The October 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 Mason Emergency Services Training Room.

Motion made by Chuck Elton, seconded by Gary Victorson, to approve the minutes as printed. Motion carried.

TREASURER – Chuck Elton reported a current balance of $2305.23. Medical directors have been paid through the third quarter. Also the post office box and state paperwork have been paid.

Motion made by Gary Victorson, seconded by Dan Diamon, to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Motion carried.

MDAC (Medical Director Advisory Committee)/MEDICAL DIRECTOR – Gary Victorson reported that the MDAC is planning on meeting late November or December. He also reported on the service director’s meeting that was held on October 17^th. Quality Improvement (QI) and airborne pathogen training were the subjects of the service director meeting. Mike Caven, director of Cardio-Pulmonary Department of MMC, provided a train-the-trainer program related to the airborne pathogen standard. Merrilee Carlson presented information and a format to use for Quality Improvement (QI) documentation.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT – Jan Victorson, Bayfield County, distributed training calendars made available through Wisconsin Emergency Management. She encouraged folks to identify courses that there would be interest in making available in this area and let her know. She has applied for a training grant to provide two offerings of the course “Critical Incident Management”. Ashland County offered this course in October and it was well received. This course is intended for fire, EMS, law, public health, and other agencies that might be involved in a the managing of an incident. The goal will be to provide one course on weekends in order to accommodate working schedules within the volunteer public safety community.

Jan also distributed Bayfield County Emergency Response Map Books and a list of corrections that need to be made.

TWO-COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER – Gary Victorson and Deb Thimm reported on ad hoc committee activities. Gary was part of a group that traveled to Owatonna and visited a joint communications center between Rice and Steele counties. Their center takes EMS calls and forwards them to an EMS dispatch center. Their advice was to take your time, don’t rush, it will cost more than you think, and don’t do it just for the grant. They also offered themselves as a resource as we proceed. Gary came back reassured that a joint center could be very successful. The next full committee meeting is November 6^th.

REGIONAL TRAUMA ADVISORY COUNCIL – The efforts to form a Regional Trauma Advisory Council (RTAC) encompassing the eight north counties of Wisconsin is moving forward. Discussion about the various regional efforts moving at this time including the hospital bioterrorism planning, public health consortiums, and RTAC. Discussion.

Motion made by Gary Victorson, seconded by Dan Diamon, to write a letter to the appropriate person(s) at the state level supporting the “north” regional trauma advisory council. Motion carried.

INSURANCE – The Council had instructed Jan to explore other insurance options. She distributed information received from EMS-Pak. This information had been reviewed by the executive committee and compared with the existing provider. This insurance does not include workers compensation.

Motion made by Chuck Elton, seconded by Gary Victorson, to accept the EMS-Pak proposal for insurance coverage from September 2002 thru September 2003 for $911. Motion carried.

EMS-Pak requires a listing of EMTs and First Responders including their driver’s license number for their records. Jan will send out the EMTs she has listed for each service and request a review by each service director. She will add a column for driver’s license numbers for them to fill in.

BYLAWS – Jan presented the proposed bylaws changes distributed at the annual meeting.

Motion made by Gary Victorson, seconded by Chuck Elton, to amend the proposed bylaws in Article III, Section 3 to include membership dues of $100 for prehospital care providers based within Ashland and Bayfield Counties and $50 for other agencies. Motion carried.

Motion made by Chuck Elton, seconded by Deb Thimm, to amend the proposed bylaws in Article V, Section 1 by deleting the words “first two” and “of each quarter”. Motion carried.

Motion made by Chuck Elton, seconded by Peggy Kman, to amend the proposed bylaws in Article VI by changing “City of Ashland Fire Chief or designee” to prehospital ALS provider appointed by the executive committee. Motion carried.

Motion made by Peggy Kman, seconded by Deb Thimm, to accept the proposed bylaws with changes. Motion carried.

Jan will mail copies of the amended bylaws to all services before the next meeting for review. The final vote on the bylaws will be taken at that time.

Dean Hambrecht reminded the membership to consider persons to nominate for the fifth service position on the MDAC newly created by the bylaws.

GREAT DIVIDE PARAMEDIC PROGRAM – Great Divide has been approved by the state to begin operating at the EMT-P level beginning the first of the year. Congratulations!

DISASTER DRILL / SUPERIOR – Les Luder informed the membership that there was a disaster drill scheduled with CP Rail on October 29^th in the City.

NEXT MEETING: The next meeting of the Council will be December 12^th, 7:30 PM, in the North Wing Classroom of MMC/Ashland.

Motion made by Gary Victorson, seconded by Dan Diamon, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned.

IN ATTENDANCE

Bill Andresen Bayfield

Merrilee Carlson MMC/Ashland

Dan Diamon Gold Cross

Chuck Elton Washburn

Robin Friermood Barnes

Viola Friermood Barnes

Dean Hambrecht Great Divide

Peg Kman Barnes/Iron River

Les Luder Superior

Debbie Thimm Glidden

Gary Victorson Iron River/Mason

Jan Victorson Bayfield County EM