Western Mass Emergency
Medical Services Committee, Inc.
Meeting:
Communications Committee
Date: February 7, 2002
Place: McCallum Building Living Room, CDH,
Northampton
Presiding: Brian Andrews, Chairperson
Called
to Order: 8:50 am
Adjourned: 9:46 am
Attendance:
Present
– Brian
Andrews, Anthony Cerini, Dan Harrington, Jim Kupernik and Guy Manners
Excused – Steve Cote and Jeff
Rawson
Guests – Dawn Josefski
Minutes:
A motion was made to accept minutes as written. This motion
was seconded and approved unanimously.
Follow-Up
on Surveys:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews reported that they are still making contact with services that have not
returned the initial survey. The office has received a few recently and Mr.
Andrews will follow up with Mr. Cote.
Action – Continue to follow-up on
unreturned surveys.
Update
on Financial Assistance For Maintaining Resource Manual:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews reported that this was discussed at the Regional meeting and it was
felt that this resource book would most likely require more labor and time than
financial assistance. How detailed we can get with this will be determined by
how much labor will be involved. The office does have some information already
in different databases. At the last Regional Council meeting the MCI committee
reported that the Hampshire County LEPC in collaboration with UMASS is
currently developing a MCI emergency response software package. Mr. Andrews
will stay in touch with Mr. Dave Keefe as to the progress of that project and
how we could possibly integrate it with what we are trying to accomplish. In
the meantime we will continue to correlate the current data on communications.
There was a suggestion made that perhaps the individual County Presidents could
gather the information and bring it back to this committee.
Action – Continue to work on resource manual but
table any financial assistance request until a need arises.
Update
on Diversion Website:
Discussion –
There
has still been no written response from DPH or OEMS to the letter that was sent
in December. Mr. Cote did receive a phone call from DPH; they were trying to
determine what we were actually looking for. In the meantime we are working on
ways to meet the diversion website updating requirement. Mr. Controvitch is
concerned that DPH is mandating that CMEDs provide this website access and
updating without providing the required funding. Mr. Andrews explained to Mr. Controvitch that DPH is not
mandating that CMEDs monitor the website but rather that each ambulance service
has the capability to monitor the website for diversion status. In our region
the local services thought that having CMED monitor and update the website
would be most beneficial to all. After hearing that, Mr. Andrews stated that
Mr. Controvitch was more receptive to the idea. Mr. Andrews reported that AMR
is unable to provide any more than they are already doing. Mr. Cote has
researched the cost of providing Internet access from several ISPs and if the
State is not going to come forward with any assistance then we may have to look
at having the Regional office pay for the ISP. There is some concern that if we
offer to pay for a connection for Springfield then we should also offer to do
the same for the other agencies. Mr. Andrews is a little distressed about
having to do this especially in light of the fact that CMED takes in money from
its users but at this moment his main concern is that ambulance services are
able to comply with the regulation. Since last month and until this issue is
resolved, Springfield CMED is calling Berkshire County and they are logging the
diversions on the website. This will allow for accurate data to be logged and
statistics to be available to the state.
Action – Mr. Andrews to update committee if and
when he receives a response from DPH.
Update
of Hampden County Phone Numbers re: diversion:
Discussion –
Mr.
Cote has prepared several lists of phone numbers. There is a separate list for
each hospital that includes all the notifications that need to be made when
they go on diversion. Copies of the
lists were passed out to members. Mr. Andrews requested that members review and
submit any corrections, updates and additions to the office.
Action – Members to notify the office of changes
and Mr. Cote to incorporate them.
Hampden
East Project Update:
Discussion –
Since
the last meeting Mr. Andrews has had email correspondence with Mr. Cull from
the National Grid; they are aware that the combiner is not adequate for our
needs but the Grid needs a proposal in order to do anything about it. Mr.
