Partial Rescue for Paramedic Radio Service

The city of Inglewood came to the financial rescue of the paramedic radio base station at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital last week. But similar help must come from the city and county of Los Angeles if the station is to continue operating after October, according to the hospital’s acting administrator.

The Inglewood hospital, which spends $150,000 a year to operate the station as part of a county network controlling emergency paramedics, announced in June that it would suspend the service Oct. 9 because of costs. Daniel Freeman’s station serves three paramedic units in Inglewood, three in the city of Los Angeles and two in Los Angeles County. Inglewood officials on Thursday pledged up to $45,000 to pay for the city’s share of the service.

Jim Barber, acting hospital administrator, welcomed what he termed the unprecedented action by the city. But he said Los Angeles “has to come forward with the balance” to save the base station. He said the station receives up to 1,400 calls a month, second only to the station at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Medical personnel at the station give directions about medical care to paramedics in the field and direct them to various hospital emergency rooms.

Barber said that although Daniel Freeman pioneered paramedic training in 1970, it can no longer afford to operate the base station on its own in the face of escalating costs, declining revenues from Medicare and Medi-Cal, and losses from uninsured patients. He said the base station problem does not affect the hospital’s emergency room, which will continue to receive paramedic ambulances.

Virginia Price-Hastings, paramedic and trauma program chief for the county Department of Health Services, said that county support for the base station is being discussed but that no decisions have been made. “We consider Daniel Freeman a very important hospital and we hope some way can be found to keep them in the system,” she said.

Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Paramedic Alan Cowen said city financial support for the hospital would require a written proposal to the mayor or City Council. He added that there are more than 30 base stations, and a request from Daniel Freeman could prompt others to ask for money.

Norman Cravens, assistant city manager in Inglewood, said the city offered help to Daniel Freeman because its base station is vital to city paramedic service. “It would be more complicated and less effective to operate out of a base station elsewhere,” he said.

Barber said that with closure of the base station at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood in May, the closest stations to Daniel Freeman are at Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne, Los Angeles County Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center in Willowbrook and Brotman Medical Center in Culver City.

He said closing Daniel Freeman’s station would not lessen the number of paramedic units but would strain communications system. “This is a key station, the second largest,” Barber said. “For others to absorb all or a portion of the calls would put them into a radio logjam. No one wants to see this happen.”