Emergency Medical Services

Anne Arundel County could overhaul the way it provides and pays for emergency medical services, depending on the recommendations of a panel that convened yesterday to examine the system."

William E. "Bill" Hathaway, an emergency medical services expert who taught the subject at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and earlier had served in the Army Intelligence Corps, died Nov. 1 of cancer at his home in Amherst, Va. The former Annapolis resident was 75. Mr. Hathaway was born in Chicago and moved in 1945 with his family to McLean, Va., where he graduated in 1955 from Fairfax High School. After graduating from West Point in 1961, he served in an artillery unit before joining the Intelligence Corps, where he worked in Washington for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

DREADING THE arrival of snow, fog and icy roads?In this uncomfortable -- and sometimes dangerous -- season, you are invited to express concerns about the county's s delivery of emergency medical services.A public meeting, sponsored by the Emergency Medical Services Evaluation Task Force, will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the Gateway Building.Comments or suggestions are welcome but should be kept to five minutes in length. That way the task force can hear from a variety of people.The Gateway building is at 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, off Route 175.For further information, contact the Bureau of Operations of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services at 313-6020.

The state of Maryland created one of the nation's first statewide emergency medical systems to ensure that patients got consistent and timely care no matter where they were. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems now oversees and coordinates the providers from the field to the emergency department, according to James W. Brown, director of educational support services, from headquarters in Baltimore. When was MIEMSS formed and what are its responsibilities now?

When a young rider fell off a horse during a lesson at Columbia Horse Center this summer, instructor Ashley Davison knew just what to do. "I told her to keep her head still, and I knew the questions to ask to determine if she had a concussion. When the paramedics came, I was able to speak their language," said Davison, 17. Her knowledge and calm during an emergency came from her training with the EMT Academy, also known as Paramedic Pathways, a pilot program of Howard County public schools, the Department of Fire and Rescue Services and Howard Community College.

The state of Maryland created one of the nation's first statewide emergency medical systems to ensure that patients got consistent and timely care no matter where they were. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems now oversees and coordinates the providers from the field to the emergency department, according to James W. Brown, director of educational support services, from headquarters in Baltimore. When was MIEMSS formed and what are its responsibilities now?

Ronald M. Kropp, former director of planning and development for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services, died of coronary artery disease Oct. 23 at his Otterbein home. He was 56. Mr. Kropp, who was born in Baltimore and raised in Parkville, graduated from Parkville High School in 1964. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Baltimore in 1968. In 1974, he earned a master's degree in comprehensive health system planning from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Runaway growth a burden to residents It is disappointing, but not surprising, to learn of the new proposed "fire tax" to cover the cost of fire and emergency medical services for Carroll County. This is one more example of the cost of residential development being born by the existing homeowners, instead of the developers causing runaway growth. As reported in The Sun, a public hearing was held Sept. 22 in Union Bridge regarding the proposed annexation of a 126-acre parcel for a residential development, with another planned development that could triple the inhabitants of our 1,100 population town.

George R. Wackenhut, 85, a former FBI agent who built the Wackenhut Corp. into an international security firm that promoted the use of private guards at prisons, airports and nuclear power plants, died of heart failure Dec. 31 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. Started in 1954 as a three-man detective agency in Miami, the struggling company turned to providing guard services to stay afloat and later earned contracts with Lockheed Martin and the Kennedy Space...

Annapolis Fire Chief Jerome W. Smith, who has worked for the department since 1967, will retire April 1, city officials said. Smith, 66, an Annapolis native, became a volunteer firefighter in 1966, and served one year before joining the paid fire service. Promoted through the ranks, he was named acting chief in 2005 and confirmed by the City Council in 2007. During his 43-year-tenure, he worked with the city's Code Enforcement Division to write legislation on sprinklers and upgraded the emergency medical services.

Annapolis Fire Chief Jerome W. Smith, who has worked for the department since 1967, will retire April 1, city officials said. Smith, 66, an Annapolis native, became a volunteer firefighter in 1966 and served one year before joining the paid fire service. Promoted through the ranks, he was named acting chief in 2005 and confirmed by the city council in 2007. During his 43-year-tenure, he worked with the city's Code Enforcement Division to write legislation on sprinklers and upgraded the emergency medical services.

Maryland's world-renowned emergency medical system took a hit when a state police helicopter crashed in Prince George's County last fall, killing four people on board. Subsequent calls for change in the way Maryland operates its emergency medical system prompted an intense review of policies on transporting patients to trauma centers around the state and that has led to some needed reforms, with more to come. But the emergency medical system's service to all Marylanders should be preserved as a publicly funded and operated network for accident victims.

A new proposal to create a Cabinet-level department to oversee Maryland's emergency medical services is no remedy for what ails the trauma care system. The idea, as floated by two legislators, sounds more like a grandiose prescription for trouble - and a scheme to privatize the state-run medevac helicopter service. The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems has come under scrutiny since a state police helicopter crashed in Prince George's County in September while en route to a trauma center.

Maryland should create a Cabinet-level department to oversee emergency services and consider allowing a private company to run the state's helicopter transport fleet, say two lawmakers who pledged yesterday to spearhead reform during the legislative session that begins next month. Maryland's medevac system for ferrying accident victims is expected to come under renewed scrutiny by the General Assembly after a September crash in Prince George's County killed four people. Sen. John C. Astle, an Anne Arundel County Democrat and retired helicopter pilot who flew medevac missions, and Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican, are working on legislation to overhaul the beleaguered system.

It took outside experts to say what supporters of Maryland's much-praised emergency medical services system probably needed to hear: that Maryland State Police helicopters could fly fewer accident victims to trauma centers across the state without compromising the safety of patients or the integrity of the care. But now comes the tough part: acting on the panel's recommendations. The findings of the seven-member panel may embolden critics of the system who say Maryland's emergency medical response system has come to rely on costly helicopter flights to transport accident victims to trauma centers when ambulances would get them to the hospital as quickly without compromising their health.

Patients older than 65 are much less likely to be taken to a Maryland trauma center than younger patients with the same medical emergencies, according to a new report by Johns Hopkins researchers. And unconscious age bias could be a factor in the disparity, the researchers said. The study, published yesterday in the journal Archives of Surgery, sought to quantify a question that has been explored anecdotally: Are elderly trauma patients treated with the same vigor as their younger counterparts?

William E. "Bill" Hathaway, an emergency medical services expert who taught the subject at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and earlier had served in the Army Intelligence Corps, died Nov. 1 of cancer at his home in Amherst, Va. The former Annapolis resident was 75. Mr. Hathaway was born in Chicago and moved in 1945 with his family to McLean, Va., where he graduated in 1955 from Fairfax High School. After graduating from West Point in 1961, he served in an artillery unit before joining the Intelligence Corps, where he worked in Washington for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

A bomb explodes. An airliner crashes. Fire engulfs an office tower. The list of calamities that could send hundreds of casualties to Maryland hospitals is limited only by the human imagination. As their counterparts elsewhere cope with earthquakes and tornadoes, the Marylanders charged with planning for the unimaginable say the state's emergency response infrastructure, communications networks, first-responders and hospitals are much improved since the events of Sept. 11, 2001. But worrisome vulnerabilities remain, they concede.