Still a deadly mess

The ranks of local journalists around here sure have thinned out in recent years. The public has mostly been captivated by unsubstantiated garbage on their cell phones, and as a result, legitimate news organizations can't sell the advertising or the subscriptions needed to maintain a healthy-sized staff of reporters. And the kids they can afford often don't have the skills and experience needed to dig deeply enough into the stories they're assigned. With the government being watched, if at all, by novices, the citizenry is being robbed blind in many more ways than one. It's a problem across the country, apparently.

But my hat's off to KGW-TV, which is still in there punching. Lately they won't let go of the obscene fact that you could die waiting for an ambulance in Multnomah County. The county government, being run by utterly unqualified people, relies on a feckless private ambulance company controlled by Wall Street bean counters who care only about their own money. It's a deadly combination.

Recently the hideous chair of the county commission gave up, at long last, on some of her more misguded demands of the ambulance dudes, and that was supposed to improve response times. But as KGW points out, so far it hasn't. Yesterday the Portland fire department had to take another guy to the hospital on a fire truck, lest he bleed to death after a chainsaw accident. As they are far too often, the AMR ambulances were at "level zero," meaning they just don't show up.

It is absolutely ridiculous.

Ambulance service shouldn't be a for-profit business. And counties shouldn't be run by dim-witted people elected based on ideology, gender, and race rather than on knowledge, experience, and skills. But a lot of things that shouldn't happen, do. Like an ambulance company ghosting you when you call 9-1-1 with your bloody stump.

If you think this is fine, be sure to vote for Shannon Singleton and Meghan Moyer for the county commission. They will march in lockstep with the county chair and keep us all on the distinctive path we're on today.