quiet

Sometimes I find it better to be quiet. Last week was one of those times. The only post I felt compelled to write was about my 8 year old in honor of Martin Richard, the adorable 8 year old killed at the Boston Marathon.

Sometimes I do not write because I have no topics. However, the week before I had actually written a list of about five topics to write about for last week. The adage about making plans and God laughing remains true for me.

One of my favorite tweets of the week came on Saturday morning. Someone (I apologize for not having attribution, I didnt retweet it so I dont know who said it) tweeted the relief he felt when there were no news alert messages on his phone when he woke up on Saturday morning. The news last week was devastating and relentless. Even when away from my tv, computer, phone, the tension was palpable all around.

I barely watched the news last week, preferring to sift through twitter for the news. Sift because one has to be judicious about what to believe when looking at Twitter. I did watch the news on Friday for a little while. I was watching NBC because of Pete Williams. He became sort of a hero last week when he refused to report that the suspects had been caught. What really became clear as I watched the news was how marginalized the Texas disaster had become. I will grant you that the news of "shelter in place" for the whole city of Boston is dramatic news and was very important on Friday.

However,  I am hoping that as we move on from last week that we remember the victims of the Texas disaster and try to prevent such a tragedy just as fervently as we try to prevent a repeat of the Boston Marathon bombings.

As you all know since you are mostly my family, Chris is a volunteer firefighter.  The first responders, of course, were fighting the fire, trying to prevent the fire from spreading to a nearby nursing home and the surrounding neighborhood, when the explosion occurred. The explosion registered as a 2.1 earthquake. At least 14 people were killed, 11 of them first responders. This article about the emergency crews responding to the incident explains the bonds of a volunteer firefighting/EMS community. This is not a news story that should be forgotten, this is a community devastated, needing to feel the support of all of us as they literally sift through the wreckage, bury their dead and try to move forward.

I hope to soon get back to light, fluffy posts about baseball, two year olds and other items of interest to mostly me. I also hope that those impacted by the news of last week are able to find solace and healing soon.

family life

Ryan has moved to a toddler bed. One night down, many to go. Am I sad that my last baby is out of the crib? no.

I am grateful that I will not have to hear "mommy, moommmy, moooommmmy" every morning like an alarm clock. He can now walk from his bed to mommy's bed all by himself.

I am anxious, of course. He can now walk to the bathroom and get in the toliet water all  by himself too or climb the ladder to the bunk beds in D&A's room, also I worry about him climbing his dresser or the book shelf (we have some work to do in his room still- third child syndrome is in full effect with Ryan). This morning I heard him stir and not 20 seconds later he was in our room. I was glad to know that his instinct was to come into our room and demand "apple juice" and "tv."

D&A's school had an unscheduled fire alarm the other day. Andrew came home talking about it. The alarm came at dismissal, so for Andrew there was confusion. He followed his teacher's lead. Fortunately, according to the note sent home the day after, the alarm was a "system issue" and not an actual emergency.  Since the boys first encountered fire drills, they have been anxious during fire alarms/drills.

My boys are particularly sensitive to fire alarms since their daddy is a firefighter. D&A know there are serious consequences to actual fires. However,  Andrew noted only that he was "kinda scared" while David didnt admit to any fear during the alarm at school. It is a testament to the calm demeanor of the staff, regular trianings and drills, and prioritizing student safety that D&A did not have the anxiety that previously accompanied fire drills in the past. It feels like progress.

Chris and I have been watching the Tour of Oman recaps during the evening. The recaps are ridiculously short (less than 3 minutes for a five hour bike ride does not give a good idea about the race). Two things though about watching the recaps- I am so excited for the Spring Classics and Oman is a really beautiful country (honestly there are impressive mountains and historic sites in these 3 minute recaps)..

CARS and cost recovery

I do not live in the County. If I did, I would be a lot more upset about the changes to the delivery of emergency services. As it is, we have a long time relationship with the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department as Chris remains a volunteer there. Interestingly, we spend a lot less time there since Chris has been promoted, but our commitment to volunteerism and the department remains strong.

When the City wanted to implement cost recovery for ambulance service in order to support the expansion of the fire department into ambulance service, I balked. I support Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad (CARS) as an institution in our community. I think having CARS in our community saves taxpayers money in two ways: we dont pay for people and equipment to expand emergency services and we dont pay for the increase in health insurance premiums and copays as a result of localities billing for the service.

