EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Transcription

1 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL FEBRUARY 16, 2012 The Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council, created by House Bill 995, Chapter , Laws of Florida, and by Resolution of the Board of County Commissioners on March 3, 1981, met in a special session at Public Safety Services, First Floor Conference Room 130, Ulmerton Road, Largo, Florida, at 10:00 A.M. on this date with the following members present: Chief Donald Sayre, Pinellas Advanced Life Support Providers Assoc. (Chairman) Chief James Angle, Pinellas County Fire Chiefs Association Chief Robert Weiss, Clearwater Fire Department Major Sean Jowell, Law Enforcement Agency Gayle Guidash, At Large Consumer Representative Mayor Chris Arbutine, Mayors Council (Belleair Bluffs) Mayor James Lawrence, Mayors Council (Indian Shores) Mayor Kathleen Peters, Mayors Council, (South Pasadena) William Israel, South County Consumer Representative Blake MacPherson, North County Consumer Representative Ray Neri, South County Consumer Representative Mark Postma, SUNSTAR Ambulance Contractor Absent: Julie Baker, At Large Consumer Representative Chief Steven Knight, St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue Kelly Triolo, Emergency Nurses Association Mayor Gary Katica, Mayors Council (Belleair) Dr. Adam Berko, North County Consumer Representative Dr. Joseph Namey, Pinellas County Osteopathic Medical Society Dr. Phillip Nicotera, St. Petersburg College, Health Education Programs Also Present: Maureen Freaney, Assistant County Administrator Mike Cooksey, Public Safety Services Craig Hare, Public Safety Services EMS Dr. Laurie Romig, Medical Director Chief Joe Accetta, Pinellas County Fire Chiefs Association Chief Tom Jamison, East Lake Fire Rescue Lt. Glenn Luben, Law Enforcement Agency Carl Brody, County Attorney s Office Greg Woodrum, Public Safety Services Mary Burrell, Pinellas County Communications Ruthie Doles, Public Safety Services 911 Vicki Glenn, Sunstar Paramedics Debbie Vass, Sunstar Paramedics Chief Bob Markford, Palm Harbor Fire Rescue

2 Capt. Steven Girk, St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue Don Crowell, County Attorney s Office Robert Swain, County Attorney s Office Anne Lindberg, Tampa Bay Times Philip Young, Sunstar Paramedics John Peterson, Sunstar Paramedics All Other Interested Parties CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chairman Sayre called the meeting to order at 10 AM. Roll was taken and it was determined that there was a quorum present. There were 12 voting members in attendance. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the January 26, 2012 meeting were presented for approval. Mr. Neri made a motion to accept the minutes. Mr. Postma seconded the motion and the motion carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chairman Sayre introduced Lt. Glenn Luben who has been nominated to fill the Alternate position for Law Enforcement Agency along with Maj. Jowell as Primary. Their nominations will go before the Board of County Commissioners for approval in March. Chairman Sayre made an announcement on behalf of Clearwater Fire & Rescue that Chief J.P. Medani will no longer be representing that agency as an alternate on the EMS Advisory Council. REPORTS EMS Administration: Mr. Hare stated that the primary mission today was to finalize the Priority Dispatch items provided in the member packets. Medical Director: Dr. Romig said that the next Medical Control Board meeting will be in March. Dr. Romig stated that despite ongoing challenges with the drug shortage issue the system is keeping up. Dr. Romig informed the group that the system is required to revise Trauma Transport Protocols (TTP). The revisions have been submitted to the State for approval. After that they will go to the Medical Control Board. Dr. Romig expressed concern that the Bayfront trauma volume is way down and encouraged members of the Advisory Council to research the issue and voice any concerns that they may have.

3 Chief Weiss briefed that he had spoken with the State that morning and that the State had indicated to him that they would approve the protocols as written by Dr. Romig. Mayor Peters asked whether any of the changes to the protocols would change the way that we do business or if there were any impacts that they should be aware of. Dr. Romig answered that the changes primarily relate to where we take trauma patients and that the State says that we must take patients to the closest trauma center. The issue then is that for a significant part of the County, the closest trauma center is Bayonet Point Regional Medical Center in Pasco County. Also, Bayfront is located between two new trauma centers and that means that business is diverted away. Mayor Peters asked whether there was anything the Advisory Council could do in the form of recommendations to minimize the impact on Bayfront. Dr. Romig responded that the issue was under the control of the State, Office of Trauma, and that there is also ongoing litigation between St. Joseph s, Bayfront and Tampa General in an attempt to block the establishment of the new trauma centers. Dr. Romig said that all indications are that this litigation will not be successful. Dr. Romig also cautioned that if Bayfront goes away all of our serious trauma patients will need to go to Pasco or Hillsborough County centers. Chief Angle asked the group how they envisioned the trauma center issue affecting the air transport program. Dr. Romig replied that she believes the Bayflite program will be affected. Mr. Hare added the helicopter program must abide by the State in terms of flying to the closest trauma center and that we have not changed our TTP related to air transport so that aspect has not been weighed in on yet. Mr. Hare also said that it is still at the paramedic s discretion whether to send the patient air or ground. There was considerable discussion about air transport and trauma operations. Mr. Neri asked whether or not the Council is responsible to report its concerns about trauma transport to the legislative delegation. Mr. Hare replied that we could do it but it is not within the duties of the Advisory Council. Mr. Brody agreed and added that the primary role of the EMS Advisory Council is to report to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and not to any other body. Mr. Neri made a motion that the Council notify the BCC of the impact of existing legislation on trauma patients in Pinellas County and carbon copy the Legislative Delegation. Mr. Israel seconded the motion for the sake of discussion. Mayor Arbutine said that he feels before the letter is sent to the BCC that the Council should have a good understanding of what is really going on. Mayor Arbutine was concerned that a hospital system was using the current law as it exists for economic advantage. Specifically, are they strategically setting up trauma centers for economic advantage?

