Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Advisory Council Meeting Minutes

Subject / Council Meeting / Date / January 28, 2016
Facilitator / Danny West / Time / 12 N
Location / Trinity Baptist Church, Calhoun, GA / Scribe / David Loftin
Attendees / Present: Tommy Sanders; Troy Holder; Kevin Garren; Brandon Duncan; Lana Duff; Scott Radeker; David Young; Larry Simpson; Danny West; Randy Pierson; Dennis Kelly; Alex Case; Darrell Payne; Robert Graham; Dan Sweitzer; Joseph Gleason; Scott Stephens; Cathy Green; Bud Owens; Courtney Taylor; Carlton Firestone; Brian Walker; Doug Douthitt; Kevin New; Mark Nettke; Beth Feininger; Sloan Elrod; Greg Hughes; Scott Lewis; Edward O’Brien; Claude Craig; Jamie Youngblood; Teri Graham; Jennifer King
Absent: Jim Cutcher; Kevin Ballew; Randy Lacy; Will Pitt (excused absence)
Staff / Dr. Julio Lairet, R1 EMS Medical Director; David Foster, R1 OEMST PD; David Loftin Recording Secretary,
Absent: No one

Key Points Discussed

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Topic

/ Highlights

1. Status of Council

/ David Foster reported that a quorum was present after the roll call was performed.

2. Call to Order

The chair Lana Duff called the meeting to order with a quorum present

3. Council Membership

New members were recognized – Brandon Duncan; Randy Pierson; Joseph Gleason; Doug Douthitt; Greg Hughes; Jamie Youngblood; Teri Graham; Jennifer King. David Foster announced an election of Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and two at-large positions. One nomination was received for Chairperson – Danny West; one nomination was received for Vice-Chairperson – Carlton Firestone and no nominations were received from the floor for either of these positions. Two nominations were received for the two at-large positions – Troy Holder and Tommy Sanders and one nomination was received from the floor – Jaina Carnes. Ballots were distributed containing all the above positions and names to be counted by the nominating committee – Kevin New, Randy Pierson and Brandon Duncan. The votes received were as follows: Chairperson – Danny West; Vice-Chairperson – Carlton Firestone; at-large positions – Troy Holder and Tommy Sanders. Lana Duff was recognized for her service as Chairperson for 2014-2015 and the gavel was passed to the new Chairperson – Danny West.

4. Minutes Approval

/ A motion was made by Dan Sweitzer, seconded by David Young to approve the minutes of the October 22, 2015 meeting. The minutes were approved as circulated.

Recognitions

/ David Loftin recognized Curtis Vincent and Jeremy Wallin with proclamations. Mr. Vincent and the family of Jeremy Wallin [Wanda Wallin (mother) and Brenda Wallin (aunt)] were present.

Vulnerable Populations Transportation Report

/ Dick Stokes, GEMA Logistics Agent gave the report. Mr. Stokes job is to obtain necessary resources in a disaster situation such as ambulances. He explained that it is necessary for GEMA to contract with ambulance services to provide this resource. This contract does not mean that services must always respond when summoned if their resources are needed for local coverage. He explained that this process came from FEMA plans for Coastal evacuation of Georgia residents during hurricanes. Vulnerable populations must be evacuated by coaches, paratransit vehicles or ambulances depending on their needs. The vulnerable populations are divided into two groups – home bound or those from healthcare facilities. The evacuation will be a blended curbside method (vehicles are dispatched according to the patient’s needs of patients from long-term healthcare facilities, county staging areas and later hospitals will be added to the plan). This plan will be coordinated at the Georgia State Operations Center in Atlanta by Metro Atlanta Ambulance Service by contract with GEMA. The participating agencies (coaches, paratransit and ambulance services) will have be contracted in order to participate. This contract will involve transporting patients immediately and not waiting in staging areas (just-in-time process). This evacuation of vulnerable populations will occur about 2 days before the evacuation of the general population. These responses are based on individual county requests not a state-wide response. The plan is destination driven where the destination is known by the responding services and is tracked by a WebEOC internet based program. The LTCF program includes Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), Public Health and GEMA programs. The CSA programs involve the Public Health, County and GEMA versions. Each county is individually responsible for delivery of patients to a staging area as outlined in each county plan. The long-term facilities must also be contracted which outlines the process for requesting transportation through the local Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This transportation is not free and must be paid by the local facilities requesting transportation. The destination of the patient must be determined by the requesting facility. This plan is not limited to the Georgia coastal area but may be used anywhere in the state or even in adjourning states requesting assistance from Georgia such as Tennessee. Metro Atlanta Ambulance Service will determine the type of transporting vehicle depending on the patient’s needs. Advantages of signing contracts are that reimbursement rates are set, pre-approval by local officials and how the different participating agencies communicate. The process of contracting is to first complete an initiation form, outline vehicle availability, attach the individual service business license and state license. This form will be available from David Foster upon request. After the form is submitted a GEMA contract must be signed and then a copy of the signed contract will be forwarded to the service and to David Foster. Carlton Firestone asked about the rates of reimbursement for this program. Mr. Stokes stated that the rates will be the same as FEMA.

