FEATURES
AREA
Death may seem far away, but it's never too early to plan. PAGE 4B.
A cab driver files a $1 million claim against the city for violating his rights during a rape investigation. PAGE 3A.
FREEZING DRIZZLE High 34° Low 24° Weather: Page 2A.
Hurricane
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA, KS 66612
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.104,NO.73
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7.1994
"Working in the streets is difficult. Whenever you turn on those red lights and sirens, you're laying your life down." Rob Kort, paramedic supervisor, Douglas County Ambulance Services
Eve Tolefree, left, and Mike Johnson, paramedics for Douglas County Ambulance Services, use the lights and sirens on their ambulance to clear traffic on Massachusetts Street.
THE THEATER OF THE STREETS
They know the satisfaction of saving lives. They experience violence and death regularly.The media paint their job as glamorous, but emergency medical services workers know the reality of
Story by Sara J. Bennett = Photos by Paul Kotz
The corner of 23rd and Massachusetts Streets resembles a holiday display. Red and yellow lights sparkle. Firefighters scamper about a light pole broken off at the base. Police officers orchestrate traffic around bands of spectators.
At center stage, paramedics open a small, gray pickup like a sardine can. Using a huge mechanical jaw, they peel off the roof, then lift a bleeding man onto a stretcher.
For them, this is a typical Saturday night. This accident is just one scene in a never-ending drama of illness and injury.
Emergency medical services workers respond to chaos and to quiet suffering. They are there for the joy of birth and when death is unavoidable. Often, they are heroes. Sometimes, they are treated like villains.
Still, when the bells go off and the curtain goes up on another emergency, EMS workers act not for applause, but in the knowledge that the end result of each call may be a life saved.
Are you interested in getting into EMS? Here's how. WANT TO GET INTO EMS? Here's how. (EMTs) provide me
First responders Provide basic supportive care until paramedics arrive. They usually are located in remote areas.
(EMT's) provide more advanced supportive services such as CPR, bandaging, splinting, controlling bleeding and assisting with childbirth. EMTI's are authorized to start L.V.'s. EMTi's often work for pay in rural areas or as volunteers.
(USPS 650-640)
EMT's are trained at DCAS and JOCO. There currently are no prerequisites for EMT training. Candidates must complete a 150 hour semester-long course to be eligible to take the state certification test.
First responders are trained at Douglas County Ambulance Services and Johnson County Community College. The course is open to the public, and candidates must complete 50 hours of classwork to be eligible to take the state certification test.
Emergency Medical Technicians
Paramedics (Mobile intensive care technicians) Perform advanced pro
NEWS:864-4810
Source: Johnson County Community College and Douglas County Ambulance Services
PROLOGUE
An elderly man, suffering from what Kort guessed was an electrolyte imbal-
visor Rob Kort sigus as he lowers himself into a chair.
In less than 16 hours, EMS crews from Douglas County Ambulance Services have run 16 calls. They have seen a little of everything, from a dislocated shoulder to a "particularly sad and nasty" incident.
It is 6 p.m., hours before the big accident, and the living quarters at the main Douglas County ambulance station are deserted. Cots in sleeping quartiles lie rumpled. Locker doors stand ajar. The silence is broken only by voices crackling over the dispatch radio.
Slowly, paramedics begin to trickle in.
"Today was a job security day," super
ance, had taken his stove apart and put it in the bathtub to soak. He added a number of household substances, plus his own feces and urine, to the concoction then he drunk it.
then he drank it.
Thanks to DCAS paramedics, the man survived.
"I've seen some nasty stuff in my time," Kort says. "But this was pretty bad."
EMS workers see all types, from University students to drunk drivers to "frequent flyers," people the workers see often. Some have chronic health problems. Some are just lonely.
"It's amazing," says shift training officer Pat Talkington, "how a lot of people would love just to have somebody to talk to."
Television shows that paint EMS work as exciting often are misleading, according to Ted MacFarlane, director of DCAS.
"They don't really deal with the negative side of the business," he said, "the death, the violence, the risk taking, the terrible hours, the family struggles."
See THEATER OF THE STREETS, Page 8A
Spring fees, tuition due tomorrow
Comptroller needs $250 by 4 p.m. or your classes options could be dropped
By Colleen McCain Kansan staff writer
Be forewarned: Students who have not paid at least a $250 deposit toward their Spring 1995 tuition and fees by 4 p.m. tomorrow will have their enrollments dropped.
Pat LaShier, assistant comptroller, said she was concerned that some students were not aware of the importance of tomorrow's deadline.
