Western Mass Emergency
Medical Services Committee, Inc.
Meeting:
Executive
Committee
Date: April
4, 2002
Place: McCallum
Building Living Room, CDH, Northampton
Presiding: Robert
Hopkins
Called
to Order: 10:23 a.m.
Adjourned: 11:23 a.m.
Attendance:
Present
- Brian
Andrews, Dr. Conway, Dan Harrington, Robert Hopkins, Linda Moriarty, and Jeff
Rawson
Present
by Proxy –
Mary Cushman and Dana Johnson
Absent
– Dave
Keefe and Steve Manchino
Conflict of Interest Statement: The president opened the meeting with a conflict of interest statement. No one present had any conflicts to divulge for any items on the agenda.
Minutes: A motion was made to accept minutes as written. This was seconded and approved unanimously.
WMEMS
Job Descriptions:
Discussion –
Mr. Andrews reports that Ms. Josefski has worked hard on making revisions for all job descriptions. As a group, Mr. Andrews feels that the Executive Committee needs to decide whether employees will be exempt or non-exempt. After discussion it was agreed that Ms. Moriarty be an exempt employee, while the others should be non-exempt. Also discussed was the issue of overtime paid for hours over 40 the use of flex time. Mr. Harrington asked what had been used in the past in the office. Ms. Moriarty reported that these issues hadn’t been addressed before. Mr. Harrington was curious if all of this really needed to be formalized as the office was running smoothly. Ms. Moriarty feels that it does, as the committee needs to clarify how to utilize flex time in the event of working over 40 hours per week. With utilizing flex time: the committee feels that there needs to be documentation to back up any flex time utilized. It was also stated that the flex time be used the same week it is obtained. Mr. Hopkins asked Ms. Moriarty if she felt that this was going to be restrictive to the office. Ms. Moriarty didn’t feel that this would be any problem. Dr. Conway asked how other Regional Offices deal with this and Ms. Josefski reported that Region 4 uses flex time. After lengthy discussion, it was agreed that a mix of utilizing both flex time and overtime would be beneficial for the office. Ms. Moriarty will check with OEMS to find out if we can get reimbursed for our overtime.
In regards to the Job Descriptions, a motion was made to accept the Executive Directors Job Description. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously with one abstention, Ms. Moriarty. A motion was made to accept the Administrative Assistant Job Description. After discussion, it was agreed that this would be listed as non-exempt and a change would be made to note that the Administrative Assistant would supervise the Clerk Receptionist. Noting these changes, this motion was seconded and approved unanimously. A motion was made to accept the Assistant Directors Job Description. After discussion it was agreed that this position would be non-exempt and the Assistant Director would also supervise others as deemed appropriate by Executive Director. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously. After reviewing the draft for the Communication/Public Education Job Description the following suggestions were made: after discussion it was agreed that this position would also be non-exempt and would supervise personnel as deemed appropriate by the Executive Director. Ms. Josefski will modify this Job Description and return with it next month.
Action – Ms. Josefski to modify
job descriptions and bring final copies to next months meeting.
WMEMS
Personnel Policies:
Discussion –
In regards to the Sexual Harassment Policy, Ms. Josefski has made the changes requested from last month and this is now finalized. A motion was made to accept the policy. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
Regarding the other Personnel Policies, Mr. Andrews reports that he and Ms. Cushman are going to meet prior to the meeting next month. This issue tabled until May.
Action – Mr. Andrews and Ms. Cushman to meet and
develop Personnel Policies.
Annual
Meeting Guest Speaker:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews reports that acting Governor Swift will not be our guest speaker. He
has been in touch with Mr. Nuciforo and he has agreed to be our guest speaker.
Mr.
Hopkins asked Ms. Moriarty how many people were going to attend, and she
informed the group that approximately 45 people have signed up.
Action – Mr. Andrews to continue
to follow-up with Mr. Nuciforo.
SATURN
Team:
Discussion –
Ms.
Moriarty reports that she has spoken with DPH/OEMS regarding this team. Mr.
Jajuga reported that EMS was not included in this team. Ms. Moriarty reported that CDC/DOJ was going
to have funding coming down. Mr. Andrews feels that any money that is coming
down should be pooled so that it can go farther. Ms. Moriarty reported that she
has been advised that some of this money is going to go towards portable
Decontamination Trailers that would go to hospitals. Dr. Conway had also heard
this, and feels that permanent built-in units should be put in at the hospitals.
He feels that there could be significant delay to bring the units from other
hospitals. Ms. Moriarty responded that these decon. units are made well, fairly
inexpensive, and there isn’t a great deal of training that is involved in their
use. They will be really easy to move from site to site as needed. Mr. Hopkins
asked Ms. Moriarty if the committee is going to need to do any grant writing to
obtain this money. Ms. Moriarty stated that she is not aware of any. She feels
that this will be the responsibility of DPH.
Action – None.
Regional
Council Room Change:
Discussion –
Ms.
Josefski informed the committee that the Dakin Conference Room is going to be
renovated in the near future. Ms. Josefski asked the committee if the office
should begin to book the McCallum Building Living Room for the upcoming
Regional Council meetings. All agreed
to change the meeting site to the Living Room. Ms. Josefski asked Dr. Conway if
we should also move Physicians Council meetings to McCallum as well. Dr. Conway
thought that this would be a good idea.
Action – Ms. Josefski to change the meeting
locations.
Diversion
Concerns:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews would like to request that Ms. Moriarty visit Mary Lane Hospital to
educate them on diversion. Apparently, there have been instances with the
hospital going on “Total Diversion’ and not taking any patients; when in
reality certain conditions warrant the closest hospital. Dr. Conway expressed concern that there isn’t
anything in the diversion website program that automatically takes the hospital
off of diversion status once they have reached their maximum time. Mr. Andrews
has suggested to OEMS that they implement this type of device, as this error of
not taking a hospital off can make diversion statistics false. Mr. Cote will talk to the four CMED’s again
to be sure that they are not forgetting to take hospitals off.
Action – Ms. Moriarty to update committee on her
visit to Mary Lane Hospital.
Springfield
CMED’s Access to Diversion Website:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews has expressed extreme frustration that Springfield CMED does not have
internet access, therefore they are out of compliance with the requirement to
access the diversion website. Ms.
Moriarty is going to speak with the EMS commission regarding this. Mr. Andrews stated that they billed services
for numerous patches last year, therefore they have the money to invest in this
system. Mr. Hopkins asked if the committee should write a letter to the
Springfield EMS Commission. Mr. Cote
also added that because the CMED would be assisting hospitals with this
website, they should also split the fees. Mr. Andrews responded that in that
case, the ambulances should have to split.
Mr. Andrews made a motion that Ms. Moriarty ask the EMS Commission to
fund this project. Ms. Moriarty also agreed to present the EMS Commission with
the letter from Asst. Chief Piwcio asking that CMED hook up to this website.
This motion was seconded and approved unanimously, with Ms. Moriarty abstaining
from the vote.
Action – Ms. Moriarty meet with the EMS
Commission and update this committee at the next
meeting.
FYI:
Discussion –
Mr.
Harrington presented a copy of the Mass. State Trauma System Draft
Recommendations. If anyone is interested in seeing this draft, contact Mr.
Harrington.
Action – None.
Next
Meeting:
The next meeting will be held on May
2, 2002 at 10:00 am. in the McCallum Building Living Room.
Adjourn: At 11:23 a.m. a motion was made to adjourn the meeting. This
motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
Lisa
Herringshaw, Recorder