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Minutes 06/08/1982 MEMO TO: Members of EMSAC FROM W. Neil Dorrill , Public Safety Administrator DATE June 21 , 1982 SUBJECT: Minutes of Meeting June 8 , 1982 In accompaniment , please find copy of the Minutes from the Regular Meeting of June 8 . Please review these in order that they can be adopted at the next meeting on July 13 , 1982 , at 4 : 00 PM. WND/bm cc : C . W. Norman, County Manager Naples, Florida June 8 , 1982 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council met on this date at 4 :00 P.M. in Building "F" of the Courthouse Complex with the following members as indi- cated below: CHAIRMAN: Egon Hill MEMBERS: Jan Fillinger (Absent) Dr. Hans Ehrhardt Sgt. Richard Davidson (Absent) Chief Jim Billman Mr. David Graham Dr. Jack Greenfield (Absent) Mr. Tom Hafner Mr. Marvil Cecil Mr. Biff Comte EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS: Chief Norris Ijams (Excused) Dr. John Adams for Dr. Wm. Cox C. G. Whidden for Sheriff Rogers STAFF ADVISORS: Dr. John Adams Douglas Greenfield Dr. Robert Tober (Absent) W. Neil Dorrill ALSO PRESENT: Billie Moyer ` PRESS: "Tish" Gray, Naples Star AGENDA I. Roll Call II. Reading/and or approval of minutes a) Regular meeting of March 9 , 1982 III. Advisors Reports IV. Old Business VI. Adjourn EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8 , 1982 APPROVAL OF MINUTES of MARCH 9 , 1982 : Minutes approved as written. ADVISORS REPORTS: Mr. Dorrill referred to the follow-up sub-committee meeting held in the Public Safety office on the 19th of June for dis- cussion of the EMS legislation. He also noted that a meeting between Rep. Mary Ellen Hawkins, Douglas Greenfield, and Chief Norris Ijams had been held in Rep. Hawkin' s office on June 19 , which should not be construed to have been a full meeting of the sub-committee. In answer to Mr. Hill 's request for the results of the sub-committee meeting, Doug Greenfield advised that with the Florida Chapter 401 being in Sunset this year, a special com- mittee had been asked to meet with Mary Ellen Hawkins to dis- cuss her feelings re the status of the bill in Tallahassee, i.e. , whether or not she supports it, who is opposing it, and whether or not she expected us to get a special session in support of it. Mr. `Greenfield said that Ms. Hawkins essentially advised that the delegates and legislates are very aware of the status of Chapter 401 and have full intentions of doing something about it. Pointing out that this was history at this point, Mr. Greenfield recalled that we had put a Resolution before the Board of County Commissioners in support of Senate Bill 6D - Reenactment bill for Chapter 401. In response to Mr. Hill 's request for an explanation of Chapter 401, Mr. Greenfield said Chapter 401 is made up of the laws which govern EMS systems in the State of Florida, i.e. , li- censing of the systems, ambulances , professional license of para- - 2 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8 , 1982 medics, EMT' s and ambulance drivers, as well as covering the Medical Directors and the formats for what the vehicles must maintain and carry on board. Mr. Egon Hill asked what would happen if the bill was not reenacted. Mr . Greenfield replied that the burden would take the next step down and place on the local government such responsibilities as reassessing the situation and setting up our own governing bodies to control all EMS system activities which would mean more expense to the local government. Mr. Greenfield reported that on Monday AM he had been in- formed that Senate Bill 6D will be having a special session on June 21 by order of the Governor. He stated also that Miss Carla Linetta, analyst for the House Regulatory Form Committee, has assured us that the people who opposed the original Senate Bill 541 which was defeated in a Regulatory Form Committee, had met 2 weeks ago and ironed out their differences . If this is so, Mr. Greenfield said, he felt the bill will shoot right through on June 21 and if not, he expects a continuance of Chapter 401 as it is presently on the logs, with no changes being made for the next one or two years . Mr. Greenfield said also that Senate Bill 6D would remain as such until it came out of the House Regulatory Form Committee ans is assigned a Legislative number. Mr. Neil Dorrill remarked that Mr. Greenfield had done an excellent job in maintaining contact with the continuing EMS legislation and mentioned that he himself had been in touch with - 3 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8 , 1982 the Governor ' s office and with the State Association of County Commissioners regarding the situation and that they had indi- cated there is a possibility that continuing EMS legislation may not be a part of the June 21st recall by the Governor. Since there appears to be a well coordinated attempt to add or not add ERA activity to the special session there is a remote possi- bility that the item may not be heard until some time in November. As such, Mr. Dorrill continued, Doug Greenfield is in the process of preparing a County Ordinance that would adopt in its entirety Chapter 401 so that this county would be covered in all instances in which Chapter 401 relates to EMS activities. By doing this, Mr. Dorrill said, we would hope that our Insurance Underwriters would recognize our interim step until such time that our new legislation would be adopted in Tallahassee, even if it was the next session. Mr. Dorrill next spoke of the unfortunate results of an EMS presentation which he had been asked to attend the evening before at the request of the Golden Gate Civic Association. The turnout, Mr. Dorrill said, was excellent and he had heard lots of good comments . At one point, however, during a general discussion with question and answer periods from the audience, a question was asked concerning the number of emergency vehicles responding to the scene of