Spokane firefighters are under new orders to stop using a so-called “anti-spitting” device like the one strapped to the face of Otto Zehm moments before he lapsed into unconsciousness following a March 18 convenience store encounter with police. Zehm later died. The clear “non-rebreather” masks carried by Fire Department paramedics now can only be used with oxygen supply lines and a source of oxygen, Fire Chief Bobby Williams said in a departmental order issued last month. Under a new “mask utilization policy,’’ fire department paramedics will issue gauze masks if they are needed to prevent spitting by “violent patients.” The fire chief, in a Sept. 21 letter, also ordered his department to implement seven other policy and training changes in light of the death of Zehm. For the complete story by colleague Bill Morlin, click here.
DFO: Better late than never?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
orders to stop using a so-called “anti-spitting” device like the one strapped to the face of Otto Zehm moments before he lapsed into unconsciousness following a March 18 convenience store encounter with police. Zehm later died. The clear “non-rebreather” masks carried by Fire Department paramedics now can only be used with oxygen supply lines and a source of oxygen, Fire Chief Bobby Williams said in a departmental order issued last month. Under a new “mask utilization policy,’’ fire department paramedics will issue gauze masks if they are needed to prevent spitting by “violent patients.” The fire chief, in a Sept. 21 letter, also ordered his department to implement seven other policy and training changes in light of the death of Zehm. For the complete story by colleague Bill Morlin, click here.
