Western Mass Emergency
Medical Services Committee, Inc.
Meeting:
Communications Committee
Date: October 11, 2001
Place: McCallum Building Living Room, CDH,
Northampton
Presiding: Brian Andrews, Chairperson
Called
to Order: 8:40 am
Adjourned: 9:56 am
Attendance:
Present
– Rick
Anderson, Brian Andrews, Anthony Cerini, Tom Coulombe, Bernard Forgea, Dave
Hansen, Dan Harrington, Jim Kupernik, Guy Manners, and Mike Zlogar.
Minutes: A motion was made to accept minutes as written. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
Action
– None.
Follow-Up
on Surveys:
Discussion –
There
are still ambulance surveys that the WMEMS office has not received. Mr. Andrews
will get the list from Mr. Cote and call them all.
Action – Mr. Andrews to get list
of unreturned surveys from Mr. Cote and call them.
Inventory
of Returned Surveys:
Discussion –
Mr.
Cote compiled this information and copies were circulated amongst the group.
There was a great deal of discussion about what this inventory of services
should contain. Mr. Andrews feels that this resource manual should not only be
for communications, but could also be a resource guide. As the result of Sept. 11, numerous
organizations were calling around and finding out what equipment each service
had. Mr. Andrews feels that this should
be information that everyone already has. Mr. Zlogar responded that this manual
should include inventories, but also contact information, a personnel list,
etc., and this type of manual would be good in the event of an MCI. Mr. Andrews
feels that once completed, copies of this resource manual should be sent to
MEMA, DPH, DFS, and DPS so our resources are known.
A
question was brought up regarding how this information would be maintained. A
suggestion was made that once a year or so, the WMEMS office could fax a
database printout with a place saying “is information correct?” and a checkbox,
or “make changes” and change the items.
Mr. Andrews also stated that it could be possible for each service to
access this information online and they could change information as necessary.
Mr. Coulombe informed the group that in Hampshire County, the service
information is on a disk and the services take the disk, make changes, then
send them back. Mr. Zlogar asked where
the MCI committee was, and Mr. Andrews stated that this book would be a
resource that the MCI committee could use but it would not cross over from a
communications project to an MCI project.
He is reluctant to begin a project and then hand it off to another
organization. Mr. Manners suggested that by using this template, response
groups could be organized by counties in the event of an emergency. Mr. Zlogar
also suggested that perhaps the WMEMS office could be the main office if
immobilization is necessary, eliminating the numerous phone calls from
different agencies which can get very confusing. Mr. Coulombe added that if
this resource manual is getting very broad, perhaps we could look to the county
committees to assist with this. Mr.
Zlogar responded that once we get a template created then the counties could
take over.
After
lengthy discussion it was decided to add the following information to the
database:
1)
PL/DPL
of radios for services
2)
Simplex/repeater
status, in/out freq. for repeaters
3)
Cell
phone numbers for ambulances if applicable
4)
Number
of portable radios available from each service
5)
Contact
people/chain of command for aid requests (service director, next in command,
etc.)
6)
Vehicle
numbers per service and level
7)
Specialized
equipment resources available for each service
8)
Designated
MCI channel if units responding to a service area give aid
9)
Revision
Date
As
a side note, Mr. Forgea informed the group that Ms. Moriarty has been asked to
serve on the state EMAC committee. Also, Mr. Cerini mentioned that with dealing
with many individual services and in the event of an MCI, perhaps we should
have a designated MCI channel that any services that are immobilized would use.
All present agreed that this was a good idea.
Action – Mr. Andrews to speak with Mr. Cote
regarding adding new information.
(As of 10/30/01, Mr. Cote has spoken with
Mr. Andrews regarding these additional
fields for
information, and he is currently working on this: LH)
Diversion
Website:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews reports that this site will be operational as of November 1, 2001. DPH
will send out passwords to services shortly. Also, someone will need to be
appointed in each service to track diversions. Mr. Andrews is going to be in
touch with OEMS in regards to some of the technical issues. He would like some
clarification of some items and would also like the regulations more clearly
defined.
Mr.
Zlogar is concerned because there is often a great deal going on at their
service and he is not sure how they will maintain this constantly. This is one
of the reason why Mr. Andrews is going to check in with OEMS, because he wants
to know what we are required to do by regulation.
Action – Mr. Andrews to contact
OEMS/DPH in regards to the diversion website.
Hampden
East Project:
Discussion –
According to Mr. Cote, Bruce Marcus has the
frequency coordination under way. He is
in the process of obtaining the proper licensing for the transmitters. We should
be getting the final contract from the National Grid soon. Mr. Andrews has not heard from Wing Hospital
in regards to taking over their antenna.
