Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
Subject
Council Meeting
Date
January 22, 2015
Facilitator
Lana Duff
Time
12 N
Location
Trinity Baptist Church, Calhoun, GA
Scribe
David Loftin
Jim Cutcher, Tommy Sanders, Randy Pierson, Kevin Garren, Shawn Teems, Scott
Radeker, Lana Duff, Larry Simpson, Jill Mabley, Danny West, Dennis Kelly, Robert
Graham, Darrell Payne, Chad Taylor, Cathy Green, Scott Stephens, Courtney Taylor,
Brian Walker, Carlton Firestone, Kevin Ballew, Kevin New, Sloan Elrod, Beth Feninger,
Curtis Vincent, Will Pitt, Paul Arnold, Claude Craig, Ed O’Brian, Mellisa Hunter
Absent: David Young, Alex Case, Gordon Tucker, Larry Ballew, Joey Pelfrey, Randy Lacy,
Tony Cooper, Jennifer King
David Foster, R1 OEMST PD, David Loftin Recording Secretary
Absent: Dr. Patrick McDougal
Attendees
Staff
Key Points Discussed
#
Topic
Highlights
1.
Status of Council
David Foster reported that a quorum was present after the roll call was performed.
2.
Call to Order
3.
Minutes Approval
The chair called the meeting to order with a quorum present
A motion was made by Jim Cutcher, seconded by Tommy Sanders and the minutes
were approved as circulated.
4.
Council
Membership
5.
Special
Recognitions
The next order of business was the election for one of the at-large positions held
last year by Jim Cutcher. The vote was conducted by written ballot. A weather
report was given by Claude Craig for the weekend while the nomination
committee met. The results were tallied by the nomination committee composed
of Scott, Darrell and Kevin. Jim Cutcher won the vote and will occupy the at-large
position for a term of 2015-2016. David Foster welcomed the new council
members – Kevin Garren, Shawn Teems, Beth Feininger and Ed O’Brian.
David Loftin gave a proclamation John Hitchens. Mr. Hitchens was accompanied by
David Kaplan and Kim Bentley.
6
EMSAC Report
No report was given at this meeting.
7
EMS
Subcommittee on
Trauma
8
Education
Committee Report
9
501C3 Report
Randy Pierson gave the EMS Subcommittee on Trauma report. The committee met
on January 6, 2015 and voted to approve the FY 2015 budget containing the
funding of the DART and EMS Region 1 Education projects. The FY 2015 budget is
being considered today by the Trauma Commission which includes both projects.
The regional education grant includes a trailer, equipment, card and instructor
expenses in order to conduct 4 PHTLS and 4 EPC courses in EMS Region 1. GAEMS
had some audit problems with the remaining FY2014 funds and is now eligible to
receive the FY2015 funds. The Trauma Commission voted to combine these funds
into the FY2015 budget. This will result in $2,210,000 in equipment grants since
the commission also voted to eliminate vehicle grants and compensated care
funding.
The 501C3 Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc. organization will have $102,000 in
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Key Points Discussed
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Topic
Highlights
grants funds deposited in FY2015. This will cause the organization to implement
changes in the financial programs in order to meet the grant requirements.
Changes will include an audit requirement and the use of a new computer based
financial accounting program. Two new printed documents have been printed and
are now available to assist in fund raising efforts. The first document is a talking
points document which can be used to solicit donations from employees and the
general public. The second document is a multi-fold brochure which is designed to
be used to solicit donations from corporate sponsors. (Contact Randy Pierson for
information on these documents) Two additional methods of acquiring donations
have been implemented on the Northwest Georgia EMS website and face book
page. The first is pay pal and the second is Amazon Smile. The Amazon Smile
method involves a 0.5% donation from Amazon for each purchase on the Amazon
Smile webpage. Both method and any other donation to the 501C3 is tax
deductible. Donations may be specified only for use on a specific cause such as the
Honor Guard. The 501C3 passed several changes in the bylaws at the last meeting.