EMSAC Report

/ David Foster reported that Bud Owens has not report since no EMSAC meeting has occurred since the last council meeting. The next EMSAC meeting will be on February 16, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.

EMS Subcommittee on Trauma Report

/ The report was given by Randy Pierson. He reported on the last meeting of the EMS Subcommittee on Trauma. The main topic of discussion was the budget for EMS from the Trauma Commission especially the remaining funds from the equipment grants to EMS for 2014-2015 since money has been diverted to other programs in the 2016 budget. EMS Region 1 has $290,000 left in these budgets. Mr. Pierson asked EMS Services to immediately report any Automatic Vehicle Locator Systems (AVLS) which are not in operation since phone airtime is currently being paid on all of these devices. Mr. Pierson and Mr. Foster gave a progress report on the Trauma Commission grants for the DART program and Education program. Mr. Pierson reported that the grant requires four deliverables: 1. Four PHTLS courses (7 have been taught and one more planned) 2. Four EPC courses (3 have been taught and one more is planned) 3. 20 Instructors trained (16 have been trained and more are planned) 4. A PHTLS and EPC textbook library created (loaner library created) There is about $2000 left in the grant and it is proposed to be used to teach more courses, purchase more library books and purchase some additional training equipment. A new contract must be signed with the Trauma Commission to spend remaining funds.

501C3 Report

/ Randy Pierson gave the 501C3 report. He asked members of the 501C3 in attendance to meet after the council meeting to determine the next meeting date. He reported that the 501C3 will gain funds from administrative fees of the two Trauma Commission grants which can be used to teach free EMS courses and purchase additional loaner library textbooks.

Office of EMS and Region 1 Office Report

/ David Foster gave the Office of EMS and Region 1 Office report. He gave a report on his meeting with the Trauma Commission regarding the DART grant. He reported that the $24,890 GEMA grant funds have been spent. All but about $19,000 of the Trauma Commission funds has been spent. 198 persons have received DART training and the participating EMS services have received equipment and supplies as outlined in the grant. This has created 22 DART response vehicles with 110 people responding in the four DART Strike Team areas as follows: Area One - 5 vehicles, Area Two – 6 vehicles, Area Three – 6 vehicles and Area Four – 5 vehicles. David Foster met with Mr. Register of Georgia Search and Rescue area 6 and was given 6-12 slots in the next 40 hour GSAC medical specialist course to be held in Perry, Georgia. The course costs are normally $2500 per participant and will be waived for these 12 slots. He will identify potential candidates for attendance at this course from those who have received DART training. Mr. Foster also anticipates the potential for Tactical Training for those receiving DART training. The next DART course is planned for March 28 and March 31, 2016 at the Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services Training facility. The course will be open to the first 85 applicants to include hospital personnel and First Responder personnel. He anticipates that hospital personnel may be used in field medical stations at the scene. He stated that the Coastal Evacuation program and the DART program were initially planned to be merged but it was decided not to include the two programs together but separately. There was a discussion on the use of ten inch stickers to identify DART units instead of magnetic signs. Only Sloan Elrod and Robert Early had problems with this concept. David Foster stated that he would send a survey instrument to each DART service to officially get an opinion on the option and he would not use the sticker option if there was a single objection. Mr. Foster will be applying to use remaining funds to teach one additional DART course, purchase restocking supplies, additional DART bags for the Deputy Strike Team Commanders recently named and back up portable radios. Will Pitt and Lana Duff have been named to replace David Foster in his absence for DART responses. David Foster gave a report on the training activity in EMS Region 1 as follows: CY 2015 - He approved 224 continuing education courses with 46 rosters not submitted yet. CY 2016 – He has already approved 46 continuing education courses He compared CY2015 and CY2016 initial training courses approved MFR 7/6; EMT 15/6; AEMT ?/9 and PM 2/1. Mr. Foster explained the changes in the EMS personnel license expiration dates. All licenses will expire on March 31, 2017 instead of June 30, 2016. All EMS personnel will receive a new license prior to the license expiration date so that they may continue to work. The new license card expiration date will be March 31, 2019. There will also be a change in the license number which will be preceded by license type (E = EMT, I = Intermediate EMT, C = Cardiac Tech and P = Paramedic) and two zeros. [Example a paramedic with a present license number of 322 will change to P00322]. There will also be a change in the license period from 2 years to 4 years for licensed Medical First Responder Services. The service will be required to self-inspect during this period and mail the inspection to David Foster who may choose to do spot checks to insure that inspections are accurate. [David Foster has 51% of all licensed Medical First Responder agencies in the state of Georgia]. Mr. Foster also asked Floyd Medical Center EMS, Redmond Regional EMS and Gilmer County EMS to provide the VID numbers of all designated DART vehicles as soon as possible. Mr. Foster gave a brief description of a program in EMS Region 5 to train school personnel to render medical treatment for active shooter incidents which he desires to begin in EMS Region 1 through the EMS-C program. He reported that EMS Region 5 has trained 500 personnel in schools for 17 out of 23 counties and supplied them with jump bags. The program was funded by Trauma Commission grants.

