Condition Yellow!

Reminding you that MEMS is in condition yellow in preparation for possible evacuation of area hospitals in New Orleans.

Condition yellow means, among many things, that all units are prepared for immediate deployment and staff is notified to be ready to come in immediately. Condition Red means that there is a mandatory call back of all employees. If condition red is called, staffing will be set up so that we can sustain an extended response with not only the event, but also normal 911 and day-to-day operations. The goal is to staff up without burning everyone out.

As of now, we do not know if we will be activated, how many patients to expect etc.. We did succeed in getting the reception site moved to Central flying instead of Jacksonville Air Force.
I know that this is a Holiday weekend, however this is what we do for living, respond to patients, and in this case cities in need.

September 2 Inventory Changes

You have been hearing for several weeks about the up coming inventory control changes. Here is a brief over view of the system.

Why the change?
· In the face of rising cost a more accurate inventory is a must.
· Have you ever gotten into a truck and not had the proper radio, map, Thomas pack or phone for your EKG monitor. This new system will track those as well as other must have items.
· The main point is we can better track and control the items that you need in a more efficient manner.

How does station one work?
· You will come into work and report to the east hall and enter the supply area. There you will find Louis or one of the Oscar staff.
· You will give them your unit that you are assigned for the day, and they will check out to you the following. (Known as assets)
o Satchel with your radios, unit and drug keys, maps, binoculars, fuel card and fob as well as a “quick look” book that has many need to know facts such as hundred blocks, latest dialysis patient info, 12 lead cheat sheet etc…
o Monitor with your attached phone and cables, batteries, paddles
o Thomas pack with glucose monitor, laryngoscope, BVM etc…
· At the end of your shift you will bring back the items that you were issued to be checked back in. They will be inspected to make sure that all that was sent out comes back.
· You will also turn in your supply list form the day’s shift. Your list will be pulled from stock by the Oscar staff; it will then be your responsibility to restock your unit.

What about outlying station supplies?
Each outlying station that is not in Faulkner County will have a supply area that will be locked for use by the assigned crew only. The key will be on the assigned units drug key ring. The station will have a predetermined inventory amount. Whenever the crew uses a supply they will pull it from the stock and record the usage in the stock order book. The Oscar staff will work with the station lead to maintain the appropriate stock levels.

What about outlying station monitors, satchel etc ?
At each shift change the crew must do a start of shift check off sheet to account for everything the satchel is suppose to have. In addition you must account for the monitor and Thomas pack. We understand that this is the weakest part of this system so it is imperative, in fact a requirement that you inspect and fax in you start of shift check off sheet. If an item is missing during after your shift you will be held responsible. When a unit is brought in for maintenance, or reassigned to metro, the assets will be checked back in to supply.

What about Faulkner County?
Conway and Faulkner County units will be handled by the Foxtrot staff. All Faulkner County units will be restocked form Conway Central.
I am sure we will make some changes as we go along in an effort to make it as user friendly as possible.

Unit Moves Coming

What’s up?
Our budget process allows for MEMS to remount 6 trucks a year. With us having 36 units this means that each truck should be 6 years old and have @ 250,000 miles at the end of its life. To accomplish this feat, it is important that we pay attention to how many miles each unit is getting on a regular basis.

Example
· The company average is 3155 miles per month
· 519 has been averaging 6826 miles per month and at its current rate it would have to be remounted in 2009 instead of the scheduled 2012

In the past we had our hands around this process pretty well, but with the recent strike of the company that makes the axles for our units, we have not been able to get new chassis and because of this have not been able to do the needed remounts this year. In addition, the 6 liter engine problem that Ford was having, had kept so many units down that we have had to keep moving our units just to have enough that were not in the shop on the street.


Our Plan
Beginning in September we will do our best to move the units in the fleet to better balance the mileage and get us back on our remount schedule. This means that as many as 12 units will have to change shifts.
We have already been going through the fleet making “punch” lists for each truck of items that are in need of repair such as seats, dents, scratches, grills etc…

We have ordered several new seat covers, grills and bumper covers to make the needed repairs. In addition we have already painted unit 180, 133 and will soon be painting 130 to get them back to the condition that a company like MEMS expects. We have contacted our decal company and have given them a list of the units whose stripes are peeling, fading or cracking and have them scheduled for repair and replacement.

Lets face it, our fleet does not look as good as it should, this is a problem that we all can address. I am asking for your help with this move, as well as this new emphasis on a cleaner better shape fleet.

We will continue to monitor the mileages and will make smaller changes during the year.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call.

Greg

Congratulations Janelle!!

As you may have heard Janelle Johnson was chosen as the 2008 Arkansas EMS instructor of the year! Janelle, we are very proud of you!!

;-)

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing!"

100% Pass!!

100% of the MEMS/UAMS Paramedic class #6 passed their national test on the first try. This brings 8 new Medics to the streets.




We are very glad since they already had a back up plan going ;-)

Congratulations, you all set the bar high!

MEMS will have a team in the Koman Race for the Cure once again this year. This is the 15 year the race has been in Arkansas and MEMS a partner of the team for most of that time.
If you would like to sign up for the race and be a part of the MEMS team you can go to www.komenarkansas.org
to do so. Our team # is 50390 our team name is MEMS. The race date is October 11 2008. You may also register using the traditional paper forms that are found at station one. They must be turned in no later than September 9th by 5PM.

MEMS always has a team shirt, we are now taking ideas. Some of the do's and dont's for the team shirt are displayed by the time clocks at station one.

We are also asking for any man who is interested in being a part of the 3 miles of men to register also.

If you have any questions please contact Jocelyn or Gwen.

511 Polo Shirts

Addition of new uniform polo shirts

As most of you know, we have been looking at adding the 5.11 polo shirt as part of the approved uniform. The 5.11 will be approved as part of the uniform affective August 1, 2008.

However, here are a couple points that need to be made.

Up Side:
1. The 5.11 does have a slot on the left sleeve for pen placement
2. There is an option for lapel mic slot on shoulder

Down Side
1. The 5.11 is a little heavier shirt and the existing polo shirt
2. The cost of the 5.11 will be slightly higher. (On average shirt will be about $10.00 more)
3. The polo shirts will not inventoried at Trivia Marketing
4. You’ll need to order through Louis, then your order will go to trivia for
embroidery, so plan for a 2-3 week lead time

If you have any questions, see Louis.