"Students need to know that if they miss the deadline, they will lose the classes they enrolled in and the options they chose," LaShier said. "Each semester about 400 students have
their enrol-
ment s
dropped
because they
missed this
deadline."
Students may pay by check or credit card, but students who pay by cheek should include their student identification number on the check. Students who pay only a portion of their tuition and fees now must pay their remaining fees during fee completion. Level 0.9
Pay fees or else!
Where to pay your fees Students can pay their fees at four locations at Carruth-O'Leary Hall. These locations are: The cashier's window in the basement of Carruth-O'Leary. The drop box next to the cashier's window. The drop box in front of Carruth-O'Leary. The drop box near the loading dock behind Carruth-O'Leary.
KANSAN staff research
and 10 to retain their enrollments.
Classes begin Jan. 11.
LaShier said students should not try to mail their fees now.
"The postmark deadline was Monday, so it is too late to mail fees," she said. "Students need to come to Carruth-O'Leary Hall and pay at the cashier's window or at one of the drop boxes."
LaShier said students who had not received a bill detailing their fees could use the on-line assessments they received when they enrolled to determine how much they owed.
Karen Bailey, accounts receivable manager, said the most common mistake made by students was writing down their credit card numbers incorrectly on the bill.
"Obviously, if students transpose numbers or forget a number, we can't collect that money," Bailey said. "In cases like that we make every effort to contact the student and the student's parents, but if we can't reach them, the enrollment is dropped."
Bailey said it seemed that student fees were arriving at a slower pace than in past years.
"It's hard to gauge at this point, but it seems like fewer students have mailed in their fees at this point," Bailey said. "It could be because more students have financial aid, but I hope it's not because people have forgotten."
Coming off of a 91-69 victory against Coppin State Monday, the Kansas men's basketball team faces Florida at 8:30 tonight at Allen Field House.
The next test
Page1B.
Social Security inequalities concern next generation
Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series examining the problems facing Social Security and how they will affect college students.
By David Wilson Kansan staff writer
In less than a year, Ross Perot could begin collecting Social Security.
The 64-year-old billionaire would not have much need for a monthly check from the government.
But the mere thought of a KU student giving up part of a paycheck to support someone as wealthy as Perot raises the hacksides of student activists and others who say Social Security forces younger taxpayers to support wealthy retirees.
And politicians and interest groups across the spectrum — regardless of what they think of the system — agree that Social Security eventually will need to undergo changes to accommodate the
Social Security was developed in 1936 during the Roosevelt administration. All workers earning less than $60,600 a year pay a flat rate of 7.65 percent of their earnings to the federal government. Earnings beyond $60,600 aren't taxed to support Social Security. Most of the money collected is then distributed to Social Security recipients in the form of a monthly check.
The size of the monthly payment depends on how much the recipient contributed to the system earlier in life — the larger the contribution, the larger the monthly checks.
smaller number of workers who will support the increasing number of retired people.
But other kinds of income, such as pensions and investment earnings, don't affect how much Social Security is paid to a recipient.
For instance, a 66-year-old retiree who earns $25,000 a year in interest from investments would receive the same payment as a retiree who had no such income, assuming both retirees paid similar amounts into the system during their careers.
That's unfair, said Richard Thau, the 30-year-old executive director of Third Millennium, a New York-based political advocacy group for people in their early 20s.
That imbalance and the increasing number of retirees eventually will bankrupt the system, he said.
"Today, people flipping burgers are sub-sidizing people on the golf course." he said.
To offset this problem, groups like Third Millennium are calling for means testing, which requires retirees who receive high pension and investment incomes to receive lower Social Security payments.
Thau said that a person who retired in 1980 could expect to receive, on average, a total of $190,000 from Social Security. But a person who retires in 2030 could expect to receive about $145,000, he said.
But opponents of means testing point out
Workers who have been told that they will receive lower Social Security payments if they invest money will have less incentive to save, he said.
that it would discourage savings, said Tom Marginau, spokesman for the Social Security Administration.
But Margenau admitted the program wasn't flawless.
"There's no question that Social Security faces some long-term problems," he said. Jeff Livingston, Wichita junior, agreed.
---
"The way the system is now, it can't survive," he said. "All of the money the people of our generation are putting into it, we'll never see."
Tomorrow: Members of KU's Student Legislative Awareness Board, a newlyformed advocacy group, and representatives from the American Association of Retired Persons talk about more solutions to the problems facing Social Security.
7