Mr.
Cerini reports that he has documents from Wing Hospital in regards to their
application process with Wing. It appears that they did an application for 340,
but he has not found a license that was issued from the FCC. It appears to him
that they have a tower, but no license for it.
Mr. Coulombe asked if there was a completion date set, and Mr. Andrews
reported that Mr. Marcus has said that the project will be complete “before
snow flies”. Mr. Coulombe has spoken to Mary Lane Hospital and they have said
they will do what they can to help with the project. He feels that Mr. Cote
should speak with Mary Lane about this.
Action – Mr. Andrews to have Mr. Cote contact
Mary Lane Hospital in regards to this project.
Shelburne
Mountain:
Discussion –
There
was a meeting held on Sept. 18, 2001 in regards to the communication problem on
Shelburne Mountain. According to Mr. Manners report: “Lt. Pinkham indicated
that since BHS dispatch was being moved away from FMC facilities and would
therefore have no access to control the equipment on the remote mountain sites,
the continued maintenance of this “old” equipment was no longer appropriate.
Discussion followed regarding the necessity of continuing to support the link
to the hospital and maintaining the “HEAR” radio so that incoming ambulances,
both local and those coming in from other areas, would have appropriate contact
with Medical Control physicians as required. Although currently the 155.385
Mhz. frequency is being used as a substitute, the range is not as effective
from the hospital location as the unit on Shelburne Mountain provides due to
the elevation difference in the two units. This is especially true in the areas
West of Greenfield where the terrain is much more challenging to radio signals.
One
suggestion was made to put the “HEAR” radio unit into the State Police
building. This was rejected due to various problems including access by outside
radio maintenance personnel to the secure SP building. After considerable
discussion on the subject, Lt. Pinkham made a tentative offer to replace the
original 18 Ghz. Microwave link to the hospital with a much simpler 900 Mhz.
Link to accommodate the “HEAR” radio system. This would be based upon finding
suitable components for that system “in house” from components already in the
possession of MSP. Mr. Litskosky indicated that he felt that he could locate
the necessary parts.
Other
discussion was related to the condition of the building on Shelburne Mountain
and the need for a proper grounding system for that building.
A
site visit is being planned for the three mountain sites to evaluate County
equipment.”
Action – Mr. Manners to update us
at next meeting.
Communications
Newsletter:
Discussion –
Mr.
Coulombe asked if the group had recalled making the decision at a prior meeting
about mailing out a newletter to all first responder agencies. He feels that
this is something that really needs to be implemented to let all of the
services know what the group is about and the progress that they are making.
Mr. Andrews asked the group for their opinion on a mailing and it was seen as a
very good start to get more people interested in their committee. Mr. Manners felt that it should be sent to
all first responder agencies and also include an invitation to get in touch
with any of the communications committee members if they have any issues that
need to be worked out in their areas.
Action – Mr. Andrews to speak
with the WMEMS office about distributing a newsletter.
Project
in Becket:
Mr.
Andrews reported to the committee that Mr. Kupernik has been working on a
project in Becket and surrounding towns. He has a letter from a cell phone
company to the town that states that they are willing to give Becket free space
on their tower. Although this agreement isn’t a done deal as there are appeals
processes that have to run, Mr. Andrews would like permission to work with Mr.
Cote in drafting a letter to OEMS looking for some funding for this project.
All agreed that Mr. Andrews could work with Mr. Cote on this, but Mr. Coulombe
warned them that they thoroughly check out all of the “free” items, because he had
received a similar letter from Spint and there were fees attached.
As
a side note, Mr. Zlogar thought that Mr. Cote was working on some type of map
to define the communication problems in Region 1. He would like to see this map
completed and include links between hospitals, ambulance services, cell phones,
and radios. Mr. Zlogar feels that we need to look at this type of map before
the committee starts jumping into different projects.
Action – Mr. Andrews to speak
with Mr. Cote regarding writing a letter requesting funding for
Becket project.
Job
Description and Radio for Mr. Cote:
Discussion –
Mr.
Coulombe asked if the subject of a radio was still on hold. Mr. Andrews
reported that this is still on hold pending a look at Mr. Cotes job description
on the Executive level to determine if a radio would be necessary.
Action – Radio for Mr. Cote on
hold pending review of his job description.
Next
Meeting:
Discussion –
A
motion was made to move the next meeting to November 8, 2001, instead of
November 1, due to conflicts for some members. This motion was approved, and
the next meeting will be on November 8, 2001 at 8:30 a.m. in the McCallum
Living Room.
Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn at 9:56 am. This motion was seconded
and approved unanimously.
Lisa
Herringshaw, Secretary, Recorder