LEPC EMS Subcommittee meeting                         12/15/2011

The LEPC EMS Subcommittee met on December 15^th, 2011 at 12:00, before the quarterly LEPC meeting. Present were Jack Laing, Joyce Stoddart, Terry Wigfield, Tim Lumadue, Mark Hatten, Jeremy Ruffner, Kathy Shaffer (via phone) and Debra Archer.

Topics of discussion were:

• A discussion was held concerning the use of the Extra Crew Tones on EMS calls. It is not possible for dispatch to know how many crews are working for each station when they are constantly changing. The stations that seem to utilize the Extra Crew Tones are 1, 8, 42, and 43. The current SOP for EMS dispatch (6-06) states “In the event a second emergency call comes in for an ambulance service that is already committed to a call, it will be handled in the same manner as any other call.  The Communications Center will announce that a “second (third, fourth) crew” is needed for the additional call if that service has the capability in units to handle that call.  If all units are committed on previous calls, the present call will be announced once for the initial service and will be immediately turned over to the next closest service.” The issue appears to be the lack of a standard procedure for the EMS Duty tones. These tones   should  be activated whenever a 4^th or 5^th crew is due. We would like add wording to the current policy that works for all County EMS services regarding the extra crew tones.

• The dispatchers would like to see a policy change for the ten-minute turnover time for EMS units EMS call turnover( 6-07). They would like us to look into the possibility of switching to a policy similar to Centre County, where an EMS station is given four minutes (two pages) to acknowledge a full crew, but they are still given the full 10 minutes to respond before turning the call over. If a crew does not acknowledge the call within the first four minutes, the call is turned over then. The EMS subcommittee would like a meeting oa all county ambulance agencies before any changes are adopted.

• The Air ambulance SOP 6-14 should be reworded to include requests for an air ambulance outside the county boundaries. It was agreed that the County having jurisdiction should have the responsibility of coordinating the response. Debra will rewrite the SOP.

Meeting adjourned at 13:00

 Submitted by Debra Archer

LEPC EMS Subcommittee meeting                         12/16/2010

The LEPC EMS Subcommittee met on December 16^th, 2010 at 13:40, after the quarterly LEPC meeting. Present were Jack Laing, Joyce Stoddart, Terry Wigfield and Debra Archer

Topics of discussion were:

A meeting was held on September 7^th at EMMCO East in Saint Mary’s. Present were Brett Patterson of the NAED, John Weidow, EMMCO, Dr Earl Morgan Terry Wigfield, Clearfield EMS Dave McClure, Clearfield County 9-1-1, Jack Laing, Glendale QRS, Dr. Jim Edwards, Mike McAllister, Elk County 9-1-1, Todd O’Leary, Jefferson County 9-1-1. Results of this meeting was the a 3^rd draft of the Severe Weather Response Policy               (SWRP). Terry, Dr. Edwards and Deb then met on November 16^th to review non-critical EMS calls according to the Priority Dispatch determinate codes that would qualify for an alternative response under this policy. This information has been forwarded to Joe Schmider, Director of Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, PA Department of Health. We are awaiting his review.

 Review of Gunshot incident CFS # 112910-52. This call should have been coded for ALS response. Debra had a recording of the incident. The Incident had been reviewed using the Quality Assurance process. It was determined that the call was coded for BLS response due to call-taker errors. One Key Question was miss-worded and one was skipped. The call taker was subjected to remedial training.

 There was discussion regarding the sending of ALS when a patient will be transported to a hospital in the opposite direction. For example, when Clearfield EMS is sent according to the CAD recommendations, but the patient is transported to Altoona. In such a case the BLS service can cancel Clearfield and request a unit from Altoona. On medical calls the dispatchers will be reminded to ask to which hospital the patient wishes to go.

 Clearfield EMS is programmed to respond to ALS calls at SCI Houtzdale. However, SCI has a contract with Altoona Hospital. Debra is looking for a way to program CAD to recommend an ALS unit from Bellwood.

 It was agreed that notes from the EMS Subcommittee meeting should be uploaded to the County website at www.clearfield911.com  under the LEPC section.

 Meeting adjourned at 14:28.

Submitted by Debra Archer