D.C. delinquent in EMS oversight, task force reveals

The D.C. government has not provided necessary resources and adequate oversight of emergency medical services (EMS) for at least the past four years, according to a task force seeking to improve the delivery of pre-hospital care.

Among the deficiencies found were:

• A committee of mayoral appointees tasked with advising city officials on EMS issues has not been seated since 2001.

• The city’s Department of Health does not inspect the life-saving equipment on fire engines, which are the first to respond to critical medical calls in most cases.

• There is no mechanism for certifying doctors who advise field medics via telephone during emergencies.

• Certification exams for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics are not routinely updated.

“I think we’re bearing witness as to why some of the problems we have seen are taking place,” said Paul M. Maniscalco, a past president of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Mr. Maniscalco leads the task force created by D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat to study EMS delivery in the District.

Mr. Mendelson, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which oversees the fire department, created the task force after an inspector general’s report issued in July found multiple errors in the handling of the emergency call for journalist David E. Rosenbaum.

Mr. Rosenbaum was attacked and beaten Jan. 6 in Northwest and died two days later from his injuries.

The disclosures about inadequate oversight of EMS were made at a task-force meeting Sept. 7 during a presentation by Beverly Pritchett, senior deputy director of the Department of Health’s Emergency Health and Medical Services Administration.

That division, created by Mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2002, is responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and bioterrorism response, and for providing oversight of emergency medical providers and their equipment.

When questioned by task-force members, Ms. Pritchett said that her division receives $425,000 in funding from the District and that nearly 90 percent of its $8 million budget is provided by annual federal grants.

Task-force members questioned whether that is a reliable source of funding for a division with such crucial oversight responsibilities.

“The Department of Health is the oversight agency for emergency medical services. We need to give them the proper funding and authority to do their job,” said Battalion Fire Chief Brian Lee, a task-force member.

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