美国国家公共电台 NPR Why Send A Firetruck To Do An Ambulance's Job?

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's say you think you're having a stroke, and you call 911 for an ambulance. In many cities, there's a good chance that a fire truck will arrive instead with a full fire crew including a paramedic. But as Monica Eng of member station WBEZ reports, that does not mean they can deliver the care you might need.

MONICA ENG, BYLINE¹: In Chicago like a lot of cities, the fire department oversees² both firefighters and paramedics who work on ambulances. That means when a medical call comes in, dispatchers have choices to make.

While they usually prefer to send ambulances, there are only half as many of those as there are fire trucks. And fire department spokesman³ Larry Langford says those ambulances can be super busy.

LARRY LANGFORD: They'll hit the street at 7 o'clock in the morning and may not come back to the firehouse at all until 7 o'clock the next morning.

ENG: Meanwhile, those fire trucks are often much less busy and parked in firehouses just minutes away from any given emergency. So 911 dispatchers make a choice.

LANGFORD: They save valuable time by sending the closest vehicle which is usually a fire truck that has at least one paramedic, a lot of equipment on it.

ENG: That sounds logical until you ask why Chicago's fire department still has twice as many fire trucks as ambulances, especially when the department gets 20 times more medical calls than fire calls. Getting answers can be difficult, and that has a lot to do with the political power of fire departments and their unions and the challenge of trying to change that.

But Chicago's not alone in facing these challenges. Most cities are seeing big drops in fire calls and big jumps in medical calls, but few are really reforming their departments to meet this changing emergency landscape. Researcher Phil Keisling thinks that's a mistake. He looked at why fire departments don't just admit that they're mostly medical services these days.

PHIL KEISLING: And I keep getting answers that are really not a whole lot more than, well, that's the way we've always done it. And that's the way we've always done it - I don't think is a very strong answer in a world that has limited resources, and you want to try to optimize⁴ the resources you've got.

ENG: Indeed, as more cities see the drawbacks⁵ of using giant fire trucks for medical issues, they're facing calls for reform. That's what Misty⁶ Bruckner found when she researched the problem at the Public Policy Center of Wichita State. While she didn't find agreement on everything, she said there was some consensus⁷.

MISTY BRUCKNER: I think everybody, you know, can agree that the ladder truck responding to someone who may have a sprained⁸ ankle is not the best use of our public resources.

ENG: Chicago Fire Department's Larry Langford disagrees. He thinks people shouldn't get so hung up on what kind of vehicle arrives. He's even got a catch phrase for it.

LANGFORD: Don't look at the conveyance⁹. Look at the care.

ENG: Catchy¹⁰ or not, the conveyance can matter and here's why. Fire trucks aren't equipped to take you to the hospital, only ambulances are. And this transport part can be crucial for some patients, according to veteran Chicago paramedic Rich Raney.

RICH RANEY: You get a stroke patient or a trauma¹¹ patient, the most important thing is that he be transported to the hospital as quickly as possible. As they say with stroke patients, time is brain basically.

ENG: But each city runs its emergency services differently. In Chicago, for example, paramedics want more ambulances and staffing. New York and Wichita recently started deploying¹² medics and SUVs for less urgent calls. And Washington, D.C., is trying something called nurse triage lines. They let callers talk through their problems with the nurse on the phone. But Keisling says some proposals should also look at moving resources from large firefighting staffs.

KEISLING: And I'm not anti-firefighter, it's not anti-union, it's not anti-government. It's just why aren't we taking limited resources and deploying them in a smarter way?

ENG: While there's no agreement on exactly what that smarter way is going to be, most agree it does not involve sending a fire truck to treat someone with heartburn. For NPR News in Chicago, I'm Monica Eng.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

3 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

4 optimize   

v.使优化 [=optimise]

参考例句：

• We should optimize the composition of the Standing Committees.优化人大常委会组成人员的结构。
• We should optimize our import mix and focus on bringing in advanced technology and key equipment.优化进口结构，着重引进先进技术和关键设备。

5 drawbacks   

缺点，不利条件，障碍( drawback的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The house had many drawbacks, most notably its price. 这房子有很多缺陷，尤其是它的价格。
• This method has quite a few drawbacks. 这种做法弊病不少。

6 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

7 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

8 sprained   

v.&n. 扭伤

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• When Mary sprained her ankles, John carried her piggyback to the doctors. 玛丽扭伤了足踝，约翰驮她去看医生。

9 conveyance   

n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具

参考例句：

• Bicycles have become the most popular conveyance for Chinese people.自行车已成为中国人最流行的代步工具。
• Its another,older,usage is a synonym for conveyance.它的另一个更古老的习惯用法是作为财产转让的同义词使用。

10 catchy   

adj.易记住的，诡诈的，易使人上当的

参考例句：

• We need a new slogan.The old one's not catchy enough.我们需要新的口号，旧的不够吸引人。
• The chorus is very catchy to say the least.副歌部分很容易上口。

11 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

12 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。