care less, just give me a pay check. I seriously doubt that this was the intent of the rule against animal transport.

[sgt128]

I think that it would be important to find out if there were any other calls in his area. I would agree with the county administrator, that ambulances are for people, but on the other hand, ambulances should be for sick people too.
So, since we transport, or get stuck into transporting people who just want a free trip to the hospital, I would say that Dolphins can be transported too. I would just warn the Paramedic from making a habit out of it.
If he transports dolphins on every shift, I would say that that would be a problem.

[LadderCo13]

If no human being suffered because his ambulance was out of service, then no harm was done. If his ambulance was needed and it wasn't available then give him the time off.

[Jeff801]

If community E.M.S. was not compromised, then just Imagine the positive public relations and public interest story that would of been aired. Stories like that are a rarity and that County Commissioner would of looked like a hero. Regardless, that agency still shines through the beauracratic B.S. for the job they did.

[ElTee161]

How many times has a Medic intubated a dog or cat pulled from a house fire? Great PR and a real feel good job . It's unfortunate that the administrator turned this into a negative event, after all we are sworn to protect life, are we not?

[ElTee161]

How many times has a Medic intubated a dog or cat pulled from a house fire? Great PR and a real feel good job . It's unfortunate that the administrator turned this into a negative event, after all we are sworn to protect life, are we not?

[Rick Proper]

Is there more to this story? This is a sad commentary of our society. Politicians have trouble relating to "real life" sometimes. If a fund has been established for this kind soul, let me know. I'd contrubute to his benefit, just like any other humanitarian effort.

[This message has been edited by Rick Proper (edited 02-10-99).]

[Ladder66]

In order to get a real handle on this situation, we need to know if this Medic and his "box" were needed elsewhere and were unavailable. If this was the case, then the County was well within their right to take some sort of action. If this is not the case, well, I really have to hand it to the Medic for taking his disciplinary action with a grain of salt. And, this would just go to show that this paper-pushing administrator has lost touch with the bigger picture - another case of those "who can't", managing those "who can". The positive impact and impression that this act of kindness could leave on a community would be fantastic. I'd be proud to work alongside this Medic. Way to go Brother!

[cla123]

Good for him!! From what I saw of the story, he knew that what he was doing was against the rules, but could see that it had to be done anyway, and was willing to pay the price. We should all have a set of,er,principles like that!!

[This message has been edited by cla123 (edited 02-11-99).]

[iwood51]

Can someone help me out in telling me where Bunnell, FLA is?
I would love to see what the local papers are saying about this down there.
I have to agree 100% with the other forum posters, that this would have been an awesome PR boost for both the Ambulance Service and/or FD that the medic works for and for the city/town/village/hamlet of Bunnell, FLA

[iwood51]

Okay, got it (thanks to www.mapsonus.com )It is about 35 miles North of Daytona Beach. Anyone out there that can get local news items on this for the rest of us?

[Resc10]

Hey, thats pretty cool... Congratulations to this brother for really doing "the right thing". Its good to see so much support this guy too. I believe that alot of the rescues that are performed on the job, are performed under less than perfect circumstances. Most of the truly incredible rescues happen under the most extreme of circumstances, usually at great peril to the responder or team members... Sometimes we have to break rules to save a life, thats it thats the bottom line weather or not you are willing to pay the price to get the job done. This guy was!

[tnls1]

I do believe that we are to save lives and it does not say that it has to be human. I know of hundreds of incidents where we were praised for efforts in saving a cat, dog ,horse or any other animal from death. If action had not been taken the dolphin would of perished and then he would be having to defend his actions to the media/public with far more reprocussions. We have SOPS but when they stand in the way of a life maybe there can be an exception. Job well done and would do the same if given the chance.

[Phred]

Sad news - the baby dolphin died Wednesday morning. The good news - the local paper, Daytona Beach News Journal, has run a story almost every day - all very pro-Medic Longo.
If you want to read, click here to go to the paper's archive calender; the best days are Feb 9, 10 and 11. Click the day, then find the article; also check letters to editor.
www.n-jcenter.com/search.htm (http://www.n-jcenter.com/search.htm)
Nice Job, Medic Longo!!

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Phred from Ohio
Phred322@aol.com (http://Phred322@aol.com)

[webteam]

This topic as become so popular we asked the Daytona Beach paper for permission to reproduce the series of articles online.

Visit it here:
http://www.firehouse.com/news/99/2/11_dolphin.html

Please continue your discussion!

Dave
Firehouse WebTeam

[RKET13]

Great job on the dolphin transport. I'm not surprised to here about discipinary action though. Just another case of the HIGHER UPS not having a clue as to what we really do "ON THE JOB". Take your suspension proudly knowing your not alone. PROUD TO BE YOUR BROTHER!!!!!

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[502]

Obviously as field providers we have more of a conscience than some of our superiors, I hope that the individual who suspended the medic has trouble sleeping at night and doesn't make this same mistake again, A LIFE IS A LIFE!!

[FM42A]

This is a crazy subject, We are now down to suspending a paramedic for transporting a dolphin in need of care. Oh by the way, just suspend every firefighter who gives an animal ( dog,cat,squirrel, etc) mouth to mouth after that animal has been rescued from a building that we as the "master animal" set on fire. He could have been saving a human life. Do we really think that we as Humans are that much smarter than our animal partners on this planet, I doubt it. Think about it !!!!!

[Melvin Davidson]

The suspension is totally ridiculous. Yes, there are rules that must be followed, by rules are created as guidelines, not absolute sentences. Evenone knows the old adage "there is an exception to every rule" and certainly that is the case here. Roy's intent was to do good, not deceive or endanger someone so that he would somehow gain advantage. It might also be useful to know that dolphins are highly intelligent creatures, perhaps smarter than humans and certainly, in this case, smarter than then supervisors who acted on a black and white rule rather than evaluating the total situation.