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Minutes 04/02/1997 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE ADVISORY COUNCIL (EMSAC) INFORMAL MINUTES April 2, 1997 3:00 P.M. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES HEADQUARTERS 3301 East Tamiami Trail Council Bob Laird Excused Members: Fay Biles Members: Mike Davis Sharon Hanlon Rhona Saunders Bob Schank Tim Smith Sheldon Reed Gary Young Palma Fuson Paul Gunther-Mohr Roger Evans Others: Leo Ochs Jeff Page Barbara Brown The regular monthly meeting of the Collier County EMSAC committee was called to order at 3:00 P.M. on Wednesday April 2, 1997 by Bob Laird Chairman. The minutes of the March 12, 1997 meeting were approved. OLD BUSINESS The position of the FTE for the attorney's request of run reports is being filled by Larry Kirby formally of the Finance Department. NEW BUSINESS Chairman Laird expressed his appreciation to the members for their consideration in changing the monthly date of the meetings from the second Wednesday to the first Wednesday of each month. A discussion was held in regard to the difference in the salaries between the firefighters and the paramedics. Paul Gunther-Mohr feels there is no uniformity in the jobs which will eventually cause problems. Due to the different salary scales, time of service, and benefits this becomes a complex issue. Leo Ochs stated the Human Resources Department does evaluations with other counties on an annual basis to keep the county on a comparable pay scale with other counties. Jeff Page stated the main problem is with recruiting and drawing people from other areas, as it is expensive to live in the area. The issue would be getting qualified medics that have many years of service somewhere else and they have to take a *► substantial pay cut sometimes to come to our service. Paul Gunther-Mohr would like for the committee to have the pay difference as an objective. He would like to see facts and figures of comparison. Leo Ochs would be happy to request, a Salary and Benefit Wage Structure Report, but does not want to create problems in and area that has taken a lot of work to get to the position we are in at this time. Roger Evans stated the issue is having different disciplines being engaged in the same activities but being compensated in their employment structure differently, but the people who are presently doing this are not the problem. Also each of these individual disciplines are covered by different collective bargaining elements. As long as they are covered by different collective bargaining elements, Roger doesn't see what the committee can do. Sheldon Reed stated an organization is needed to do look into this situation at the time consolidation would take place. Rhona wanted to know if salary is a problem with recruiting with EMS. If it is then the committee, at that time, should recommend a salary increase. Leo agreed that if and when salaries impact service, it would become time to look into the situation. Jeff Page went over a consumer complaint reference a call in Pelican Bay, where the EMS unit was dispatched to an address for the Sand Bar Restaurant on the beach. There is a Sand Bar and a Sandpiper Restaurant on the beach. The dispatcher gave the address for the closest access to the Sand Bar. The unit and the fire department met a trolley to take them to the beach. When they got to the beach the patient was not there. The patient was at the Sandpiper. The patient had shortness of breath, with an anaphylactic type of reaction. The paramedics went on the trolley again going to the Sandpiper. Upon their arrival at the Sandpiper they found the patient had left in another trolley to go back to the parking lot. The paramedics went back to the parking lot where they were originally dispatched. Prior to their arrival, they were told by the dispatcher they could cancel as the patient went POV, per a deputy. The patient's wife called, she was very upset. The problem was when the call went in on the enhancement screen it showed the address of the Pelican Bay Foundation Clubhouse and that is why 911 dispatch dispatched EMS to that location. All 911 calls that go into dispatch, show on the enhancement screen the address of the phone number from where the call is originating. for whatever reason the caller gave the correct location where they were located, but the 911 operator looked at the screen and did not know the difference. The screen had a location on the south end of Pelican Bay, they dispatched to a completely different area and restaurant. EMS is working with the 911 Dispatch Office in conjunction with the Sheriffs Office to get the phones to ring in the correct location. The Battalion Commander heard the call and addressed it right away with the Sheriff's Office and the understanding is it has been corrected with the Dispatch Center. The EMS Department now has to follow up with Mrs. Blonder. The department is waiting for the actual dispatch tape before following up with her. Mrs. Blonder's only concern is that this situation doesn't happen again. The Commander followed up that evening to make sure Mr. Blonder had arrived at the hospital and was going to be all right. +► 'Sheldon Reed also reiterated that cell phones cause the same problem. It doesn't matter where you are located, the cell phone tower address is what comes up on the dispatch enhanced screen. The dispatch operator should always ask for the location of the patient. Diane Flagg stated the dispatch protocol is, if the address on the screen is different from the address the caller is giving, they are to dispatch to the address the caller is giving. Sheldon Reed wanted to advise the committee that April is "Hurricane Re-entry Sticker" month. Bring a vehicle registration for each vehicle you own to the nearest Sheriff's Office sub-station. This is just to facilitate re-entry into your area. This is a county wide program. Diane Flagg met with Jim Tobin, North Naples Fire and EMS will be sharing the existing Emergency Services facility in North Naples. She also meet with Don Peterson in Golden Gate, and there are two options we can use. Either build an addition to the existing facility or EMS would incur the cost for expansion to the building. Don Peterson will take this to his Commissioners and will keep Diane informed as to the decision. Meeting adjourned.