Western Mass Emergency
Medical Services Committee, Inc.
Meeting:
Communications Committee
Date: December 6, 2001
Place: McCallum Building Living Room, CDH,
Northampton
Presiding: Brian Andrews, Chairperson
Called
to Order: 8:35 am
Adjourned: 10:27 am
Attendance:
Present
Brian
Andrews, Anthony Cerini, Jim Controvitch, Stephen Cote, Bernard Forgea, Charles
Garrity, Dan Harrington, and Jim Kupernik
Minutes: A motion was made to accept minutes as written. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
Action
None.
Follow-Up
on Surveys:
Discussion
Mr.
Cote reports that the WMEMS office has not received any of the outstanding
surveys. Mr. Cote compiled the list and
distributed it to Mr. Andrews to follow up with phone calls.
Action Mr. Andrews to contact
services with unreturned surveys.
Update
of Fields For Resource Manual:
Discussion
Mr.
Cote agrees with the list of fields to be added, but feels that the resource
manual has turned into a MCI/Disaster Relief manual, which will make this a
much bigger project. Mr. Cote feels
that we have some of this information already but much of it is outdated. Also,
some of this information will be difficult to obtain as some of the services
dont know the answers.
After
a great deal of discussion some of the highlights were the method to regularly
update this manual, sources of funding for staff to maintain this manual, and
what organizations this manual will be distributed to.
Action Mr. Cote to check into different sources
of funding for this type of project and report
back to the committee in January.
Diversion
Website Clarification:
Discussion
Mr.
Andrews reports that the DPH State Website is up and running. Mr. Cote reports
that he has the passwords from all of the communication centers in Region 1.
Mr. Cote also reports that Berkshire County Dispatch and Shelburne Control are
ready to participate in this site.
Northampton Control is awaiting the delivery of equipment and they will
be ready. Mr. Controvitch reports that
there are issues with Springfield CMED and until they see some money from DPH
to assist with this project they are not going to implement this website.
Mr.
Forgea expressed discontent as he feels that this was the main issue to begin
with when DPH came up with the idea of this website. Mr. Andrews responded that this site is mandated for ambulance
services and feels that if the CMEDS can monitor diversion it would take the
stress off of the services. With Springfield CMED not participating, this will
again put the pressure on the services.
After
lengthy discussion a motion was made that Mr. Andrews write a letter to OEMS
regarding funding assistance for this project. This motion was seconded and
approved unanimously. Also, there have been some problems with all of the
services (Becket) being notified of diversions if they are going to a hospital
in a different county. Mr. Controvitch is going to get the correct phone
numbers to Mr. Cote so he can be sure that all services are notified by CMEDs.
Finally, it was agreed that for the time being all services should ask their
respective CMEDs/Dispatch Agencies if the hospital they would like to transport
to is on diversion.
Action Mr. Andrews to draft a
letter to DPH regarding funding for diversion website project.
Mr. Controvitch to get Mr. Cote the proper phone numbers so he
can notify CMEDs of
the services that go to each hospital .
Hampden
East Project:
Discussion
According
to Mr. Cote, Bruce Marcus is having difficulty getting through to the National
Grid.
Also,
Mr. Cote reports that we cannot agree with the proposed combiner therefore, Mr.
Marcus is going to send a registered letter to National Grid to see if that
will get a response. Mr. Andrews is
concerned because currently the weather is very good to get this project
underway and doesnt know how long we will be able to maintain the funding for
this project. Mr. Andrews feels that we
need to
send
a registered letter to National Grid to find out why we are not moving ahead
with this project. A motion was made for Mr. Cote to send a letter to Mr.
Marcus and National Grid.
Action Mr. Cote to send letters to Mr. Marcus and
National Grid.
Shelburne
Mountain:
Discussion
Mr.
Manners sent an e-mail reporting that the Microwave link is operable. There are
still some questions about costs and where some of the equipment is. It is
believed that once this equipment is repaired the system should be fine.
Mr.
Garrity reports that there are bigger problems: there are a few 340 radios on a
couple of towers in Western Mass. but unfortunately none of these have been
on-line since July. He feels that instead of using a quick fix all of these
radios should be fixed. Mr. Cote made the suggestion that the WMEMS
Communications Committee take over control of these radios and repair
them. Mr. Andrews felt that they should
hold off on this and investigate the situation more closely. Mr. Harrington
feels that Franklin County should be contacted to see where they stand on this
issue. Also, they need to find out who actually owns them and/or is responsible
for them. Mr. Andrews agreed to talk to Mr. Dana Johnson to see what
information he can find out. Also, Mr.
Andrews asked the committee if they felt that writing a letter to the Franklin
County EMT Association would be beneficial in obtaining information? It was
agreed that he would do this.
Action Mr. Andrews to speak
with Mr. Johnson and draft a letter to the Franklin County
EMT Association.
Communications
Committee Newsletter:
Discussion
Mr.
Andrews reports that he is currently working on this project.
Action Mr. Andrews to update
committee on this project at the January meeting.
Letter
to OEMS re: Becket Project:
Discussion
Due
to an error on Ms. Herringshaws part, she stated in the October minutes that
Mr. Andrews was going to draft a letter to OEMS regarding the Becket Project.
After discussion at this meeting (December) it was agreed that a letter was not
going to be drafted, but long range plans were going to be made in regards to
this project.
Action None.
Springfield
CMED Procedure Book:
Discussion
Mr.
Andrews reviewed the draft of the Springfield CMED Book that Mr. Cote compiled.
Mr. Andrews feels that the final draft needs to be speeded up some. He also feels that we need to add to this so
it will be a good solid project that can be presented to the Regional
Council. Mr. Controvitch informed the
committee that the copy that Mr. Cote was looking at was revised in 1997, and
there was a new one revised in 2001. Mr. Controvitch will make an update again
of this document/resource list and then bring a copy back to the committee. He has agreed to have this completed in the
next two months.
Action Mr. Controvitch to get
an updated copy of the Springfield CMED Procedure Book to
Mr. Cote and the
Communications Committee.
Public
Safety Wireless Network:
Mr.
Cote asked for input regarding the organization of a presentation by the Public
Safety Wireless Network. Mr. Cote reports that this group was created after the
Oklahoma City Bombing with the intent to assist/facilitate with
communications. This group has offered
to come out and conduct a in Western Mass. in February. He would like to go
ahead and pursue this endeavor in hopes to generate new excitement in among the
Communications Committee. Mr. Andrews asked what this event would cost and Mr.
Cote stated that the committee would have to pay for conference space, meals if
we held an all day program, and pay for the group members to get here. Mr.
Forgea asked if Mr. Cote had an exact figure and Mr. Cote responded No. Members
of the committee would like more information about this group and where they
have held presentations and the exact cost before they make a recommendation to
hold such an event. This was tabled until next month for facts and figures. The organization has a website at
www.pswn.gov.
Action Mr. Cote to get a sample
list of places where presentations were held and some
specific costs for
this event. Information to be presented
at the January meeting.
WMEMS
MCI Meeting:
Discussion
These
meetings will be held one Wednesday every month with the next meeting on
December 19 at 6:00 p.m. at CDH.
Action Contact the WMEMS office
for additional dates.
Next
Meeting:
Discussion
The
next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 3, 2002, at 8:45 a.m. (please
note the change in time).
Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn at 10:27 am. This motion was
seconded and approved unanimously.
Lisa
Herringshaw, Secretary, Recorder