Western Mass Emergency
Medical Services Committee, Inc.
Meeting:
Regional Council
Date: May 9, 2002
Place: Dakin Conference Room, CDH
Presiding: Robert Hopkins, President
Called
to Order: 10:09 a.m.
Adjourned: 11:56 a.m.
Attendance:
Conflict of Interest Statement
Minutes: A motion was made to approve the minutes as distributed. This motion was seconded and approved unanimously.
Mohawk
Trail Regional High School Cadet EMT Program:
Discussion –
Mr.
Philip Lussier was in attendance to present the Mohawk Cadet EMT program to the
council. This program is modeled after
the Nashoba program in Bolton, Mass.
Mr. Lussier presented council members with a handout defining his
program for their review. Upon
reviewing the handout there were numerous questions regarding the program and
lengthy discussion ensued.
Some
of the councils concerns were: the emotional response for these teenagers if
they are involved in “bad” calls, child labor laws, some type of advisory board
to oversee this program, if the public has the knowledge that students may be
responding to their medical emergencies, the response vehicle to get students
to calls, if they are paired up with experienced EMTs, CISM training, the
students ability to maintain patient confidentiality, and the students ability
to be professional. Upon Mr. Lussier
addressing the above issues, Mr. Hopkins thanked Mr. Lussier for coming to
their meeting.
Mr.
Rawson made a motion that the council supports the concept of this type of
program. Ms. Hover seconded this. The motion was approved unanimously with 3
abstentions by Ms. Dyer (for herself, Dianne Field, and Dana Johnson).
Action – None.
Physicians
Council Report:
Discussion –
Ms.
Josefski reported that the council recommends the Ludlow Fire Department P/B
Waiver Renewal.
Also,
there will be a meeting June 14th of the Medical Control Task Force
stakeholders group to review the draft “Standards for Medical Direction and
Oversight”. Finally, the Region One
Point of Entry Plan and Trauma Triage Plans need to be updated. The language
should indicate that trauma patients in the area of Berkshire Medical Center
would go to Berkshire Medical Center as opposed to taking the patient an hour
away to Baystate Medical Center.
Action – Revise the Region One Policy and
Procedures.
Executive
Directors Report:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews informed the council that a discussion was held at Executive Council
regarding defibrillator authorization to practice. Some services in the region have expressed that they feel they
should not need to obtain a card through WMEMS because AED is part of the
curriculum and State exam for Basic EMTs. Although this will affect the office
financially, the Executive Council has agreed to eliminate this authorization
and leave it up to the Medical Control for each service. The medical Control can determine what they
will require based on the current regulations (105 CMR 170.330 (C) and may
still require that EMTs have semi annual evaluations to ensure skill
competency.
Also
discussed was Paramedic Optional Skills. The State has removed chest
decompression and IO Optional Skills category.
Needle Cricothyroidotomy is still considered an Optional Skill for
paramedics and will need an authorization to practice. The Executive Council
has also been working on revising the job descriptions for the office staff and
has finally completed this task; and Ms. Cushman and Mr. Andrews are currently
working on cleaning of the language regarding personnel policies.
Action – see New Business.
Treasurers
Report:
Discussion –
Ms.
Cushman reports that the checking account has a balance of $57023.09, savings
account is $680.90, and the scholarship account is $5102.48.
Ms.
Cushman also read a thank you letter that was sent to the office from the
National EMT Association regarding the donation that was sent to their victim
relief fund.
Also,
a check for $500.00 was sent to the Shawn Fitzgerald Fund as was decided at the
Regional Council Annual Meeting.
Action – None.
Award
Committee Report:
Discussion –
Ms.
Hover reports that there were two save submissions this month and both were
approved.
Action – The office to send out
letters.
Communications
Committee Report:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews reports that the Hampden East Project is moving ahead. Recently, the
Region has received possession of the radio at Wing Hospital.
On
the state level, they are trying to get links from one end of the state to the
other. Regarding the issue of radios:
DFS has reported that there are radios that will be distributed around the
state; but apparently OEMS does not know anything about this.
The
Springfield EMS Commission has agreed to provide Internet access for the
Springfield CMED so they can update the diversion website.
Mr.
Andrews expressed concern at the last meeting that recently Baystate lost radio
communications and were forced to use a portable radio. Mr. Andrews has spoken
with Ms. Moriarty and she is checking into their lack of a back up system.
Finally,
Shelburne Mountain is back up and running for the Franklin County
services.
Action – None.
PIER
Committee Report:
Discussion –
Mr.
Cote reports that they did not have a meeting last month. The next meeting will be May 15 in the
McCallum building. If anyone is interested in joining this committee, please
speak with Mr. Cote or Mr. Clapp.
Action – None.
MCI
Committee Report:
Discussion –
This
meeting was cancelled last month, but the meetings are held the last Wednesday
of the month if anyone is interested in attending.
Action – None.
Training
Committee Report:
Discussion –
Ms.
Tuper reports that the office received 5 scholarship applications with two of
them incomplete. Therefore, there was a
$500.00 scholarship awarded from the Ben Jones Scholarship Fund and a $200.00
scholarship awarded from the Mary Stuart Scholarship Fund.
Ms.
Cushman asked if there was anyone that was keeping track of the scholarship disbursements.
Ms. Josefski responded that the WMEMS office is keeping track of this. Ms.
Cushman would like an annual summary of the recipients of the scholarships,
what the money went towards, and the amount.
Mr. Andrews though that this could be published in the newsletter. Also,
he feels that we need to work on how we can replenish this fund. Captain Keefe asked if it would be
appropriate for the Executive Committee to get a detailed report from the
training committee every year. Mr. Hopkins doesn’t feel that this would be
necessary.
Action – WMEMS office to send out
scholarship award letters.
