The April meeting of the Bayfield-Ashland Counties EMS Council was called to order by Dean Hambrecht, President of the Council. The meeting was held in the Board Room of MMC/Ashland.

Motion made by Del Jerome, seconded by Rob Puhls, to approve the minutes of the March meeting as circulated. Motion carried.

TREASURER REPORT – Chuck Elton reported the following that we have $5,135.77 balance. Annual dues have not been received from one service. Three of the four payments to John Schulz for medical director still have to be paid. Insurance will come later this year.

Discussion about having to assess a fee to each ambulance service for additional projects as needed.

MDAC (Medical Director Advisory Committee) – John Schulz, medical director, announced that MMC has received their designation as a Level III Trauma Center. This means there will be a heightened, more aggressive response to trauma including notification of a general surgeon, anesthesia as well as the ER staff. MMC is still working to define what they will handle with a formal announcement coming out to services in the future.

The medical suggested operating guidelines/protocols are on hold as Ashland Fire Department works on developing some specifics related to formatting of the flow charts. The basic medical guidelines are on hold until the formatting is finalized in order to maintain consistency. It was also discussed that the state is working toward consistent protocols statewide with development beginning at the paramedic level. Ashland will continue development of their protocols as there has been no timeline established by the state.

The next MDAC meeting will be at the call of the chair or medical director.

24/7 COVERAGE – John asked the group how it was going with the documentation of coverage. Mason had been using an “A” for available in addition to having folks sign up on the schedule.

RTAC – Dan Diamon, coordinator for the RTAC, reported that he has been working with medical First Responder agencies to help them become certified through the state EMS office. He also reported that the Wisconsin EMS Emergency Preparedness Plan (WEEPP) and START/JumpSTART training curriculum is almost complete. Services will be asked to have a minimum of 80% of their roster complete the training within three years. Upon completion of the training a $1400 grant will be awarded to the service that is intended to be spent for upgrading local capabilities to respond to a multiple casualty incident.

Jan Victorson reported that the RTAC has identified the need for consistent public education throughout the region and will be considering identifying a specific topic of focus for each year. Handout materials and educational topics would be available to hospitals and pre-hospital agencies throughout the region in order to accomplish that goal. John Schulz mentioned that the president of the State Medical Society of Mark Belknap of Ashland. They also chose a focus for each year to work on statewide.

Dan reminded the group that the RTAC meets the fourth Thursday of the month at the Cable Community Centre and that mileage will be reimbursed for those who participate. Merrilee asked that anyone who would like to be added to the mailing list send their email address to her.

WITC – Cindy Lazorik was unable to stay for the meeting as she is working with the current EMT class getting them ready for the National Registry exam. This is the largest EMT class in many years with over forty folks taking the exam in May.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT – Jan reminded everyone of the Be SOMEBODY campaign scheduled for May 20 thru 21. Departments in Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and this year Sawyer counties are participating. She reminded the membership that the goal of this event is two-fold: to raise community awareness of volunteer emergency service presence as well as recruit additional staff for volunteer fire and ambulance departments. The kick-off to the event is scheduled for 2:00 PM in Brule with the request for departments to have apparatus in place by 1:30 PM. As you approach Brule use FireCOM and address SOMEBODY COMMAND. KQDS will be doing a live remote from Brule throughout the afternoon and we are hoping for broadcast media participation from Duluth as well. Jan also requested that those departments that need the “Help Wanted” and Be SOMEBODY” signs let her know as soon as possible.

Mutual Aid Channels – Jan also stated that a new state document on mutual aid channels has been received by emergency management in each county. Please keep in mind the programming of mutual aid frequencies whenever new radio programming is being done.

WEBSITE PLANNING – Gene Miller reviewed the issues related to website development. He will be making contact with the services who wanted to use the website for maintenance of a call schedule. He explained that he will need each service to identify an administrator who will control the content of your service website. He will also need email addresses for all members of the service. If two people share the same internet address they will need to develop a second address. He plans on having the call schedule portion of the website functional by next month. Additional functionality of the website were discussed.

COMMUNICATIONS – A reminder to use ALS 400 whenever possible during intercept situations. This will prevent “locking up” the entire county radio system with sometimes lengthy patient reports. When one ambulance is “hailing” another, contact may be made on the repeater with an “I’ll meet you on ALS 400” directing both to use that frequency. Iron River has been using ALS 400 for intercepts very successfully. Limitations of the frequency were discussed including a reminder to always use a mobile radio rather than a portable (100 watts vs. 3-5 watts) when that choice is available. There are no repeaters on this system so the helicopter or ground intercept vehicle will need to be within range in order to communicate.

ALS 400 is also used for landing zone coordination for medical helicopters. Ed Hofstrand will make sure this does not raise any conflict with helicopter services. Also important to remember that landing zone coordination – making sure the helicopter gets on the ground safely – is the priority communication if both helicopter and ground intercept is responding.

Pager testing – Bayfield County ambulance services expressed concern that there has been inconsistent to non-existent pager testing in the last few weeks. People depend on those tests on Monday night with several having gotten calls wondering if their radio was not working. Jan was encouraged to relay their concern and encourage consistent Monday night pager testing.

373-6120 – A service representative reported that he had dialed 373-6120 in order to ask whether or not a pager test had been conducted and the dispatcher told the individual to hang-up because it was not an emergency. Concern expressed from the Drummond area that several pages had been missed and wondered if power was down at the Cable tower.

ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS – Jan forwarded a discussion from MDAC reminding services of the importance of attendance at EMS Council meeting by the director or designee. The meetings are intended to facilitate discussion and exchange of information between services and the medical director, among services, and between mutual aid services. This is the only avenue in place to assure our continued sharing of information and problem solving.

COUNCIL MEETING TIME – Jan brought up the issue of changing the Council meeting time to 7:00. Discussion.

Motion made by Jan Victorson, seconded by Mary Ross, to change the Council meeting time to 7:00 PM. Motion carried.

INTERCEPT RECOMMENDATIONS – A clean copy of the intercept recommendations was distributed, reviewed and discussed. Services were reminded of the requirement to have ANSI safety clothing available to personnel. The ANSI standard dictates the number of square inches of reflective and fluorescent materials on a piece of clothing. When on the highway a minimum of ANSI 2 clothing is required.

EMS WEEK – May 16^th – 21^st. Jan stated that an EMS week planning guide can be requested through www.acep.org and is available free of charge. Several articles in this guide may be usable throughout the year.

2004 MEDICAL SOGS – Merrilee Carlson distributed copies of the 2004 medical suggested operating guidelines (SOG).

NEXT MEETING – The next Council meeting is scheduled for May 26, 2005, 7:00 PM at MMC.

Motion made by Gary Victorson, seconded by Scott Thimm, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned.

IN ATTENDANCE

Bill Andresen Bayfield

Ron Brendalen Mellen

Merrilee Carlson MMC EMS Coordinator

Dan Diamon Gold Cross

Chuck Elton Washburn

Dean Hambrecht Great Divide

John Harding Glidden

Tam Hofman South Shore

Ed Hofstrand SMDC/LifeFlight

Del Jerome Barnes

Teresa Gunderson Mason

Mike Larsen Apostle Island National Lakeshore

Cindy Lazorik WITC/South Shore

Gene Miller Barnes

Chris Pribek Ashland

Carol Pufall Town of Eileen

Rob Puhls Great Divide

Mary Ross Madeline Island

John Schulz Medical Director

Scott Thimm Ashland

Gary Victorson Iron River

Jan Victorson Bayfield County EM