March 9, 2000

 The meeting was called to order at 1830 hours by Chair Greg Thweatt.  17 people were in attendance representing 3 district posts and 13 out of 22 services.  Those in attendance were:

Pat Malone                              EMT - B Coordinator
Greg Thweatt                          EMT - I Coordinator,  Training Committee Chair
Tara Pacy                                District Board Chair
Rebecca Webb (R)                  Charlotte Rescue
Lolita Page (R)                        Colchester Rescue
Kathy Mumma (R)                   Essex Rescue
Gilbert Helmken (R)               FAHC E.D. Nursing
Debbie Baron (R)                   Grand Isle Rescue
Jason Ziter (A)                        Lamoille Ambulance/FACT
Howie Rice (R)                      Malletts Bay Fire Department
Darren Adams (R)                   Milton Rescue
Ted Conant (R)                       Richmond Rescue
Jeff Curren (R)                        Shelburne Rescue
Keara Cahill (R)                     St. Michael’s Rescue
Jim Laskarzewski (A)             St. Michael’s Rescue
Lisa Copping (R)                    UVM Rescue
Bill Clark (R)                          Vergennes Rescue

Introductions:

·       Keara Cahill introduced herself as the new training officer for St. Michael’s Rescue.

Review Agenda: The chair briefly reviewed the agenda for the meeting.

Approval of Minutes

            Motion to accept minutes of Feb 10, 2000 meeting by Ted, second by Bill.  Motion passed.

Announcements:

·       Next meeting will be held on April 13, 2000 at 1830 hours at St. Michael’s College in the Ross Sports Center Classroom (the tiny room in which we have to circle up the desks).

·       VtEMS Conference April 7th – 9th. Preconference workshops beginning on the 6th, PHTLS class is closed/full.  Preconference course list went out over the listserver last week.  Pat explained a bit about the Healthy Homes workshop.  Its focus is on childrens’ environmental health programs.  Grant money is available to services for community outreach programs, Health Department Sponsored, contact information is available in the conference brochure.

·       EMT-B recert sessions:  March 20th, Med/Behavioral Emergencies.  March 22nd, OB-Gyn.  Both held at UVM, Rowell 103, 6:30 – 8:30, no charge, no RSVP needed.  Facilitated by Greg.  Caution for daily construction changes in area.  RSVP if possible only so Greg has an idea of how many to expect.

·       Pat – Preliminary course proposal for a Summer EMT course distributed for review.  Sixteen students needed by April 2nd for a formal proposal.  Actual course schedule subject to change to best meet the needs of the students.  Call Pat.

·       Ted – April 6th at 1900 Dr Winget (?) will be the speaker in Richmond discussing cardiac problems.  All welcome.  RSVP to Ted at 434-3645.

·       Becca – Did the DART training happen? Lisa reports the date is not yet confirmed.

Old Business:

·       Policy on course requirements for District approved certification or refresher courses – update only – Policy was not addressed at the February Board meeting due to time constraints.  Greg asked training committee to review section one only, for clarity.  Group agrees section is clear.  Greg will present at Board meeting.

·       Need for Refresher Course: E-mail provided 8 replies with 9 interested in a course.  Greg asked committee to poll services for interest.  Jeff asked for minimum number to hold a course, Greg replied 15-16.  Greg plans to advertise to other districts as well.  Some new IC’s have expressed interest in coordinating the course.  Pat has also suggested incorporating refresher curriculum into the EMT-B course.  Ted – certain topics are difficult to obtain; what efforts have been made to videotape training sessions?  Greg replies Mike O’Keefe recently stated that unsupervised video training is no longer an option for CE credit.  Videotape can be used as part of a group training session.  Greg asked for any interest in taping sessions.  Ted suggested two names from Richmond.  Lolita asked for clarification on the unsupervised training.  Ted suggested incorporating midwives into the upcoming OB/Gyn training.  Greg reminds the committee that the NHTSA homepage (available through the District page) contains the curriculum for the EMT and Refresher courses plus a lot more info.  Lolita confirms the refresher course is 24 hours long.  Greg adds the course is not required for recert, CE credits can be used as well.  Refresher course is required for lapsed certification, or failure of a written or practical exam three times.

·       First Responder/ECA Instruction – report from subcommittee (Bill): First draft policy for first responder (FR) courses distributed (graduates of first responder course will be called ECAs).  Committee addressed a couple of concerns – 1st, the committee wished to have ECAs progress/move toward EMT certification, this policy sets the tone for this.  2nd, past ECA courses have been lacking consistency, ICs are to be used to correct this issue.  First Responder course is an additional stepping stone toward EMT, it may not be useful for all.  Debbie encourages services to join forces to present courses, hopes ICs will do this as well.  Tara clarifies – a new squad member can either enter EMT-B course or take FR course with modules, following squad policy so members do not stagnate at one skill level.  Howie – this course will be a benefit for fire departments, it will allow the majority to be trained to a minimal recognized level and allow those who wish to continue on to EMT-B through the modules.  Pat suggests adding a section on course evaluations to the policy.  Bill replies it was not added because such requirement is in another district policy, wanted to avoid redundancy.  Pat suggests adding a bullet under beliefs to the effect that this training is to be used as designed, to expand training of other emergency service agencies e.g. PD, FD, lifeguards, park rangers, and not as a recruitment tool.  Ted asks if the current ECAs will change? Not as long as they continue to maintain CE and recertify.  Old curriculum ECAs cannot transition to EMT-B without first taking FR course then modules.  Pat thinks that a current ECA who decides to enter the new FR track gives up the ability to practice current skills until covered in a module.  He adds that District #1 is not approving FR courses without having modules 1 & 2 tied into curriculum.  Greg – Do we want to offer first responder courses??  Yes, from committee.  Then we need to establish a policy to hold courses before the modules are established.  Bill is afraid to tie modules into requirement, thinks people may stop at that level of training.  Greg believes the modules need to be given in some sort of sequence, reminds the committee to consider the long-term impact of this course.  Short discussion on EMT versus ECA as entry level position for EMS responders.  Suggestion for EMT-B to remain as entry level, a nationally recognized standard.  Greg suggests sending a letter from the district to those interested in FR training explaining the districts position and what would be best for each responder – PD, FD, EMS, etc.  Bring issue back to services and discuss viability of project, what would be best for District?  Bill suggests next step be a pilot course including field revisions.  Debbie asks for short synopsis of each module.  Bill will put together sheet for next meeting. Greg reminds all, the full course can be found on the NHTSA home page. Comments on policy can be directed to Bill.

New Business:

·       None

Motion to adjourn by Howie, second by Ted.  Meeting adjourned at 1933 hours.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Laskarzewski, clerk

NOTE:  Next month is the annual meeting – election of officers.

NOTE: Case review – Mar 21st, Cardiac issues, Dr. Weimersheimer.  

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Last updated: March 21, 2000