I live in an apartment downtown in one of those small American towns where crime is unheard of!

Yes, places like that still exist in this country.

Not though in Detroit and if you value your life, don’t go out there after dark.

NormanF on September 16, 2010 at 12:19 pm

Where the money at? We deserve better! I broke my elbow and had my son take me.Just priceless. Keep voting democrat. And while your at it, make sure you attack the police officers and firemen that respond to help you. As usual.

samurai on September 16, 2010 at 12:20 pm

Big City downtowns…. there are certain sections in them wise people would never go into any time day or night. Its like the wilds took over them.

NormanF on September 16, 2010 at 12:25 pm

Unreal. If I was using old N. Blitzer’s brain I’d be saying…”Oooooh, they all be waitin’ ‘cuz they all are mostly black. The system is RACIST!” but those with a brain this is due to lack of proper LEADERSHIP…and that has no colour…um, other than green, I reckon.

Keep on keeping Detroit all Democrat. Keep the hacks in leadership. Keep on keeping on being STOOPID! Keep on being used just ‘cuz it FEELS good to think Dems and hacks in leadership actually care about you. Keep on not being proactive about your own community.

“Get up-a-get-get-get down/Late 9/11 wears the late crown.” Even bloody Flava Flav knows the score…

Skunky on September 16, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Wait. With Obama in charge, expanding government, emphasizing minorities over competence, the entire country will be one big Detroit.

Jgrant on September 16, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Ya know, if it weren’t for you Debbie, I think many of us would live in more of a fog than we do. I could not, and still cannot believe that video I just watched. Talk about “shock and awe”!

BLESS ISRAEL on September 16, 2010 at 3:00 pm

1. You get what you pay for. Pay taxes, consolidate costs=more money for EMS.
2. That was the worst edited report I have ever seen and if I ever waived a microphone with a camera behind me to any of those people and ask them to complain I would expect to get what I just saw.
3. Charlie LeDuff is a plagiarist.

NormanY on September 16, 2010 at 3:52 pm

Miss Schlussel:

I’m grateful you posted this and brought it to our attention.

As a result, I embedded the video on my own blog, OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE (and is a follower of your blog), and added this comment:

“When I watch this, I’m impressed by the difference between the folks who live in urban Detroit, Michigan and the folks who reside in isolated rural communities in the Great American West.

In fact, doesn’t this recall images of the very same problems that emerged in New Orleans, Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina?

Is it purely a racial difference between Black people and White people?

Or, is there something more to this difference between these demographic groups?

The folks I know who live out West learn to fend for themselves, and are equipped to do so.

I ain’t the smartest guy around, but if I can pass an Emergency Medical Technician course (which I have in Utah and Idaho), then almost anybody else can.

Everyone has an inalienable right to be armed, and our government is prohibited by the Constitution of the United States of America from interfering with that inalienable right.

Anybody who wants to can carry rescue equipment and tools in their personal vehicle.

I’ve also lived in small rural communities where I had the opportunity to serve as a volunteer firefighter and a reserve police officer.

So, no, folks do NOT have to rely on ONLY paid, full time, professional emergency response personnel.

Citizens can learn to take care of themselves and to follow the scriptural admonition to become our brother’s keeper.

In fact, consider how much fewer taxes would be required if folks would start looking out for themselves and each other?”

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

John Robert Mallernee on September 16, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Detroit has lost half its population. That just speaks for itself.

CaliforniaScreaming on September 16, 2010 at 4:09 pm

Debbie, I think this has less to do with him being a minority than him being a POS. Correct me if I am wrong, your work has been plagiarized and I don’t think any of them were minorities who ripped you off.

CaliforniaScreaming on September 16, 2010 at 4:41 pm

Mr. Mallernee seems to make quite a point. Learn to take care
of yourself. None of the people interviewed would have
been seen right away except for the person having the seizures…and even the seizures depending on the patient history. If you have a car use it and have someone drive you…or call a cab. Not every injury calls for an ambulance or to be seen right away in a busy ER. Stop shooting each other would help, too. Sorry, Detroit that your finances are
bad…they are bad lots of places. Sorry, Deb, the video makes a point but I expected to see more severe cases of the EMTs not responding.

cthelight on September 16, 2010 at 6:15 pm

Detroit is an excellent candidate for assistance from Medicins sans Frontieres (aka Doctors without borders).

What you’re witnessing is the effects of poverty. Doctors Without Borders could be effective here. Maybe, if we had a charitable organization geared for 3rd world relief tending to these problems, Detroit would be shamed into putting more resources into their EMS system.

