Will the New Agreement with IAEP Change the Trajectory of Care for UMMMC and Worcester EMS?

November 19, 7:06 pm, from the desk of Kristy Lee, Media and Public Relations Manager at UMass Memorial Health-

UMass Memorial Health is pleased to have reached an agreement with the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) that ensures our paramedics have the resources they need to provide responsive, comprehensive emergency medical services in the communities we serve. We remain grateful to our paramedics who deliver high-quality care to our patients every day, and are critical to supporting the safety, health, and wellbeing of area residents.

We reached out to the hospital to see if Local 95’s demands for proper staffing and/or compensation have been met 24 hours after we broke the story about the seriousness of reported low quality of care and staff shortages. The staffing system, as of yesterday used EMS, staff typically assigned to the City of Worcester in their new North Building, allegedly in place of anesthesiologists to meet acute care needs. This left the city with a shortage of Advanced life support services and professionals.

Out of 159 comments in one day and 209 shares on Facebook alone, our readers had a lot to say. A few vomments are stated below:

“It’s sickening to know people do not feel safe or assured that they will cared for in our community hospitals” -Jennifer

“The North Pavilion is acute care but has no emercency room or ICUs. Apparently they have no anesthesia people who would normally do in-hospital intubations which paramedics do in the field”. -Mary

“Pretty sad that individuals who deal with people’s lives are paid so poorly and treated soooo badly.” –

So, Worcester, do we think this purported contract (which we have not yet found in our investigation but will pursue) will solve this critical life-or-death problem?

Jerry Filmore and Betsey Taft Kennedy for What’s Up Worcester

Editor in chief: [email protected], Managing Editor [email protected]

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