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Iowa Fire Captain Disputes Reason for Firing
July 22--Veteran Fire Department Capt. Tom Mackey on Monday said his firing this month centers on a dispute over the medical protocol that he followed or didn't follow on a June medical call.
Mackey, 55, who joined the Fire Department in January 1985 and was terminated on July 2, appeared in front of the Civil Service Commission on Monday to listen as the commission set a hearing on the appeal of his firing for Aug. 7.
"I'm very, very confused. I don't get it," Mackey said of his firing after the commission meeting.
Mackey, who was working out of the city's District 9 fire station, 415 Broderick Dr. NE, and his fire crew answered a medical call in June that involved a patient who then was taken to the emergency room by the Area Ambulance Service and who subsequently was treated and released from the emergency room, Mackey and his attorney, Bill Roemerman of Cedar Rapids, said.
Mackey and Roemerman said the Fire Department's medical director, local physician Dr. Brad Wisnousky, subsequently reviewed the handling of the medical call by the Fire Department and concluded that he no longer was willing to work with Mackey.
The Fire Department and the city of Cedar Rapids then terminated Mackey, saying that he no longer was qualified to be a firefighter, Mackey said.
Front-line Cedar Rapids firefighters and fire captains must hold at least a basic emergency medical technician's certification, Conni Huber, the city's human resources director, said last week.
Roemerman said the department's contract medical director doesn't have the power to suspend or void Mackey's certification to handle medical calls, only the state of Iowa does, and it hasn't.
"This was not instigated by the Fire Department, it was instigated by a contract employee who said, 'I don't want to work with this guy anymore,'" Roemerman said. "He's bypassed the Civil Service Commission, city government and the Fire Department in general."
He said the Fire Department's medical director has established medical protocols for firefighters to follow at a medical call, but firefighters make judgment calls all the time to provide "what is best for the patient," he said.
Mackey said the patient involved in the medical call in June that precipitated his firing fell under three different protocols.
Mackey said he's been certified as an emergency medical technician since 1985 and as a paramedic since 2000.
He also holds down a part-time job as the paid, part-time director of the ambulance service in Tipton, where he lives. He was hired for that post in May 2012.
Mackey said the dispute at his full-time job will not affect his status as director of Tipton ambulance service.
The Cedar Rapids Fire Department declined to comment on Monday, saying it can't comment on a personnel matter.
The city's contract with Wisnousky, the Fire Department's medical director, pays him $25,440 a year. The contract also calls for the city to pay the $2,424 cost of the director's professional liability insurance.
The Civil Service Commission members are Nancy Evans, Kory Kazimour and Gary Hinzman.
Copyright 2013 - The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa