Emergency Medical Response Could Be More Than A Phone Call Away In Plymouth Township

First the boring disclaimer.  Plymouth-Canton Patch does not employ me, nor do they pay me.  They for sure do not share all of my views.  These words are my opinion, and mine alone.  NuffSaid

Well I just read a mighty interesting story at The Plymouth Eagle.  The Eagle does strictly local news, and they do it well.  It seems that they scooped everybody by revealing a letter sent to Plymouth Township Fire Chief Mark Wendel. The letter was sent by Fire Chiefs from the city of Livonia, Northville Township, and Canton Township, and in it was a bombshell.

To put it bluntly, these three communities will no longer subsidize the Plymouth Township Fire Department emergency medical calls.  Wow.

Oh yeah, it said: effective immediately.  Today.  Now.  Immediately.

We will not be subsidizing emergency medical calls effective immediately.

Why on Earth would these three neighbors do such a thing?  What did poor old Plymouth Township do to deserve such shabby treatment.

I'll tell you.

It seems that since the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees gutted the Fire Department and went with a private ambulance company for emergency medical calls, they have been taking advantage of our three neighbors by calling for mutual aid as a back up to HVA.

So for instance, when Livonia EMS shows up for a mutual aid call, they end up doing the triage and then HVA shows up, and by contract, they end up transporting the patient.  Livonia does not get paid one nickel for their service, while HVA collects all the money.

Quite naturally, that situation can get quite old, and all three communities agreed, that while they don't mind offering mutual aid, there comes a point when their resources are being wasted in Plymouth Township, when they might be needed in their own communities.

Literally, Livonia, Canton, and Northville Township taxpayers have been subsidizing Plymouth Township emergency services for over a year now, and those in charge have said enough.

Remember when Big Ron Edwards, Richie Rich Reaume, and Bumbling Bobby Doroshewitz decided to lay off half the Fire Department, and privatize EMS runs?  They said don't worry?  Everything will be just fine?  We wouldn't do it if something was going to go wrong.

I remember their words.  I also remember how they verbally savaged those who questioned these moves.

When I questioned their actions, they attacked me, and when others questioned their actions at Board of Trustees meetings, they were verbally attacked.   I have been called all sorts of names by these clowns, but none of that bothered me, because they never called me a liar.  They couldn't.  My facts were indisputable.

Nancy Conzelman using a false name on Patch called the firemen lazy and overpaid.  That is a fact.  An absolute fact, and if she has the guts to deny it, I will show this community the proof, and I'll do it at one of her Board of Trustee meetings for all to see.  I dare you Nancy.

Ron Edwards, using the name Ocelot Madness has attacked me and anybody else that had the temerity to question the Board of Trustees about laying off all the emergency personnel, and restricting Fire Department Paramedics from transporting all patients except for critical or priority one cases.

It would be one thing if Canton showed up for a mutual aid call, and then was paid to transport the patient to a hospital.  But no, not in Plymouth Township.  In Plymouth Township, you are allowed to use your resources to come and triage the patient, and take care of them, but once HVA shows up, it adios amigos.  CYA  Don't need ya.  We'll handle it from here.

Seriously, how long did Plymouth Township think this crap was going to last?  I knew this was going to happen.  I got the word from an elected official in one of these communities that they were sick and tired of subsidizing.  I knew this in February.

Plymouth Township was made aware of this a year ago.   It's not like these three communities just dropped this bomb on Plymouth Township.  They were made aware of the situation by our neighbors a year ago.  They were told a year ago that our neighbors were sick and tired of giving a free ride to Rich/Ron & Company.

They were told that Plymouth Township was milking a mutual aid agreement that was put in place to save lives.

One more thing.  If Reaume or Edwards try to throw Fire Chief Wendel under the bus, and say they were not made aware of this information, they are lying through their teeth.  It would be just like them to try to pass the blame along though, and if they try, don't you believe them for one second.

So here's the deal.  We just had a fire at a multiple story apartment complex a month ago, literally 350 feet from the closed down Lake Pointe Fire House.  Livonia and Northville Township had to come on this mutual aid call because the Plymouth Township Fire Department has been gutted by the Board of Trustees.

Hell, they don't even have a ladder truck, which to me, is ridiculous.  If you are going to allow multiple story dwellings in your township, you ought to have a damn ladder truck so you can fight a fire, and maybe rescue somebody from a balcony.  Not to have one is to me, bordering on criminal.

So the apartment complex was literally gutted, and when I wrote about it, I was accused of hoping people would die so that I can say I told you so.  Ron Edwards sycophants in action.

So now, a month later, our neighbors, who laugh like hell at us voters for continually putting these geniuses in office, have said enough.  No more mutual aid emergency medical calls.  Well I could have told you so.  I knew it was coming.

Want to know what else is coming?  Somebody is going to need emergency medical care, and the closest HVA ambulance is going to be sitting in Ann Arbor, or Wayne, or someplace equally distant.  Then what?

What happens if there is a bad accident, and 4 or 5 people need transportation?

Somebody is going to die.

Somebody is going to die, and the only answer our Board of Trustees will have is that Bryan Bentley was hoping that would happen so he could say I told you so!

The Plymouth Township Board of Trustees have worn out their welcome.  Our neighbors have had enough of the mooching.  They are sick of it.

Livonia, Northville Township, and Canton Township all provide their own EMS services.  They don't depend on the charity of others.

Plymouth Township decided to abuse an agreement that was meant to save lives.  They have abused an agreement meant to save lives, and it could end up costing you your life.  Or your child's life.  Or your neighbor's life.

This is the important part.  This is the part of what happened that scares the hell out of me.

These same communities are sick and tired of providing mutual aid for fires too.  Like I said, an elected official in one of these communities told me that they are sick of subsidizing the Plymouth Township Fire Department as well.

Money is tight.  Livonia taxpayers do not want to provide a ladder truck just because the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees thinks streetscapes are more important than fire equipment.  Northville or Canton do not want to constantly provide mutual aid because the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees will not spend the money to properly maintain their equipment.

I can almost guarantee you that the EMS thing is only the pre curser to our neighbors reluctantly declaring someday soon that they cannot provide mutual assistance for fires as well.

Effective immediately...