EMS: Fixing problems creates new ones
Fewer vacancies, less money.
Correction from yesterday's article: Although the Austin Animal Center is still woefully overcrowded, it is no longer storing dogs in crates in hallways, largely because it closed intake.
A week ago, EMS Chief Robert Luckritz announced the creation of a new pilot program to substitute a certain number of 2-person ambulances with one-person SUVs that would respond to lower acuity calls.
In a lengthy letter to department employees, Luckritz described the move as a necessary response to "new economic realities" and claimed that only 50% of EMS calls result in transport to a hospital.
But Austin EMS Association president James Monk says Luckritz's stated justification for the shift is "disingenuous." This is not a forward-thinking effort to streamline resources but simply an act of desperation due to the department being way over budget, he says.