Trauma
Committee Report:
Discussion –
The
meeting this month was cancelled.
Ms.
Cushman informed the council that on the state level, the final recommendations
have been submitted and they will now go to EMCAB. The recommendations are on-line if anyone is interested.
The
next meeting will be held on June 12 in the McCallum building at 8:45 a.m.
Action – None.
County
Reports:
Discussion –
Hampden
County has voted and recommends Mr. Brian Keefe and Ms. Barbara Pummell for
Regional Council Representation.
The
EMS Week Awards Banquet will be held at 6 Flags and reservations can be made
through WMEMS. Please note that the
park is not open. Parking will be on Main
Street and people will get shuttled in.
At
a Springfield EMS Commission meeting some time ago Mr. Manchino requested a
financial statement from CMED. He has not received a response as of yet, but
will follow this up.
Hampshire
County will have their next meeting on May 13. At this meeting they will take
nominations for officers. They have been discussing the issue of students
having difficulty obtaining intubations in their clinical time at the hospital,
and the doctors are getting very tired as they have students in the operating
rooms every day to obtain their skills.
Ms. Josefski added that Physicians Council is aware of this and Dr.
Durkin discussed a special project waiver working in conjunction with the two
region one paramedic training programs regarding intubations. Ms. Clapp also added that Massachusetts is
one of five states in the United States that still requires 10 tubes in the
clinical setting. Captain Keefe also reported that the committee has discussed
starting another Intermediate Program.
The
Hampshire County Awards Banquet will be held on May 23 at Smith Vocational High
School.
Franklin
County reports that their Awards Banquet will be held on May 21 at the Eagles
in Shelburne Falls.
Berkshire
County reports that their Awards Banquet will be held on May 17 at the South
Mountain Grill. Their guest speaker will be a terrorism expert.
Ms.
Josefski informed all county committee members that if they invoice WMEMS for
$200.00, the office would contribute to their Awards banquets.
Action – None.
Ludlow
Fire Department P/B Waiver Renewal:
Discussion –
Having
received recommendation from Physicians Council, a motion was made to approve
the Ludlow Fire Department P/B Waiver Renewal. This motion was seconded and
approved unanimously.
Action – Ms. Josefski to forward
a letter of approval to OEMS.
AED
Authorization to Practice:
Discussion –
Mr.
Andrews made a motion to drop AED Regional Authorization to Practice as of
12/31/02 and not allow any refunds from the office. This motion was seconded.
Ms.
Tuper asked what would be done with first responders and AED. Ms. Josefski
responded that it is still in regulations that first responders be certified in
AED. Also, the regional medical director still wants first responders to have an
initial four-hour AED course and then the semi-annual evaluations to stay
current.
Mr.
B. Keefe stated that by eliminating EMT AED, this will affect peoples’
contracts with services and they will subsequently lose stipends. Captain Keefe responded that he could see
this point, but thought that a service could require a QA program in the
services and this could justify a stipend.
Mr.
Andrews then restated the above motion, and there were 20 members in agreement,
1 opposed (Mr. B. Keefe) and 1 abstention (Mr. Manchino).
Paramedic
Optional Skills:
Discussion –
A
motion was made to drop chest decompression and IO from WMEMS optional skills
as they receive this training in their original courses and refreshers. All
were in favor of this motion with one abstention (Mr. Perkins).
Ms.
Clapp asked what would happen in the event of a challenge. The student will
have to present documentation and perform the Needle Cric and perhaps take a
written evaluation.
Action – Ms. Josefski to
check with physicians’ council re: Needle Cric credentialing.
Quality
Improvement Program:
Discussion –
In
light of the above motions, Mr. Andrews would like the Regional Council to
appoint a Quality Improvement Program Committee to address QI issues. He would like to see a permanent committee
to set up a program to be sure that the above skills are being done
appropriately.
Mr.
Hopkins asked how Mr. Andrews thought this should be set up. Mr. Andrews felt
that it should be on a voluntary basis with the services seeking
input/suggestions from the committee. In this case, Mr. Hopkins would like this
to be an ad-hoc committee.
Ms.
Josefski informed the group that WMEMS presented something similar to this to
the training committee. Ms. Tuper stated that this was tabled because they had
requested at a prior Regional Council meeting for services to send copies of
programs they currently use to the office and the committee never received any
response.
Mr.
Andrews feels that in the future the state will require certain data entry
resources, and this could be tied into a collection source. Ms. Hover feels that a universal format
could be adapted across the whole state. Ms. Austin would like to table this
until next month while we can pursue formats that are being used.
Mr.
Hopkins would like to get a committee together to look at this. Captain Keefe
would like to set this up as a resource program and people can contact them;
not be forced to participate. Ms. Cushman responded that she looks at
performance improvement as something that people don’t generally like, and
feels that a “voluntary system” may not work. Mr. Hopkins stated that we might
have to have the Medical Directors oversee the services in regards to QI.
Mr.
Andrews made a motion for the region to appoint an ad-hoc Quality Improvement
resource committee to develop quality control.
All members approved this motion with Ms. Josefski abstaining for two
members. If anyone is interested in
being on this committee, please contact Ms. Josefski or Mr. Hopkins.
Action – Persons interested in this committee
should contact Mr. Hopkins or the WMEMS office.
Hampden
County Representation:
Discussion –
A
motion was made to approve Mr. B. Keefe and Ms. Pummell for re-election for
Regional Council Representation. This
was approved unanimously with two abstentions (Mr. B. Keefe and Ms. Pummell).
Action – The office to
update the regional records.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting will be held on June 13 at 10:00 a.m. This meeting will be held in Dakin Conference Room at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
Adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn at 11:56 a.m. This motion was
seconded and approved unanimously.
Lisa
Herringshaw, Recorder