Hennepin EMS paramedics will be replacing their long-time brown uniforms with blue ones to better distinguish themselves as emergency medical services.
This move was made as they are constantly being confused for law enforcement.
The Hennepin healthcare has requested for this change as this confusion also posed a threat to the emergency workers as a few paramedics did not feel safe being perceived as law enforcement at a scene. This was after last year’s mass protest over the police killing of George Floyd.
“Our current uniforms, the brown ones, they’re pretty much an exact match for the Hennepin County sheriff’s uniforms and, to some extent, State Patrol,” Mike Trullinger, a spokesman for Hennepin EMS said. “If you’re flying on an airline and the seats were found out to be super flammable, you’d want to change those seats.”
While the agency replaced their trademark brown on brown uniforms for a blue overall, a few paramedics complain that the newer uniform color and design still resemble a police outfit and a few other were unhappy with the tampering of decades of tradition behind the UPS brown uniforms.
As reported in Star Tribune, a few paramedics have even displayed their displeasure through a chain of emails to their supervisors.
One of the paramedics have even dismissed the whole development for a mere PR stunt. “It was made very clear what their intentions are and were when the CEO continually stated that we’re essentially ‘super scary looking’ which in turn somehow turned us all into racists.” Star Tribune has also mentioned that the paramedic wrote they were tired of being a pawn in this “twisted game.”
Another paramedic said that the brown uniforms had stood the test of time, surviving “decades of trial, tribulation and unrest.”
“To have our history and traditions tossed to the side like so much laundry for a politically expedient and short-lived result does no one any good. We’re used to folks on the outside not understanding us, not our own hospital,” he wrote.
However, Martin Scheerer, senior director of Hennepin EMS, mentioned that many of the employees share the same feeling of being in danger after wearing those uniforms that are quite similar to those of the law enforcement.
“Yes, it is expensive to change, but if we protect one life, one person from harm, one person who needs help and is not afraid to call 911 quickly, we all know it is worth it,” he mentioned.
