Redlining Rescue Away

While much of the attention of Albuquerque's current mayor, RJ Berry has focused on his endless shortcomings and failures with the economy, APD, his extracurricular activities, and his absence of any public debate, it's time to turn our attention to the other half of the city's public safety: the Albuquerque Fire Department.
 

And by that we do not mean the hard working efforts of all our firefighter friends out on the street and in the stations across town. Unlike AFD Chief Breen who seems to think that as long as he tells his boss, Rob Perry that all is fine and so what if a few firefighters can barely make ends meet, that everything is fine in AFD and the citizens they serve. Let us be clear, we fully support the men and women of AFD who are assigned to ladder, pumper, hazmat, and rescue crews. But it seems when it comes to rescue crews, some areas of the city get abandoned by Breen's operations. You see, our Eye's have been busy telling us, and we have confirmed, that there are some glaring holes in the rescue coverage provided by AFD's rescue services.

Rescue crews are highly trained medical personnel that respond to persons in need of immediate medical attention and who require immediate transport to the hospital. They are the folks who respond to victims from anything to heart attacks to gunshots to overdoses and "scoop and run" the patient to the hospital while performing emergency life saving triage.

And while one could say these holes in the service areas are mere oversight by Breen, we know that nothing in the operations of the Berry/Perry administration are by accident.

They are by design.

 

You see, if you drive south on University from Gibson SE, you enter a very isolated and self contained neighborhood known as the Kirtland Addition--or "The Kirk" as many locals refer to it. This neighborhood is recognized as having one of the highest concentration of African-Americans in the state. It is also a very poor community, plagued with significant amounts of drug activity and violence. It's an area where even APD officers of the Southeast Area Command do not go alone, and rarely stage tac-plan operations. In many ways, and sadly, it has been abandoned by Perry, Berry, and Breen.
 

And right across the street, just north of Gibson, AFD installed a new station almost complete with a tanker and ladder truck. But you guessed it, there is no rescue unit assigned to a neighborhood that sees more overdoses than almost anywhere else in the city.

If you look at the map, all the dots in blue are AFD stations that have Rescue Units. The dots in red are stations that don't. If you notice, stations without Rescue Units run almost up the center of the city and correspond with predominately minority populated areas.
 

Not having a Rescue Unit in your area means an increase of at least 10 minutes to respond to a medical emergency. This means while your loved one who is dying from a heart attack, gun shot, vehicle collision, stroke, seizure, or your baby has choked on a grape will have to wait even longer for a Rescue Unit.

With the station on Gibson is so new, it's hardly a coincidence that Breen failed to assign a Rescue Unit to it. And as you travel north up the Valley, you'll see that there are two other stations without Rescue Units as well. The one at Coronado Park, near 4th NW/I-40 and the one on Rio Grande NW/Candelaria.
 

We have to ask, was "The Kirk" left without coverage of a Rescue Unit accidental or by design? Because if you look up through the rest of the city, it is clearly well covered with Rescue Units....

Thanks to Berry, Perry and Breen, one's survival in the areas not covered by Rescue Units have been highly impaired. And as one of our Eyes told us, "...that extra 8-10 minutes means a 50% reduced chance of survival in an emergency."

 

This week the Eye On Albuquerque will discuss the blunder and clear disparity in how the city treats APD compared to AFD. Is it political gain Berry is seeking? Is it Berry's "speed of business philosophy?" We already know APD is in ruins and we know the administration must be replaced but what about Breen and his inept ability to lead? Is Breen to busy kissing Berry's...Uh, ring to do the job of the fire chief? Why can't AFD recruit cadets? Why are some cadet on "State Welfare?" All this will be address...