D.C. Fire Chief Gregory Dean has responded to the sudden and very public resignation of the city’s medical director, Dr. Jullette Saussy, by defending his department.
Saussy’s scathing resignation letter criticized the fire department for its toxic culture and slow response times, citing an incident that occurred last month when a man with stab wounds died after it took firefighters 18 minutes after the 911 call to arrive at the scene.
The Washington Post reported Dean, who was hired nine months ago after a 44-year career with the Seattle Fire Department, agreed there are flaws in the department but felt Saussy was excessively harsh in her criticism.
"I think that we have done a lot of things in the nine months I have been here," said Dean, listing off the additional hiring and training that has happened under his leadership and his proposed plan to contract with private ambulances to transport patients in non-life-threatening situations.
"Our units will respond to the incident. They will do an assessment of the patient. After that assessment, they will determine if we can call an ambulance so that all our units are not going to be stuck in the ER room trying to get back in service," said Dean, explaining the proposed plan.