The first was a change in the meeting schedule from meeting in conjunction with
the EMS Council to having independent quarterly meetings. The second was a
change in the Officer terms from 4 years to end on the same year to staggered
terms with elections every two years. The 501C3 Board is also considering changes
in the audit requirement. The Board will be meeting with an independent audit
firm. The firm suggested that the 501C3 could undergo a program review instead
of a programmatic audit which costs about $20,000. However, audits may be
required by grants where grant funds are deposited in the 501C3 account.
(Because of the small amount of money currently in the 501C3 account audits are
currently not required.)
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Key Points Discussed
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10
Topic
OEMS Regional
Office Report
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Highlights
David Foster gave the OEMS Regional Office Report. Mr. Foster reported that 230
continuing education courses have been conducted in EMS Region 1 for Calendar
Year 2014 with over 4,000 attending. Marcus Lindsey has volunteered to put the
new RTAC education program on a restricted U-tube program. This RTAC
education is now available on a DVD for each service and each hospital. (See Randy
Pierson for your copy of the program.) Over $13,000 will soon be deposited in the
501C3 account from grants. Mr. Foster commended Jim Cutcher and Will Pitt for
agreeing to chair the Region 1 EMS Education Committee which will have
programs funded through one of these grants. Mr. Foster also has distributed a
new EMS Service/Ambulance Inspection schedule for Calendar Year 2015. The new
inspection schedule is designed to coordinate inspections with vehicle insurance
expiration dates. Mr. Foster indicated that this process seems to work better and
that he will have inspected about one third of the units in the region by the end of
February. Mr. Foster also reported on the DART project. The final approval of the
funding through the Georgia Trauma Commission will be performed at the meeting
today and tomorrow. He is confident that the funding will be approved since he
has already scheduled a contract signing with Georgia Trauma Commission
officials. The funds will be received in blocks instead of a lump sum each time he
orders equipment. Since the equipment will be ordered using two grant awards,
the first equipment for the four initial services will be ordered from the GEMA
grant (Angel EMS, Cherokee EMS, Ambucare EMS and Gordon EMS). The
equipment and supplies must be ordered, received, inventoried, packed in
backpacks, sealed and distributed. The other participating services will receive
their equipment from the Georgia Trauma Commission grant in the order of
signing the letters of intent. The services receiving the equipment must agree to
store the equipment in a climate controlled, secure location and must be
inventoried on a regular basis. Mr. Foster anticipates distribution by April, 2015.
The supplies are anticipated to cost 40% less than the grant cost estimates. The
savings will be used to purchase additional communication equipment and restock
supplies. The amount is estimated to be $25,000- $40,000 in savings. The DART
logo will be applied to the vehicle door instead of the body of the ambulance since
the bodies are aluminum not steel. The logos will be magnetic enabling them to be
used on multiple vehicles if necessary. Kevin New has been named as the chair of
the communications committee for the DART program. He has programmed 104
frequencies including amateur radio into the programmable portable radios to be
purchased for the DART project. The next portion of the DART project will be
designing the training module and is anticipated to be complete by July, 2015. The
initial DART courses will be performed in August – November, 2015 and is
scheduled to be available on-line by December 2015. The DART project will then
be available for adoption by other Georgia EMS Regions. The 501C3 will receive
10-15% of the grant amount for administrative purposes. A state plan for Ebola
and infectious disease response has been formed by Public Health Director Dr. Pat
O’Neal. Five (5) EMS Services have been identified in Georgia for Infectious Disease
patient response and transport. Training has been conducted by Emory Hospital
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Key Points Discussed
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Highlights
and Grady Hospital in Floyd and Paulding counties. Phase two of the training
involving a two day program will be available in 2016 and will include mock drills.
Twenty-six (26) EMS Services and 242 people were involved in the training courses
conducted in 2014. Claude Craig gave a report on the 2015 EMAG conference in
Savannah for April 8-10, 2015. He encouraged those interested in attending to
register soon since registration is at 90% for the sessions. Costs of the conference
may be covered by grants for EMS participants. Mr. Craig also reported that the
GEMA/Homeland Security agency has a new director – Jim Butterworth and he is
excited about the new direction for the agency.