The County has not been transparent with the change from supporting CARS to implementing a very expensive ambulance service.  The public did not have an opportunity to weigh in on this change. Where do the supervisors stand on this expansion of paid ambulance service? What was the hurry in implementing this change? Why does the County believe that billing health insurance companies for service is a win win situation for taxpayers? Do they honestly think that health insurance companies wont pass that cost onto users? What about increasing copays (our copay for an ambulance ride is $150.00, and we are told it is relatively good insurance)? I also worry about whether folks who are unable to pay are being harassed by collection agencies or the billing departments of health insurance companies who dont receive their copay.

CARS and the other volunteer emergency service departments in the County are very professional, they have served our community nobly for many decades. I remain convinced that the County should work with the organization in a way that serves county taxpayer and supports the volunteer organizations. I am not saying that just because things have always been this way nothing should change. I am saying these decisions should be made more transparently and the process should be inclusive of all stakeholders.
Please ask your County Supervisor where he/she stands on this issue and demand answers to these questions.

Scottsville Parade thoughts

David and Andrew were in the Scottsville Parade, on STVFD newest Engine- 81. Since Chris and the boys were in the parade, KT and I hung out at the corner, watched the parade, gathered candy, took pictures and got swag. The best thing given away during the parade was a delicious freeze pop- sadly the sweet, cool treat came with an ugly pamphlet detailing how we are all going to hell. I didnt notice it until the boys and I gathered after the parade and they had them in their hands. I had to take the violent images/words away from them, I would argue this is not really a good way to endeare oneself to a parade going crowd IMO.

The Republicans were out in full-force, not the Albemarle County Republicans though, the Fluvanna Republicans, it was very curious. There were at least three floats of Republicans including Rob Bell, Chip Harding, Virgil Goode and the Flucos.

Tom Perriello was present and accounted for, I worried when I saw the young volunteers appear that Perriello wouldnt be in the parade. But when the tractor turned the corner there he was atop the hay, handing out candy, smiling and waving to everyone.

I love a parade- most politicians do. It is a great opportunity to shake hands and connect with a lot of people in a very happy setting. All the politicians of the day were on and the crowd clearly appreciated their participation.

We ran into Kristen Szakos and her mom, Obama volunteers in our area. She gave me a button and a sticker (to cover my coffee stained shirt- dont ask, I am such a clutz) and a clipboard to register voters. I didnt register anyone, didnt really even ask anyone. It is a great thing that Kristen and the Obama Volunteers are doing, and as co-Chair of the party I will support their efforts, but sometimes a girl just wants to watch a parade- especially when my family was in it.

Candy and parades are not one in the same in my mind. When I went to parades as a child, there was no candy. In Germany I remember a parade with candy during Octoberfest- I thought I had gone to Heaven. I didnt attend a candy throwing parade until several years ago, in Buchanan, VA. I am not a big advocate of the candy- its messy and the small fastidious part of me feels like I need to pick up the candy from the street. Thankfully we had a woman with a picnic cooler near us collecting candy from everyone so we didnt need a bag or bring any candy home.

I will post photos to Flickr when I have a moment.

Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department Fundraiser

From Chris:
On Tuesday, April 22nd from 5-7:30pm, Chick-fil-A on Woodbrook Dr. is donating 15% of their profits to the local Volunteer Fire Department, Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department.

Here's the link to the release on the website.

Go enjoy Chick-fil-A milkshakes and dinner on Tuesday evening and the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department will benefit. We thank you for your support!

Remembering Kyle Wilson

Bruce at Raising Kaine has a poignant post about a firefighter in Prince William County who died while on duty at this time last year.
"Kyle was emblematic of what county government and its employees need to be about. Helping folks in trouble. Never checking for ’status’ or ability to pay. Just helping. Dealing not with the failures of the federal government, but dealing with fellow humans in distress."

Thank you.

What is going on here?

Over on www.CvilleNews.com, a commenter (hey Karl) asks 'what is the backstory here?' with respect to the new EMS program at the fire department.
A good place to start is the presentation by the chair of the oversight committee and the report the committee created.

You know the saying, "the ends justify the means"? It is kind of what is going on here. I am going to take this story backwards since at the end here it started to make a little sense.

The Chair of the Committee (MaryLooseDeviney- and I know I butchered her name, apologies) was the one who described it best- when she visited the emergency communications center on a weekday- all the ambulances (3) were out on calls at some point (she got there at 8, the time all ambulances were on calls was 9:15). She then details her thoughts, if at that time, one of her customers falls on the downtown mall, what would happen, who would come to their aid?