EMAG Conference Report

/ Claude Craig gave the EMAG Conference report. He reported that links have been established for public health personnel, EMA personnel and hotel registration. He reported that 300 persons have already registered for the conference. A question was asked if Matthew Crumpton was still funding 1 person from each licensed EMS service. This was verified. Robert Early asked about “hot topics”. Mr. Craig stated that active shooter, bird flu and agro-terrorism would be included.

EMS Medical Director Report

/ Dr. Lairet gave the EMS Medical Director report. He reported on the legislation introduced in the United States Senate and House of Representatives to make changes in the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. House Resolution 4365 was introduced by Representative Hudson with 6 co-signers on January 12, 2016 and would make the following changes for EMS: 1. Permit EMS agencies to have a DEA number instead of using their medical director DEA number 2. Permit EMS agencies to have a single DEA number instead of one for each location where drugs are stored 3. Permit EMS agencies to have standing orders for controlled substances issued by their medical director 4. Update the procedures for receipt, movement and storage of controlled substances 5. Change the requirement of the completion of form 222 whenever controlled substances are moved. The same legislation was simultaneously introduced in the United State Senate to speed up the process of approval for the president’s signature. The legislation will have a 60 day open comment period soon.

Awards Banquet Report

/ Lana Duff gave the Awards Banquet report. The 2016 EMS Region 1 Awards Banquet will be held at the Forum in Rome, Georgia on March 10, 2016 beginning at 6:00 p.m. The sponsors are presently: Redmond Regional Medical Center and Southeastern Emergency Equipment – Platinum Sponsors; Erlanger Medical Center, LifeForce and Cartersville Medical Center – Silver Sponsors; Floyd Medical Center – Bronze Sponsor. There may be additional sponsors. The funds received at present are $14,000. David Foster outlined the Awards nomination process which has a deadline of 5:00 p.m. on January 30, 2016. Each agency or person submitting a nominee must establish a dropbox account and load the nominations in electronic format into the dropbox. Mr. Foster will forward all nominations to the judges for consideration. Mr. Foster asks personnel to assist in the clean-up of the Forum after to the ceremony. The next meeting of the Awards committee will be on February 1, 2016. Mr. Foster is planning to have the 2017 Awards Banquet at the Colonade in Catoosa County. Jennifer King volunteered to provide media coverage and press releases.

EMS-C Report

/ Scott Stephens gave the EMS-C report. Two courses are planned for the future in Dalton and a special needs transport class (requires Child Passenger Safety Technician certification)

RTAC Report

/ Dr. Lariet gave the RTAC report. Dr. Lariet has formed subcommittees and assigned tasks related to a plan of action. The main topic is what data is needed and how to obtain the data to evaluate the program. The trauma centers inside and outside of the region will play a major role in supplying data. Law Enforcement agencies have also been identified as a source of data to identify causes of accidents in order to target prevention programs.

Old Business

/ Danny West reminded EMS Services about the deadline tomorrow for reporting to the Georgia EMS Equipment grant.

New Business

/ Danny West discussed the issue of requiring a class F license to drive ambulances in Georgia. There has been no resolution of this question and therefore Cherokee County Fire and EMS is currently requiring the class F licenses. The class F license procedure requires passing a written exam and experience driving trucks. If this experience requirement is not met then a learners permit will be issued for 3 months/3,000 miles.
19 / Adjourn / David Young made a motion to adjourn which was seconded by Tommy Sanders. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned.

Action Plan

No.

Action Item(s)

/ Owner / Target Date

Sign request for contract for Vulnerable Population Transport Program

All DART Services

Set date for next 501C3 meeting

501C3 members

Date set

10 inch DART sticker survey

David Foster

Create Active Shooter medical care training program

EMS-C members

Interested parties

Submit Award nominations

Interested parties

1/30/16

Submit for Georgia Equipment Grant

Interested parties

1/30/16

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