an incident. As part of the discussion Mr. Greenfield mentioned that the Sheriff' s Department is responsible for the 911 system in this County and as such do the dispatching and practically all the notification process, particularly as it relates in dispatch for EMS. Although other agencies used their own dispatch the initial calls are received and screened in Emergency Control. - 4 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8 , 1982 Mr. Dorrill then told of the article which had appeared in the afternoon' s Naples Daily News insinuating that remarks made by Mr. Greenfield, and to some extent by himself, questioned the ability of the Sheriff ' s people to operate that system in a satisfactory manner. Mr. Dorrill explained that this was not the case and described the article as irresponsible journalism on the part of the young gentleman representing the paper. Mr. Dorrill said he had felt at the time that the reporter was getting the wrong impression and even stopped to clarify himself and point out that in no instance was the ability of the Sheriff 's Department in running the 911 system being questioned, since it had been handled so excellently since inception. Mr. Dorrill said he had also pointed out that specifically we were never in a position to nor do we intend to dictate policy to the Sheriff, but that in the future, if any of our operations could be improved, we would certainly look at them. Unfortunately, Mr. Dorrill continued, the article reads as though we are criticizing the Sheriff's activities, specifically the dispatchers and the fact that they are ill-trained and under- paid, which was not the case at all. Mr. Dorrill asked to have this made for the record as part of the Minutes of this meeting along with the indication that both he and Mr. Greenfield hoped to have some retraction or at least some continuing discussion with the Sheriff 's Office related to the unfortunate happening. Mr. Hill asked Chuck Whidden if he could add anything to this but since Chuck had just returned from a 3 weeks vacation he was unaware of the article and could therefore make no comment, but stated that the Sheriff' s Dept had always been directly approached - 5 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8, 1982 by Mr. Greenfield if there were any complaints in the past. Mr. Greenfield expressed his surprise at the manner in which the article had been written, choosing only certain phrases and leaving out the meat of the discussion. He further stated that he had spent some time with the reporter afterward making sure he understood and that the reporter had indicated to him that everything was in order. Recalling some "problems" experienced in the past with this reporter, Mr.. Dorrill said that during the evening at one point, upon seeing him feverishly writing, he had stopped and announced that for the benefit of the press he wanted to qualify that we had no problems with the Sheriff' s Department. Mr. Hill asked for the reporter' s name and upon learning it replied that he too has had some problems with him and could understand the situation, whereupon Chuck Whidden recalled simi- lar instances which made him realize what may have happened. Doug Greenfield related that he had talked with Sheriff Rogers ana had taken the article over to the Sheriff 's office and read it to the dispatchers, adding that he felt he had made clear that the dispatchers were doing "one hell of a job. " Tom Hafner said he had been present at the meeting and that no one had charged or made allegations, but that the presentation regarding dispatching was simply a "point of interest regarding problems we are all aware of. " Dr. Adams reported that since the last meeting, applications from EMS for new licenses had been made and that all ambulances and vehicles had been inspected and minor deficiencies corrected. He added that the licenses had not yet been received but that all - 6 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8, 1982 papers are in Tallahassee. Dr. Adams further explained that before a license can be obtained (each year after date of issue) , inspection procedures must be done to obtain a Certificate stating that the vehicle is capable of ALS and EMS services . This Certificate must be available in order to get the license. Mr. Egon Hill read the letter of resignation from Mr. Tom Clark who stated his reasons for resignation as being new job requirements which would make him unable to attend scheduled meetings. Mr. Hill stated his regrets and added that we must get a new member in his place. Mr. Hill then introduced three new members, Mr. Tom Hafner, Mr. Marvin Cecil, and Mr. Biff Comte. Both Mr. Cecil and Mr. Comte are Assistant Directors in Administration at Naples Community Hospital. Mr. Hill voiced his concern over errors sometimes made in billing out charges to patients and cited one incident where a man had been charged $10 . 00 instead of $1. 00 for a nitro stat tablet. t Mr. Greenfield explained that we are going through a tran- sition stage wherein it is easy to make such errors and that until they are brought to our attention we really are unaware of them. Dr. Ehrhardt asked why nitro stat is given instead of nitro glycerin and was informed by Mr. Greenfield that the Medical Director determines what is to be dispensed. It was announced by Mr. Hill that the next meeting of the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council would be held on - 7 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL June 8, 1982 Tuesday, July 13 , 1982 at 4 :00 PM in the Board of County Com- missioners Chambers. Mr. Tom Hafner asked if there had been any activity re- garding communications on Alligator Alley and volunteered to avail himself to help in any way possible. Mr. Hill asked for a report at the next meeting. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 4 :25 PM. Mr. Egon Hill, Chairman MINUTES PREPARED BY: Billie Moyer - 8 -