In reality- a first responder would until an ambulance was cleared. Cville/Albemarle (and many other jurisdictions) have a tiered response system- fire engine goes first with a medic/EMT onboard to administer care. The ambulance comes next.
Notice she didnt mention anything about response times? Funny...
In fact she stated there is no problem with the response times on CARS end. (the report [pdf] indicates the CFD has some issues with response times, but apparently is outside the scope of inquiry).

There is this lovely thing called ambulance utilization yadda ya- it is a metric, the metric for Cville is 3.5 ambulances (I am not an expert on this stuff), CARS has three ambulances during the day. The report indicates this metric standard is used widely but "much debated." um, ok.

Again nothing to do with response times.

What the CFD is pleased about is getting rid of the tiered system, they are seeking to collapse the tiers into one, one in which they will be the only ones to respond, I suppose CARS will still respond too since CFD is only seeking 2 ambulances ($530,000 over ten years) and 6 paid medics (high level training). Will this translate into quicker response times? I dont think it matters for CARS since that is not an issue for them, but for CFD? I hope so.

Finally the emergency communication center will still have to ask tier questions for County calls. An argument made by Taliferro is 'you never trust the person on the phone to be as accurate as an impartial observer' about the condition of the patient. And here I absolutely agree with him. But I dont think it is worth spending all of this money on since the same tier system questions will likely still be asked of every caller.

A great aspect of the Oversight Committee is the creation of standards for performance. I know everyone will benefit from that.

So despite the means being about CARS response times, the ends of creating an taxpayer subsidized ambulance service justified that tarnishing of CARS (I jest of course). I wish the CFD had approached it in a better, more honest way.

The question left unanswered by everyone "how are these recommendations going to change the response times for first responders?" Lynch asked some good questions that were answered in very circular fashion thus creating frustration and confusion by those of us who thought the questions were reasonable.

I know reasonable people differ, I respect the folks who created this new service and hope it does create a better service for the community since we are spending so much money on it. My opinion is ultimately the committee didnt need to rely on the 'four' chiefs to come up with a proposal, an innovative, more cost effective plan could have been achievable and workable. I will gladly change my thoughts on the subject if I see a dramatic improvement, so stay tuned.

Media Difference

With respect to the new ambulance service in the City, the media outlets in town are all over the map. NBC29 is actually pretty balanced in its coverage. CBS19 states that "firefighters welcome changes."
Seth Rosen has some balance in his articles in the DP. Actually Seth focuses more on some of the decisions that will be made in the future- providing some context to the story.

Last Council Meeting for Hamilton and Lynch

I am impressed with last night's council meeting, many things were accomplished.
1. CAHIP money allocated per the recommendations of the CDBG Task Force + the addition of a CAHIP staffer to watch over the outcomes and results for this money. 5-0 margin.
2. YMCA ground lease approved by a 3-2 margin.
3. EMS/fire recommendations of the Oversight Committee were adopted and moved forward by a 4-1 margin.
Other things happened too. Controverial and non-unanimous votes- really a great exercise in democracy last night and proves the point "reasonable people may differ".

I really appreciate Kevin and Kendra's voices on Council. While I wildly disagree with either one of them at any given moment, they were cool, calm and had honest debate (mostly with each other). I look forward to the new voices on the City Council in January, but I will miss these two.

9 firefighters die in warehouse fire

Inconceivable. Chris began volunteering in 1998. That first year, 6 firefighters in Massachusetts died in a warehouse fire. Several years later, over 300 fire, rescue and police were killed at the World Trade Centers. Last night, 9 died. All at one time.

Nine husbands, fathers, employees, brothers (because names have not been released, I dont know if any are women). Salt of the earth- why do firefighters rush in, when all the rest of us are trying to get out? The mindset is extraordinary. I ask Chris sometimes about it- he tells me the training prepares the firefighter. A firefighter (as Mr. Hughes is quick to remind, NOT fireman) trusts his/her crew and his/her training to know what to do inside that building, to save lives and property. It is a service police, rescue and fire provide us. Thank you.

I sincerely grieve for the families of those firefighters. As a reminder that this hits close to home, yesterday a lightening strike caused a house fire in Ivy, according to the local news, one firefighter was slightly injured in that blaze. Please be careful.

STFD

Chris is a volunteer fireman. So we get to listen for "the call" on his pager 24 hours a day. This week two calls came in on two different days both of course in the middle of the night:
"Vehicle in structure" Last nights call was followed up with a call for assistance in "extrication"

PEOPLE do not run into the buildings, stay on the road. Dont drink and drive in Virginia- it is big big trouble.