The meeting was called to order at 1830 hours by Chair Greg Thweatt. 22 people were in attendance representing 5 District posts and 14 out of 24 services. Those in attendance were:

• Pat Malone EMT - B Coordinator
• Greg Thweatt EMT - I Coordinator, Training Committee Chair
• Dr. Peter Weimersheimer Medical Direction
• Tara Pacy District Board Chair
• Jim Laskarzewski Training Committee Clerk
• Kevin Williams (R) Burlington Fire Department
• Ray Walker (A) Charlotte Rescue
• Tara Pacy (R) Colchester Rescue
• Jason Pelletier (R) Colchester Rescue
• Hayes Mumma (R) Essex Rescue
• Gilbert Helmken (R) FAHC E.D. Nursing
• Kirsten Jaquith (R) FAHC, MHCIC
• Debbie Baron (R) Grand Isle Rescue
• Al Barber (A) Hinesburg Fire Department
• Pat Adams (A) Malletts Bay Fire Department
• Erin Golec (R) Richmond Rescue
• Jeff Curren (R) Shelburne Rescue
• Karen Poulin (R) Shelburne Rescue
• Maureen Leahy (A) So. Burlington Fire Department
• Heather Bramwell (A) St. Michael’s Rescue
• Kay Holland (R) UVM Rescue
• Steve Fleming (R) Vergennes Rescue
• Chris Sullivan (V) Charlotte Rescue

• Erin Golec introduced herself as the new training officer for Richmond rescue. She can be reached at PO Box 701, Richmond VT 05477, e_golec@hotmail.com
• Pat Adams introduced himself as the alternate for Mallets Bay Fire Department.

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

• Next meeting will be held on Oct 12, 2000 at 1830 hours at St. Michael’s College.
• FAHC Case Review: Sept 19, 1900 hrs
• MCI Drill reschedules for Oct 7 & 8
• Recert dates in October (19 & 26) Refresher exam for recerts. No recert testing in December. Choose from one of the two dates. Testing begins at 6 p.m. in Rowell includes written and practical. CE forms needed before test results will be processed by the State.
• 27 Sep, Legal issues with David Carter, 7p.m. at Grand Isle.
• Steve announced that Kristina Brace is the new training officer for Vergennes.
• Approved courses:
• EMT-B & EMT-I: first month complete.
• Refresher: Starting this month, approx 20 signed up.
• First responder: Course in Hinesburg starting this month.

First Responder/ ECA Instruction – Amendment to policy: Motion to accept amendment by Ray, second by Hayes. No discussion. Motion passed. Draft checklist distributed, hope to vote on next month. Resource packet currently under construction. Minor word changes suggested to checklist. Discussion then turned to number of classes candidate needed to assist with. Some felt 50% to be too much, some felt it too few. Course coordinator needs to be sure candidate can instruct before signing off on form. Possibility exists for someone who just became a coordinator to be signing off on new instructors. Curriculum design is a bit challenging to instruct, the more exposure a candidate has the better off they will be. Please review checklist and send additional comments to Greg.

Modules: What type of schedule will meet the students’ needs. The six modules range in time from 8 to 30 hours, together they are close to 100 hours of additional training needed over three years to transition from first responder to EMT. Firefighters have been asking for module rollout, what type of schedule will work for people (weekends, weeknights, rolling schedule, other options??????) One suggestion was for a pre-conference workshop to cover a module.

ECA – First Responder: What’s the difference? First responder course is 40 hours of instruction that allows one to sit for the ECA test. ECA is strictly a Vermont certification level. ECA is a licensed provider level on an ambulance. Currently there are two types of ECA, pre and post new curriculum adoption. Skill levels are very different. Once modules roll out there will be many more levels of ECA. How do we deal with/track up to 7 different levels of ECA? Can be very confusing. Any thoughts??? Grand Isle is pushing new members toward EMT to avoid the confusion. Some new ECAs are getting frustrated on ambulances because of the skill limits. How can District help services? Ray suggests we expedite the module rollout so ECAs can be trained in valuable skills. Hinesburg ECAs have been on numerous calls, doing exceptionally well, also feel module rollout to be important. Expect more fire departments to be taking First responder course. Medical direction was asked last month if first responders can be taught to take BPs, still no answer due to conflicting schedules. Tara recalls a similar question last year when RIT courses were being developed. Pat suggests a formal survey to determine need for modules, who will this most impact.