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Key Points Discussed
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Topic
11
Regional Medical
Director Report
12
Region 1 EMS
Honor Guard
13
Awards Committee
Report
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Highlights
There was no Regional Medical Director Report. It was reported that the Metro
Atlanta EMS conference will be on March 6, 2015 near Six Flags in Atlanta.
The Region 1 EMS Honor Guard report was given by Marcus Desmond. Mr.
Desmond reported that the Honor Guard is in need of additional volunteers. He
distributed a paper explaining how a person could participate in the Honor Guard.
The Honor Guard was initially formed with 6 persons by Gordon EMS several years
ago and has represented EMS Region 1 at funerals throughout Georgia, EMS
meetings and conferences. Fund raising is also a need for the Honor Guard and is
currently through mechanisms provided by the 501C3. Mr. Desmond also
suggested the implementation of an EMS Region 1 flag for the Honor Guard and
adopted by the Region. He desires that this flag be available before the EMS
Region 1 Awards Banquet this year. David Foster stated that any regional flag must
be approved by the Regional Council. Randy Pierson agreed to distribute the
information on the Honor Guard and David Foster agreed to distribute the design
for the Regional EMS flag for comment for the next 2-3 weeks. Mr. Desmond
stated that any funds received will be used for uniforms, flags and a trailer to be
used to carry equipment to events. Lana Duff thanked the Honor Guard for their
participation in the funeral of Mary McDaniel.
David Foster gave the Awards Committee Report. He thanked the Awards
Committee (Karen Robinson, Joey Pelfrey, Lee Oliver, Brian Walker and Tommy
Sanders) for their work on this year’s Awards Banquet planning. Mark Haney,
Wellstar Paulding Medical Center CEO volunteered to host the 2015 Region 1 EMS
Awards Banquet at Wellstar Paulding Medical Center atrium. He agreed to provide
the facility, meal and audiovisual support free of charge to the Region. A planning
meeting is scheduled at Wellstar Paulding Medical Center for February 11, 2015
with the marketing director. Mr. Foster stated that there will be several changes
this year. A new award named for the late Tommy Gayler will be given for the best
response to a medical call. The Stanley Payne Memorial EMS Director of the Year
award will be renamed the Stanley Payne Memorial EMS Leadership Award to
include persons other than EMS Directors. The nomination forms have been
distributed and are due to David Foster by electronic submission by December 30,
2015 at 4:30 p.m. Another change will be that all awards will be acrylic instead of
wooden plaques with the EMS Service of the Year as a custom made individual
award instead of a trophy to be passed from service to service. The special group
to be recognized at the Awards Banquet has been selected. The invitations will be
distributed in February, 2015. A special guest has been invited to the Awards
Banquet this year (a famous country music star). The opening speech will be given
by Mark Haney instead of David Foster. The attendance for the Banquet has been
around 300 with the maximum attendance at the Banquet in Cartersville (340).
There are no costs to those attending but RSVP is necessary to receive a free meal.
Donations of $10,500 have been received by sponsors as follows: Southeastern
Medical -$4,000; Erlanger Medical Center- $2,000; Metro Atlanta Ambulance $2,000; Air Evac Lifeteam - $1,000; Air Methods - $1,000; and Floyd Polk Medical
Center - $500.
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Key Points Discussed
#
Topic
14
RTAC Report
15
2015 Committee
Assignments
16
Old Business
17
New Business
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Highlights
The RTAC report was given by Scott Radeker. There was no quorum at todays
meeting due to a conflict with the Georgia Trauma Commission meeting. Mr.
Radeker informed everyone that the RTAC training DVDs were now available. (See
Randy Pierson for your DVD) David Foster informed the council that several efforts
to perform the training have been attempted. The first was a train-the-trainer
program which was well attended by only a few instructors conducted the training
at their service or hospital. An attempt to put the training on the Georgia Office of
EMS and Trauma website Accordant system was unsuccessful because of the
breakdown of the Accordant program. The Trauma Communications Center agreed
to take the information from calls to the center and provide monthly reports.
