Wednesday October 16 1996 20:42, Tom Patierno wrote to George Jackson:
 TP> Would you believe that in most states and in Canada, Emergency Medical
 TP> Services are not considered "essential" services?  They are "specialized
 TP> livery services", ie: taxis and buses are livery services.
 TP> Hospitals, on the other hand, are considered "essential", but only
 TP> emergency rooms and CCU/ICU.  The rest are not "essential".....
    True, but if the ambulance service is operated by a hospital (ie the 
hospital holds the licence - in reality all ambulance services are governed 
almost directly by the MOH), the hospital can designate the employees of the 
ambulance service as essential employees.  If the ambulance service licence 
is held by a private corporation or person or group of persons, then the 
service is not essential.  In practical terms this means that *some* urban 
ambulance services are essential, rural ambulance services are (as a rule) 
not.
    Can you tell that the government is involved? :-)
Chris
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