CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 19, 2000 | ROBERT J. LOPEZ and RICH CONNELL, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Pregnant with twins and bedridden, Vladimira Doran needed help fast. Her husband was at a park with their 3-year-old son and she was in the midst of a miscarriage. The Mar Vista woman immediately called her doctor, who had been closely tracking her troubled, 16-week pregnancy. Doran was instructed to get to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. But in an action that has prompted investigations by Los Angeles city and county officials, a senior paramedic refused to take her to the Westside hospital.
NEWS
December 17, 2000 | KURT STREETER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
John Smith has been on the job 35 straight hours. Thirty-five hours of tired eyes, tense moments and frustration. Thirty-five hours dealing with sick and wounded and out-of-sorts citizens from the Hollywood Hills to Boyle Heights to skid row. A Los Angeles Fire Department paramedic, Smith is used to slogging through shifts like this. You clock in and you suck it up, often working days of forced overtime because there aren't enough paramedics to go around. Sometimes you save a life.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 13, 2000 | RICH CONNELL and ROBERT J. LOPEZ, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
The Los Angeles Fire Department unveiled an ambitious five-year plan Tuesday to correct severe staffing and equipment shortages in paramedic services, a proposal sharply questioned by Mayor Richard Riordan's office. The main thrust of the proposal calls for the department to train 500 paramedics during the next five years and staff 40 additional rescue ambulances. The goal, said Chief William R.
NEWS
September 20, 2000 | RICH CONNELL and ROBERT J. LOPEZ, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Three Los Angeles Fire Department dispatchers seriously bungled calls for help from a man who said his fiancee had passed out and was bleeding, interviews and records show. The incident, in which the woman died, occurred last month after officials vowed to curb such mistakes. Although paramedics were stationed down the street, it took two phone calls and nearly 20 minutes before they arrived at the Tujunga home of Robert Shaw and Elaina Marie Vescio.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 14, 2000 | ANNETTE KONDO, TIMES STAFF WRITER
A citizens group has expanded its campaign against a controversial plan to reorganize paramedics services, raising money for a mailer that suggests the San Fernando Valley would suffer. The plan, drawn up by the Los Angeles Fire Department and endorsed by county health officials, would staff ambulances with one paramedic and one emergency medical technician. The proposal would split up paramedic teams that now operate in pairs.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 17, 2000 | ANNETTE KONDO, TIMES STAFF WRITER
A controversial pilot program that would staff ambulances with one paramedic and one emergency medical technician instead of two paramedics has been delayed until late September because of the Democratic National Convention, fire officials said Friday. The convention will draw thousands of politicians, delegates, protesters and news media staffers to Staples Center, dozens of hotels and 200 related events around Southern California.