However, the TCC has received only a few calls from this region and may be closing
soon. (The Region 1 EMS RTAC is now considering alternative methods of obtaining
the necessary data.)
Lana Duff stated that all committee assignments will remain the same but may be
changed in the next several months as necessary.
There was no old business.
Elizabeth Head from the Georgia Injury Prevention Section gave a presentation on
the Yellow Dot program. This program provides information to the EMS providers
on the patient’s current and past medical history, medications, living will and
medications in a folder kept in the patient’s vehicle. A yellow dot on the outside of
the vehicle identifies the folder to the EMS responder. The program was
developed in Connecticut in 2002 and has been adopted by 10 states including
Tennessee and Alabama. The pilot program will be the first step of implementation
in Georgia. The rollout is anticipated to be in early 2016. There will be no cost to
the EMS Services or participant. Dr. Mabley asked about whether this program will
replace the last program of this type adopted by the State (POLST). Ms. Head
stated that the program is targeted to areas containing a lot of older adults and
the pilot programs will be in Dublin and Athens. Contact David Foster if you are
interested in participating. Melissa provided the Epidemiology report. The CDC has
reported that the flu vaccine this year was not a good match with the flu strains
encountered. There have been reports of GI virus outbreaks in the district but no
outbreaks of measles or mumps. However there have been some reports of
whooping cough. Dr. Gupta have a presentation on the Kennestone Medical
Center Stroke Center. He reports that the invasive methods of treating strokes
have been shown to be better than medication (TPA) delivery. The reported saves
for stroke by this method are one patient for every 4 in contrast with 1 patient for
every 25 for invasive cardiac treatment. He urged the council to consider transport
to a interventional center for patients exhibiting hemiplegia instead of a primary
stroke center. He informed the council about the stroke program at Kennestone
Medical Center. The CODE FAST provides advanced notification of the hospital
before arrival. The center has ongoing clinical research. The center has treatment
of cerebral aneurysms by surgery or coiling upon consultation by experts at the
center. Dr. Mabley urged the services to update their protocols frequently because
of the rapid changes in medicine. Dr. Gupta encouraged the services to take the
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Key Points Discussed
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18
Topic
Adjourn
Highlights
hemiplegia patients to intervention stroke centers with the other patient going to
stroke centers. Carlton Firestone stated that Ambucare EMS has begun to use air
transport of stroke patients. Dr. Gupta was asked if there were any other
indications for patients who should be transported to interventional stoke centers.
He stated that they would possibly be some additional indications in the future but
he is concentrating on the hemiplegia for now. Dr. Mabley asked about wake up
strokes. Dr. Gupta suggested that these patients who wake up with a stroke and
therefore the onset time is unknown should also be transported to an
interventional center. A question was asked about whether the FAST exam would
be sufficient to identify candidates for an interventional center. He stated that the
FAST exam would identify patients with strokes but additional evaluation would be
necessary to identify patients with hemiplegia. Carlton Firestone stated that his
fear would be to misdiagnose stroke patient candidates and cause an unnecessary
air transport bill to the patient. It was stated that air medical should be placed on
standby for stroke patients and can be cancelled if consultation proved that the
patient was not a candidate. Dr. Gupta stated that Kennestone Medical Center was
available for education outreach programs for EMS Services such as ASLS provider
courses. Information was not available on an All-Hazards drill in the absence of
Robert Early. Carlton Firestone asked for donations for an injured firefighter
through a paypal account. David Foster will distribute information on this.
A motion was made to adjourn by Tommy Sanders, seconded by Kevin Ballew and
approved. The meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be on April 23, 2015.
Action Plan
No.
Action Item(s)
Owner
Target Date
1.
Place RTAC Education program on restricted U-tube account
Marcus Lindsey
April, 2015
2.
Distribute Honor Guard volunteer document
Randy Pierson
April, 2015
3.
Distribute information on proposed Region 1 flag
David Foster
April, 2015
4.
Conduct RTAC training
All Services/Hospitals
April 2015
5.
Distribute information on injured firefighter fund
David Foster
February 2015
6.
7.
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