4 Chief Angle stated he does not disagree with the motion but he feels that the group should wait until they have gathered the exact stats to have the executive summary. There was additional discussion as to what standards had to be met to become a certified trauma center. Mr. Swain provided Mr. Hare with the Administrative Code governing trauma transport and Mr. Hare read it to the group. The Code stated that Each EMS provider shall transport or cause to be transported every trauma alert patient to a trauma center nearest to the location of the incident unless the distance is not relevant to the length of time for transport due to the use of an air ambulance. Mayor Arbutine suggested that someone from Bayfront be asked to make a presentation to EMSAC so that the Council has the information needed to make a recommendation to the Board. Mayor Peters agreed and said she preferred to wait until after a presentation to send a letter of recommendation. Mayor Peters also recommended requesting a presentation from HCA as well as Bayfront. Chairman Sayre stated the recommendation is that Mr. Neri table his motion until the next meeting or such time as the group has received a presentation from both Bayfront and HCA. Mr. Neri agreed to table his motion pending presentations. There was a unanimous vote to table the motion till the next meeting. Sunstar: Mr. Postma advised that we have a new hospital in Pasco County called Medical Center of Trinity. It s just a few miles over the border and it opened on February 7 th. Mr. Postma informed that we had already transported over a hundred patients to that facility. Mr. Hare commented that the opening of this hospital would help to take some of the load off of Mease Countryside and provide some competition in North County. Mr. Postma also informed the group that St. Anthony s opened up their new E.R. Chairman Sayre asked how the transport volume has been during this busy season and Mr. Postma responded that Sunstar has been operating at a very high volume. He stated that they have transported 400+ patients daily over the past 15 days and that they had just transported 449 the previous day. Mr. MacPherson recommended that these types of numbers be provided on a monthly basis because they reflect the high level of performance being achieved by Sunstar and the First Responders and he would like to share this information with other citizens. Mr. Postma responded that all the transport information is available on the website and that he could also provide it during the EMSAC meetings.

5 First Responders: Chief Angle said he would have more under Old Business but for now he agreed with providing the stats. Chief Angle also brought up that the final RFP meeting for the two transport studies would be coming up next week. EMS Management Committee: Mr. Hare presented the four Priority Dispatch Phase 3 documents that have been developed with the assistance of Mr. Tim Closterman and Ms. Mary Burrell from Communications. The first document is the News Release which will be sent out when the BCC approves the new protocol. The second document is the Communications Plan. The third document is the Letter to Stakeholders and the fourth document is the Fact Sheet. There was lengthy discussion concerning finalization of the language of these documents. OLD BUSINESS Chairman Sayre said that he had contacted the college to get a list of acronyms that could be used as part of the orientation packet for new EMSAC members. Chairman Sayre said that he would work with Dr. Romig to develop language that would be specific for the EMSAC body. NEW BUSINESS None CORRESPONDENCE None EMS NOMINATING COMMITTEE Mr. Postma briefed that the Nominating Committee had met that morning to develop a slate of nominees for EMSAC Officers based on names received by Mr. Woodrum for presentation to the Nominating Committee. Mr. Postma stated that the slate of nominees to be presented at the annual EMSAC meeting on March 29 th will be: Chairman Dr. Adam Berko Vice Chairman Chief Donald Sayre Secretary Mr. Blake MacPherson There was a name submitted for Vice Chairman that had not been routed through Mr. Woodrum and as a result had not been considered by the Nominating Committee. Mr. Neri stated and Mr. Hare agreed that nominations can also be taken from the floor during the annual meeting so this should not be a concern.

6 OPEN FORUM Mr. Hare announced that Ms. Anissa Raiford will be nominated to represent the Pinellas County Medical Association on the EMS Advisory Council and also that the Pinellas County Osteopathic Medical Society will be meeting to provide a nomination to the EMS Advisory Council. This formal nomination will be made during the annual meeting in March. Ms. Freaney announced that Mr. Mike Cooksey is the Interim Public Safety Director and that the advertisement for recruitment of a permanent Director is out and she will keep the group updated on that. Ms. Freaney also advised that the EMS Fire Transport Committee working on behalf of Senator Latvala seems to be coming to pretty good agreement on the scope and that the EMS Advisory Council would be informed when that effort is finalized. There was discussion concerning Amendment to Bylaws. Mr. Hare presented in writing proposed language to amend Section 3.1 essentially to add three Citizen Representative positions to the membership. After discussion it was decided to approach the amendments to bylaws in two phases. The first phase would present Mr. Hare s proposed language for approval by the EMS Advisory Council at the annual meeting on March 29 th. From there it would go to the EMS Authority for approval. The second phase would create a Bylaws Committee to evaluate all the bylaws for potential amendments to be presented at a later date. Chairman Sayre appointed Mr. Neri, Chief Angle and Ms. Glenn as initial members of the Bylaw Committee to address Phase 2 of bylaw amendments. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be the EMSAC Annual Meeting on March 29, The meeting will take place at the Public Safety Services Center, 1 st Floor Conference Room 130, Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:06 P.M. An audio recording of this meeting is on file at Public Safety Services EMS Division.