11/20/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10-20-2009 LJ 2) The committee discussed Chapter 505 to discuss dog issues in the city and how many dogs may be too many to have at a residence. Pros and cons were discussed and the issue was held in committee. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION 1) Ken Hehnen, 2810 Gibson Drive, Rocky River said he is here tonight as a member of North Olmsted Firefighters Local 1267, and he's currently a lieutenant and EMS officer for the North Olmsted Fire Department. He's here tonight because recently President Kennedy was at one of their union meetings. At the meeting, they discussed the impact of the layoffs of the five firefighters in the past. President Kennedy indicated that neither he nor Council knew of any ill effects from those layoffs. No one has come forth to tell Council, and he suggested that the firefighters come to Council meetings and talk about this. Mr. Hehnen said he feels it's really the Fire Chief's responsibility to talk about safety, but for some reason, Council doesn't seem to be getting the information. If Council is not aware of the safety hazards that have occurred by the cut-backs, it is his duty to come forward and tell Council. There are only three firefighters on duty at Fire Station Number Two. That's not enough firefighters as paramedics to manage many medical emergencies; the highest risk medical emergencies -people not breathing, people with no heartbeat, people that are unconscious. These calls don't happen very often. They are a small percentage of the calls. There are other calls that are just as severe that we need these people. They need five people on the scene initially to manage these people effectively. They provide advanced cardiac life support to these heart attack victims. They are held to the same level of standard that routine physicians are held to and the accountability and the protocols. When they arrive with only three people, it is very difficult to meet those standards and document it properly. They do call for help from the east end of town, but is takes eight minutes on average for them to come out and help. They are doing the best we can, but patient care is suffering. He can itemize all the runs with permission from the Chief. He and Captain Ciarrone came to the safety caucus about a year ago to warn of these hazards. Once or twice ~ week there are one of these very severe medical emergencies that, with only three people to manage, are true life and death emergencies. Care is being compromised. There has been a drastic effect on patients' care by the lack of those other firefighters. It happens mainly at Station Two. Often, the east end is chasing out of the west end to help out, leaving the east end uncovered. They have had full arrest calls that we only manage with three people and we never got the extra back up. This is going to be a very tough flu season, and resources will be overwhelmed. The message here is the layoffs have had a detrimental effect on safety, and further layoffs will be catastrophic. 2) Jeffrey Sturgeon, 3092 W. 231, asked for an update regarding the dogs allowed to be in the park Ordinance. It seems to have come to a stop. It was brought to Council's attention in August, there was a first reading on it, a committee meeting on it, and Council was given plenty of information on it. He asked why at the last Council meeting Councilman Mahoney wanted to meet with the Mayor after the meeting. He said there is no reason to have a meeting after a public meeting, and have there been any private 6