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Vancouver Police Foundation Supports PACE

PACE Society would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Vancouver Police Foundation (VPF) and our ongoing partnership with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). Martina Meckova, Executive Director with the VPF, along with Linda Malcolm, Sex Industry Liaison Officer with the VPD, presented PACE Society with a cheque for $4,308 on October 9th, 2013. […]
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A 20-year-old EMT was suspended for driving an ambulance to take a four-year-old having a seizure to hospital
Stephen Sawyer was alone at an upstate New York first aid facility when the call came in
He couldn't find another ambulance nearby and all drivers in his squad were out
He is not allowed to drive the ambulance until he is 21 but made the decision to take the child to hospital
He was suspended for 60 days for breaking the rules and immediately resigned
The local community is angry at Sawyer's treatment
Squad board members say it is not the first time Sawyer has broken rules

By Alex Greig
PUBLISHED: 04:57 GMT, 31 December 2013 | UPDATED: 05:48 GMT, 31 December 2013

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A 20-year-old upstate New York volunteer emergency medical technician was suspended after he broke the rules to drive a four-year-old child to hospital.

The board the made the decision to suspend volunteer EMT and squad leader Stephen Sawyer after he drove the Ellenville ambulance to pick up a four-year-old boy who was suffering from a seizure and take him to hospital.

Resigned: Stephen Sawyer, 20, resigned after the Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad suspended him for driving the squad's ambulance

The Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad's rules dictate that ambulance drivers must be at least 21 years of age.
In a 4-3 decision, the board decided to suspend Sawyer, who is also a volunteer firefighter and part-time police officer, for 60 days.
Upset by the decision, Sawyer immediately tendered his resignation.
The board's decision has caused an outcry in the community, where people feel the young EMT should not be penalized for helping a child.
According to the Times Herald-Record, Sawyer was at the Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad's headquarters when the call came in about a four-year-old having seizures.
A paramedic soon arrived at the child's home in an SUV and called for an ambulance.
Sawyer, alone at headquarters, called the Kerhonkson Accord First Aid Squad, but they were busy on another call.
He then called three more ambulance services over the next 15 minutes but came up empty-handed, so he climbed into the ambulance himself, drove the five miles to the child's house and took the child, his mother and the paramedic to Ellenville Regional Hospital.

'I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night or go to school knowing there's a four-year-old suffering,' Sawyer told the Times Herald-Record.
The following Monday, he was called before the board of directors and asked to explain himself.
Sawyer says he believes he made the best decision and that although he is only 20, he has experience driving ambulances for the Mobile Life Support Services.

More...

The board decided to suspend him for 60 days and revoke his title of advisor from the Youth Squad, which he had restarted when he joined the volunteers as a 15-year-old.
Sawyer quit his position and soon after a post about the whole episode was posted on the Ulster County Fire/Rescue Facebook page.
It soon went viral, with more than 400 comments, most in support of Sawyer, and 1,300 'likes.'
Captain and board member for Ellenville First Aid services tells a slightly different story from Sawyer's.
Gaveris said Sawyer's suspension came about not as the result of an isolated incident, but from a 'culmination of different incidents,' as well as other aspects of the December 11 call.

Community-minded: Stephen Sawyer is a part-time police officer, volunteer firefighter and until recently volunteer EMT

The Daily Freeman reports that Sawyer was at the squad's station at around 10:45am on December 11 with another EMT and an ambulance driver when the call came in about the four-year-old having seizures.
Two minutes later, another call came in about an 80-year-old man who had fallen and was bleeding from his arm.
Sawyer, despite not being authorized to decide which call should take priority, told the other EMT and the driver to go to the aid of the elderly man, according to Gavaris.
'They should have never listened to him. Protocol is to go to the first call unless the other one is of a more critical nature,' the captain told the Daily Freeman. 'They listened to [Sawyer] and trusted his judgment because he worked for a paid service.'
Gavaris said Sawyer believed another driver was on his way, but was mistaken. After being unable to find another driver, he went himself.

Underage: Sawyer drove one of these ambulances but isn't permitted to do so until he's 21

'He delayed transport on a patient,' he said.
Gavaris said that despite his error of judgement, that incident alone wouldn't have gotten Sawyer suspended.
However, Sawyer had a record of 'violating our policies and not following our rules. ... Had this been the first incident, he would have been told not to do it again.'
Gavaris said squad rules about under-21s driving ambulances are standard and that Sawyer does not have the proper training to operate one.
The Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad addressed the furor over Sawyer's suspension on its Facebook page.
'Your posts are welcome on this site, but any derogatory posts will be deleted,' reads a post on the page.
'The 20 year [old] should be praised! He took a risk to help a 4 year old child. This would not have been an issue had the squad had better prepared for a call... This only shows lack of preparation for this individual unit. Simply sad. Very glad this isn't the department I would depend on if my child or family was in a medical emergency,' reads a response.
Many other comments follow along these lines, including many from Stephen Sawyer's mother, Leslie A. Gonzalez, who alleges Gavaris has disliked her son since he began volunteering with the squad.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531518/EMT-suspended-driving-sick-four-year-old-boy-hospital.html#ixzz2pHu1ruJB
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