I also believe that there are enough unemployed people in Detroit (with time on their hands) to develop a “Citizens fast response team” to beat the EMS teams to a medical emergency and administer first aid until EMS arrives. It would be kinda like a Detroit version of the Guardian Angels. Hopefully, there’s some leadership left in Detroit to act without waiting for the government to provide money.

What the video shows is Detroit citizens sitting on their duffs whining about the situation. A civic-minded leader could change that.

There is NO Santa Claus on September 16, 2010 at 8:48 pm

Why can’t any of these people (including the reporter) say the word “ambulance” correctly? Don’t get me started on the “ridiculous” word either.

ender on September 16, 2010 at 8:53 pm

Detroit was a city that was founded and grew with the auto industry. When THAT bubble burst, there was an exodus from the city of conscientious hard working people scrambling for employment. What was left, was an over-bloated government bureaucracy that, of course, refused to down-size itself, and many fewer actual tax payers to support it.

Something’s got to give somewhere. Time will tell how successful subsequent administrations will be at saving themselves.

I wonder if the employees who spoke up, were disciplined. That is a typical response in government… attack the messenger and ignore the message!

Kent on September 17, 2010 at 10:52 am

I think it is very important that the entire City of Detroit government undergo a forensic audit to determine where the money goes. That said, what can you expect in a city filled with the “underclass.” Uneducated, poor people who think calling an ambulance is the answer for every injury. Are these people who were interviewed taxpayers? Was that question asked? Where do they think the $$$ comes from to fund all of these services? Didn’t sound like many of the calls they got that night were life-threatening.

That said, kudos to the men and women who are willing to lay their lives on the line to work in Emergency Services in a hellhole like Detroit. I used to live there (well, in the ‘burbs, but close enough.)

Do you know in Atlanta (where I live now) the EMS services have a problem with people calling for an ambulance just so they can get a ride to Grady Hospital downtown, so they can go clubbing? Honestly. Tell them you’re having chest pains, get a ride downtown to the ER, walk right out of the ER to your date. Unbelievable!!! And if a bill is sent for the ambulance? Ignore it. Everyone else does…

DG in GA on September 17, 2010 at 4:51 pm

I live in a nice middle class suburb outside of Detroit, and I am enrolled in an EMS cert program at Oakland Community College, and I have definitely been advised against taking a job in Detroit. After watching this video, however, it seems like they need more good techs to stand up and do something. Even if that means buying my own GPS for the $200 to help save other people’s lives.

And yes there are many problems that require solutions to solve them, but it’s interesting to note how many of the commentators seem to take from this video only what they need to feed their own bigotry, racism, and political alignment.

Here is a book that strives to explain what happened to our city:

The Origins of the Urban Crisis:
Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit
Thomas J. Sugrue

Bad people are bad no matter what their color, ethnicity, or political affiliation. As are good.

Let’s stop talking about things and DO SOMETHING about them.

Who? on September 20, 2010 at 10:53 am

How about we weed out the BS 911 calls??!! Stubbed toes, sore throats, transport to hospital for a pregnancy test cuz “it’s free there”. “I just don’t feel good” “I vomited ONE time” 75% of our EMS calls are crap, we still have to respond, and most likely still have to transport or risk getting written up for that as well…totally broken system

Jen on September 20, 2010 at 8:54 pm

Why can’t we get along

Anomynous on November 8, 2010 at 4:59 pm

Maybe the reason they don’t have units available is because they are covering murderers and shootings. We need capital punishment in this state more so than any other state for the simple reason that there are too many people who have no value for a human life, and why should we taxpayers have to pay for some low life to have (3) hots and a cot for say (50) or (60) years. I say fry the S.O.B.s. I grew up on the west side of Detroit back in the 40’s and 50’s and if we had (1) murder a year it was a lot.

Will i am on November 24, 2011 at 4:05 pm

Welcome to Detroit where the weak are eaten, and yesterday a couple was found barbequed in an alley.
A drive in Detroit is a Vietnam flashback, fifteen year old carjackers armed with AK’s just shot a six year old. Where are they put when caught? Juvie of course. Another infant died whild sleeping on a couch after the house was riddled with 37 rounds, “drug related” the term used for low priority flashed on the news. Stop the insanity quote mayor Bing in the headline once again. Just another day in Detroit.

Ron Wolf aka "Columbo" on March 1, 2012 at 11:48 am

Niggerland

r on September 30, 2013 at 12:20 am