Cerini talked with Mr. Marcus yesterday. The condensed version is this: the
initial proposal from the National Grid was for us to use a single antennae but
when the analysis is done on computer it appears that some frequencies are too
close and will cause interference. Mr. Marcus and Mr. Cerini have contacted
other combiner companies (TXRX and Sinclair) and they concur that using a
single antennae will produce interference. Mr. Marcus is now going to put on
paper a request to the National Grid that we be allowed to have one transmit
and two receive antennas. Mr. Cerini acknowledged that the concern of the Grid
is the wind/weight load. Another possibility is using the VHF antennae from
Wing’s radio that is already there (that we are going to assume) and when we
replace that antennae to do so with a base station antennae that has a UHF
transmit antennae on top and a VHF antennae on the bottom. Hopefully these two
suggestions will fix the problem. Mr. Andrews reiterated that the National Grid
must have proposals on paper and that Marcus Communications needs to do
that. A second issue that Mr. Cull
addressed with Mr. Andrews was the concern of National Grid that Mr. Marcus is
involved with two projects, one with us and another personal project. Mr.
Andrews relayed that Mr. Cull feels that we hired Marcus to do a project for
WMEMS and Mr. Marcus needs to keep the two projects separate when he is doing
business with the Grid.
Action: Mr. Marcus to get the revised antennae
proposal on paper and submit to the National Grid.
Revisions
to Wing Agreement:
Discussion-
Mr.
Andrews would like to table this issue until next meeting when Mr. Cote will be
present. Mr. Cerini did state that he had a conversation with the engineer from
Wing and in April of 2000 Wing should have renewed their license with the FCC
for Hovey Hill (155.240 and 155.280) and it appears the renewal was late and
therefore the FCC did not process the renewal and now there is no license for
the radio at Wing. Mr. Cerini suggested that the person responsible fro the
radio at Wing get in contact with the FCC. Mr. Manners reported that indeed the
FCC is not automatically renewing that are filed late. Mr. Manners also
informed the committee that the FCC is now sending out audit requests as part
of the re-farming. The purpose of this to determine which radio licenses are
actually working systems and in use, if they do not receive a response then the
FCC will assume they are not and will not issue a license.
Action – Wing Agreement to be put on agenda for
next month.
Update
on Shelburne Mountain:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews mailed a letter offering the assistance of the committee to Franklin
County EMS c/o Mr. Dana Johnson last month.
Mr. Manners reported that Franklin County Council of Governments has
hired Shaw Communications to evaluate and inventory the current system. They
have a current list of all the FCC licenses. All the dispatch frequency
licenses are okay but the 2 microwave links (Borden Mountain and the Shelburne
Mountain to FMC link) have expired. Mr. Manners accompanied Sue Shaw on several
site visits. They did discover that the State is using the microwave link on
Borden Mountain even though they said they weren’t. Mt. Grace was inaccessible
because the lock was changed on the gate as well as icy conditions. When they
visited Shelburne Mountain Ms. Shaw picked up the 340 radio to take back to the
office to work on. It appears that most of the radio is okay except there is no
transmit audio. Franklin County is hosting a meeting with their advisory
committee on February 13, 2002 to discuss the current system, status and
whether to authorize the repair of the microwave system on Shelburne Mountain.
Action – Mr. Manners to keep this
committee updated on their progress.
Update
on Springfield CMED Procedure Book:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews spoke with Mr. Controvitch and he relayed that our committee was not
going to dictate any changes to CMED operation unless it goes through the
Springfield EMS Commission. Mr. Controvitch doesn’t foresee any problem and is
continuing to work with Mr. Cote on refining the final issues in the CMED
Procedure Book.
Action – Mr. Controvitch and Mr. Cote to continue
working on a revised Springfield CMED Procedure Book.
Update
on the Public Safety Wireless Network:
Action – None
State
Communications Committee Report:
Discussion-
Mr.
Andrews gave a report from the meeting he attended last week in Lawrence. Ms.
Louise Goyette, from OEMS, and Mr. Brad Prenney, from DPH, were in attendance
at the meeting to allow for discussion on several issues.
A)
Project
to link EMS Communications from one end of the state to the other.
The following are some of the suggestions brought
forward at the meeting.
1.
Piggybacking
on the already existing State 800 system.
