Here's a money-saver: combine emergency services, takeout delivery

News

Letter to the Editor

Posted By

Posted 1 month ago

There was a great feel-good story about a former-paramedic-now-pizza-delivery-man who, while performing his current duties, was able to save a man's life while bringing a hot, delicious meal to his family.

Casting aside his pizza man garb, he informed the grief-stricken wife that "he was a paramedic", and began performing life-saving CPR on the man.

There are so many public servants out there who could be doing two jobs at once -at a greatly reduced scale of pay.

All ambulance, paramedic and firefighters could be delivering pizzas, fried chicken and Chinese food. The food is contributing to the clogged arteries, why not have those same people on hand to help with the occasional stroke or heart attack?

Police and garbage collection could be easily combined (along with taxi service). As officers walk a beat or drive through the neighbourhood, they could easily pick up a piece of litter or toss the odd trash can into the back of the cruiser.

Need a lift? Just flag down a passing squad car and pay them whatever extra it would cost to divert from their usual patrol route.

Not enough lifeguards for public swimming? I know of one group of public employees who are bored to tears each and every summer. Teachers.

These summer layabouts are everywhere in the province, so it shouldn't be a problem to find enough bodies to have at least one teacher at every pool, lake and body of water from June to the end of August (yes, college professors -I'm lumping you in here, too).

The cash savings to hard-pressed taxpayers would be fantastic.

Like pizza delivery service, payment for lifesaving procedures could be done by way of gratuity. A life is saved or the pizza arrives in 15 minutes? That's a 20% tip right there.

Same goes for the police/garbage collectors. A thief is caught within minutes, and the trash cans are left neatly stacked at the end of your driveway? That deserves a good Christmas bonus.

If this all seems too ludicrous, ask yourself this question: Did the pizza deliveryman receive paramedic-scale wages for his life-saving service?

Don Horne Whitby

Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.