Vermont Emergency Medical Services

District #3 WebPage 

St. Michael’s College, Tarrant Center, Hall of Fame room @ 1830

Meeting called to order at 1834 by Vice-chair Adams.  (Ziter) A moment of silence was observed in recognition of the recent passing of Julie Lachance.

INTRODUCTIONS (Adams)

• Steve Toth, Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue Services, Inc.
• Cindy Cowles, Shelburne Rescue Training Officer

APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Adams)

·        Motion to approve the minutes as presented (Baron/Brent).  Motion approved. 

CORRESPONDENCE (Adams)

• No correspondence

TREASURY (McCabe) 

• Negative balance under “classes” due to services with unpaid tuition
• Motion to obtain a post office box for district correspondence related to treasury, in Essex (Ziter/Baron).  Motion approved.

• Motion to accept treasury report as presented (Brent/Jacobs).  Motion approved.

MEDICAL DIRECTION (James/Wolfson)

• (James) Three issues:
  • EMS evaluates all patients, not other personnel such as police or fire (non-medical).   
  • Medication Error:  would like to develop mechanism for reporting medication administration errors.  Important to communicate this to the attending physician caring for patient.  Dr. James should be notified secondarily.  Working on creating a form.  Errors are human – but communication is expected.
  • District Medical Advisor supervision and oversight:  Last night one EMT was suspended, several others placed on probation for inadequate provision of care.  We are all accountable for our actions and must take responsibility for the care we deliver.

FAHC (Helmken) 

• Friday 6/24/05 Mary Fletcher Drive will close.  Use East Ave to Colchester Ave.
• Thursday 6/23/05 - A Day in the Life scenarios day in new ED from 0900-1400.  May use EMTs as patients, EMT providers, bystanders/family.  Hope to identify issues, especially with EMS.  Happy to have folks there – just come, no need to call first.  Second ambulances are welcome. (Lindquist) Will new bays be ready?  (Helmken)  No, there will be a lag time there as well.
• Thursday 6/23/05 – Open House for EMS in new ED from 1600-2000.  Great opportunity to visit new space and get oriented.  Parking TBA – new parking garage would be appropriate, as would Lot A.
• Saturday 7/09/05 – Open House for Public in new ED
• New ED EMS transition – any problems at all, please bring issues to Gilbert or Tara immediately; and if not available, call Tara’s voicemail with info 847-3645.  The ED does not want any EMS issues to fall between the cracks – please take the time to communicate concerns.
• During transition period, communications will be posted on District #3 listserv and Radio Room door.  Plan is to have good signage.  (Ziter)  What about a map for service clipboards?  (Helmken) Good idea – we’ll look into that.
• Nurses have been very positive regarding EMS interactions – great work.

 TRAINING (Ziter) 

• Course updates/approvals
  • (Malone) Summer EMT-B well underway, with testing on 6/30. 
  • (Goss) EMT-I Transition Course testing offered 6/30.
    • Evaluators to arrive at 1830.
  • FR-ECA course in Charlotte (Webb)
• (Malone)  Course proposals circulated to Board members – registration deadline for all fall courses = August 11, 2005.
  • Fall/Spring EMT-B (traditional, twice weekly) – Malone = coordinator.
  • Fall/Spring EMT-I’03 (didactic and practical in one semester, clinical following) – Goss = Lead Instructor, Soons/Leahy = coordinators.  Cost is $650.  Text info to follow.  Entrance exam info to follow.
  • Once weekly EMT-B on Mondays – Ziter = coordinator.
  • EMT-B Refresher program will be offered if the course is filled
  • All schedules to be posted on District #3 Website
  • Motion to approve all courses presented above (Jones/Baron).
  • Greg Thweatt is working on distance learning opportunities for EMS.
• Upcoming trainings opportunities – none mentioned.
• Certification/recertification – no items discussed.
• Equipment – new oxygen bags ordered, as per last meeting.

 RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (Adams) 

• MCI
  • (Adams) MCI plan – everyone should have it.  The District Clerk will distribute a CD to every service.  (Dusha) Downloadable stuff on website.  (James) Keep sensitive info off web.  (Thweatt)  Let me know what should be removed…District Clerk to review website.
  • (Adams) ICS – free course on FEMA website.  VT EMS sent out MCI DVD in November 2004.  Services need to review the District Plan and ICS prior to drill.  Let’s prepare well for this drill.  Know where to stage.  Understand the basic principles of ICS

o       The Emergency Management Institute (DHS-FEMA-USFA-EMI) website offers online training for ICS.  All VTEMSD#3 EMTs participating in the drill should review IS-100 Intro to Incident Command System prior to attending:

• http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/IS/crslist.asp
• BIA Drill (Laskarzewski)
  • Brief recap:
    • 18 July @ 1900 in Hamilton Room behind restaurant will be Tabletop Meeting (heads of services)
    • 23 July @ 0830 – live drill with FAA inspector
    • Focus on staging, fire operations, and evaluation following drill
    • 0830-0900 tower tracks plan, 0830-crash phone, 0830-0900 EMS staging.
    • FAHC will be participating
    • ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL BE REQUIRED TO SHOW PHOTO ID
    • Any participants should be directed to Darren Adams: 
• CCRPC (Dusha)
  • LEPC is authorizing payment of participating members @ $15/hour.
  • Cost for exercise materials will be covered by grant.
  • Homeland Security Planning Grant:  Statewide Exercise Strategy Planning meeting.
    • Produce and coordinate all training exercises at the state level (as a result of evaluating last year’s efforts by individual counties).
    • Will continue to meet to develop a statewide level.
  • After action reports for all three exercises will be completed by next week.  Sending to Heads of Service.
    • No documented negligence, just rough edges like communications, etc.
    • GOAL:  break cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and over again by interacting with all
      • No MCI declared
      • No MCI plan used, or not familiar.
      • FAHC not notified in a timely manner – Call early, call often.
  • Next cycle of HSU money coming up.  Should be identifying who does what in each community in response to mass emergencies.
  • 6/15/05 Heads of Services @ Sheraton Conference Center to discuss previous year exercises.
  • 6/15/05 VDH Pandemic Flu Tabletop.  (Adams) Perceived as internal drill.  (Dusha) Avian flu impact on systems:  widespread illness, crippling of public safety and healthcare industries.
  • Inventory Sheets – drafts distributed to agency heads.  Will be an ongoing process.
• Grants/Funding (Marcus) – no report.

 ADMINISTRATION (Soons)

 ·        No report – committee focus on MCI drill. 

PUBLIC INFORMATION (Ziter)

• No report.

Old Business (O’Neil)
 

• (Jones) Was there not money for EMS ID badges last years?  (Marcus)  Yes…task was assigned to VT Emergency Management.  Nothing further.

New Business (O’Neil)

• (Williams)  As we look at training opportunities, consider that the fire service training is funded by the State.  Should we be pursuing training monies from the state as a District?  (Ziter) Darren & I went to Coalition meeting, John Wood – no benefits for EMS.  (Williams)  Need money for locals.  (Brent)  It’s that EMS is under an agency that has nothing to do with emergency response.  Push EMS under Department of Public Safety.  (Baron) It’s a disconnect.  (Williams) A discussion with your local representative would help inform legistators.  (Adams)  This fall – plan a dinner with reps to raise awareness.
• (Brent)  EMS providers now included in survivor benefit for death in the line of duty.

Motion to adjourn at 1942 (Jones/Brent).

Respectfully submitted,

Kate Soons

VTEMSD#3 Clerk

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Webpage maintained by Greg Thweatt
gthweatt@cssu.org
Last updated: July 12, 2005