This was a suggestion from the committee but after
research and discussion it was decided that it was not feasible. The State
already has a lot of users on their system and they would probably not allow
for a link from one end of the state to the other. They did offer to put EMS in
2 or 3 talk groups and set up a patchwork across the state. The down side was
the $17.75/radio per month fee for every user in the talk group network. Mr.
Prenney felt that if there was going to be that much of an expense for a system
then maybe we should build our own system.
2.
Connect
the CMEDs via hard (telephone) lines with a remote system to establish some
communications while still working on the radio aspect.
3.
Proposal
to look at the NAWA (North American Warning Alert) system. This is a system
currently in place but dates back to the 1950’s and the cold war era. It is a
hard- wired system in different locations throughout the state. Lately MEMA has
been using it for notification purposes. The fire task force is also on this
system.
4.
The
final suggestion was to use satellite phones. This is also very pricey;
$60/month and weather can disrupt the signals.
So the committee is looking at a variety of
solutions and will continue to do so.
B) Hospital Diversion Website
There was some discussion that the website wasn’t
meeting the needs of the field provider. In some instances hospitals are not
taking themselves off diversion or they forget to change their status on the
website. Mr. Andrews spoke with Mr. Prenney and suggested that the company
build an automatic timer into the website so hospitals are automatically taken
off diversion after 4 hours. The other issue is that in some areas hospitals
are requesting to go on diversion and a contiguous hospital already is on
diversion so they are bypassing the website and calling the ambulance services
directly to announce they are on diversion. Ms. Goyette requested that
ambulance services please contact DPH if that occurs.
C)
Broadcast
Communicator
The state is still investigating the possibility of
using this method as a way of communicating information across the state. The
State owns and operates one in the State lab located in Boston but it is
underutilized. A suggestion was made to perhaps augment the diversion
notification by using the broadcast communicator in conjunction with the
website. DPH has been having conversations with the State lab regarding the
possible use of their system. The cost of this type of system is approximately
$60-70 thousand, which does not even include the cost of multiple phone lines
necessary for the operation.
D)
State
Communications Plan
There was a lengthy discussion in regarding the 1995
State Communications plan. Primarily, the plan is built around outdated
information. The Communications committee had suggested writing a draft RFP for
the state to hire a consultant to do a propagation study. Mr. Prenney stated he
would look at a draft document but could not promise any funding for a study due
to the current budget.
Contract
with Crown Communications (Becket):
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews supplied Mr. Kupernik with a draft contract to use. Mr. Kupernik is
approaching Crown Communications to see about putting a transmitter on their
cell phone tower.
Action – Mr. Kupernik to keep
committee updated on progress.
Mass
Turnpike Authority:
Discussion-
Mr. Cerini was wondering if this committee should approach the Turnpike Authority to see about putting a transmitter on their new tower being put up in Blandford? He thought that perhaps that would improve the communications from Springfield to Pittsfield. Mr. Andrews thought that there was already a tower in that vicinity that was being used, he will talk with his father and get back to the committee.
Action- Mr. Andrews to research
the current tower use in Blandford.
Berkshire
County EMS Coordinator:
Discussion-
Mr.
Kupernik brought forward the issue of the vacant county EMS coordinator. When
the county government was dissolved the position was eliminated but there still
is a need for someone to fulfill that role especially in larger events. Mr.
Andrews felt that it was the responsibility of the EMSCO president. Mr.
Kupernik wondered if Steve Cote would be a good person for that job? Mr.
Harrington stated that he didn’t think that Steve would be a good candidate for
a county coordinator; Steve would be better at EMS communications in large
regional events. Mr. Andrews stated that this is an issue to be brought up at
the county EMSCO meeting.
Action-None
Newsletter:
Mr.
Andrews reported that the newsletter was sent out and anyone with information
they would like to see in the next newsletter please contact him.
Next
Meeting:
The
next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 7, 2002, at 8:45 a.m. (please
note the change in time).
Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn at 9:46 am. This motion was seconded
and approved unanimously.
Dawn Josefski,
Recorder