islandpacket.com | EMS officials push security-override systems at gated communities: "At about 9:23 p.m. April 7, emergency personnel were dispatched to Bluffton's Baynard Park to respond to a 62-year-old man suffering a massive heart attack.
Though Beaufort County Emergency Medical Services paramedics arrived at the neighborhood's security gate in about four minutes, they were held up for two to three minutes because they couldn't open the unmanned gate, according to a report provided by the county Friday afternoon. Responders arrived at the patient's home nearly nine minutes after leaving the station.
They took him to Hilton Head Hospital, where he died Saturday afternoon, his son, Matt Smith of Rock Hill, said.
In emergency medical situations, each minute counts, county emergency officials say.To prevent delays like the one that occurred that night, the county will consider new policies to make sure responders are not slowed down at unmanned gates, county administrator Gary Kubic said this week. The discussion is a result of the episode at Baynard Park, which Smith recounted at last week's Beaufort County Council meeting.
Kubic said Friday he would like to consider requiring gated communities to install override systems for emergency responders"
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But that would violate the freedom of contract of the residents. They moved into a community that locked out ambulances because that's what they wanted. They hate ambulance rides. They don't want those zapper thingies clamped to their chests when they are dying of heart attacks.
I say privatopia doesn't need all this oppressive state regulation. The market will solve this problem, just like it solved the housing bubble and rescued the savings and loan industry. Government regulation, fie on thee. Who needs it?
Am I right, or am I right?
4 comments:
But what if the override fails to work? Or develops a glitch that adds a couple more minutes to the process? Or the gated compound refuses to install an override receiver because of some abstract but misguided legal notion it would violate some nebulous "contractual arrangement." (Show me the "contract.")
Incidents like these illustrate that the term "gated communities" is a non sequitur. Those inside the gates are in fact part of the larger community that provides emergency services and indeed they pay property taxes to support them.
Not only is it a non sequitur--it is also supremely ironic that people buy what they think is security, and they get a barrier between themselves and emergency services.
I've tried pointing this out to numerous people in our subdivision. I don't like the Gate at all - it serves mainly as a source of maintenance income for some of the HOA vendors. The Gate is not a "security" gate and is at best a "privacy" gate - meaning that it is put there to enable the Board to abuse homeowners without any interference from outside sources.
However, on the emergency medical issue I think that many of the people that live here simply don't believe they will ever succumb to any type of medical malady despite their aging bodies. This is part of the sickness of the futile obsession with "aesthetics". Anything can be justified based upon the facade of aesthetics. Image is everything, reality need not apply. Aging members don't like to see things that remind them of death, disability, or any kind of infirmity. That's why you won't see ramps, disabled access, overrides for emergency vehicles, etc. because "that just doesn't happen here".
Some of these idiots believe that it is a status symbol. The reality is that it is a liability that will cost someone a life someday. It has already impeded the fire trucks from entering on numerous occasions. Despite what these folks foolishly believe, one of the primary purposes of the gate was to route all visitors to the "sales office" of the declarant. The only thing this Gate keeps out is common sense.
Good points. I hadn't thought of it, but denial of mortality is one of those typical behaviors that leads to all kinds of problems.
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