Good afternoon!

If you've ever pulled up to where one of our Firefighters is blocking a roadway and asked, "What's going on?" or met a department member at a social event and said, "Hey, why was the Ambulance here the other day?" you'll have noticed that you don't get much of a response. You might be told "oh, we had a medical call" or "it's an ATV accident," with no additional detail. And perhaps that seems odd to you - after all, you already know there was a medical call; there wouldn't have been a ambulance otherwise, now would there? For that matter, why does the website say only that a medical call happened and nothing more? That's not really any information at all.

The reason the members of the fire department don't answer questions like this in any detail is the same reason your doctor can't tell anyone the details of your medical condition. We're bound by the same HIPAA laws that your doctor's office is. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which took effect in 2003, created privacy standards regarding patient information that all health care providers must follow. This includes the responders from your local fire department.

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So no, we can't tell you who was in the motor vehicle accident or why someone had to be extricated out. We can't tell you who is sick or injured, what the illness or injury is, or what we think the outcome will be. Nor, even if you're the patient's family or best friend in the world, can we tell you how they're doing or what's wrong if you're not right there with the patient, where they can agree to have that information shared, or not. We're required to protect the privacy of our patients, and that means not talking about anything that hasn't already become public knowledge through newspaper reports or community discussion. If it's information the patient or their family doesn't share with the community, then it's information we will never talk about.

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And even though we're not bound by the same laws when it comes to the fires and other non-medical incidents we run on, we have a policy of keeping the same confidences. So no, we won't tell you whose house almost burned down or who we think was responsible for an auto accident. It's part of our job to respect the privacy of the people involved.

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So please don't think of our non-committal answers as keeping things from you. Think instead about the level of confidentiality you'd want us to preserve if the emergency were yours.

Thanks and stay safe!

Robert McCoy
Battalion Chief
Northwest Consolidated Fire District