Update on 325

A few pictures on the status of 325 (soon to be 425)

Latisha Johnson

Our own Latisha was honored as one of Arkansas’ Stars of life recently. This is an honor given out by the Arkansas Ambulance Association. She spent the day at the State Capitol interacting with Legislators, and touring the Capitol as well as participating in a luncheon in the Stars honor. Latisha, we are very proud of you !

Cot Inspections

We are in the process of bringing in all the cots in the fleet. We are doing a decontamination as well as inspection/repair as well as replacing any worn cot straps. I am reminding everyone that the chest straps are a requirement on our cots and should be used to restrain your patients.

We are also placing a “Mega Mover” on all cots. Its functions like a draw sheet on steroids. It can hold up to 1500 pounds. It is stored at the foot of the cot under the mattress. We have now placed it on the check off and major sheets.

Auto Vents in

We have received the shipment of the Autovent 3000. This means that all transport vents will be the same. All Paramedics should have received an in service in the last mandatory classes that were held. This is almost exactly like the Autovent that we have had for the last several years. If you need any additional in-service, please see your Supervisor.

A while back we adopted the phonetic alphabet to describe the different positions in the company. Mike=Major, Charlie= Captain, Hotel=Hazmat etc…

I think sometimes the new folks (and some of the old) are having a little trouble getting the concept ;-)

228 catches fire

Not a site you see everyday for sure. The crew of 228 (a newer unit) had just picked up a non-critical PT and were in route to the ER, when they lost power and started seeing smoke. The crew pulled over, evacuated the PT to a safe area. One crewmember went back with a fire extinguisher and was able to get to some of the flame, however the fire appeared to be in the wall of the unit, so he was unable to get to the true source of the fire.
I don’t feel the unit will be a total loss, but it does have heavy wire and smoke damage. We can replace metal, but not people. I am very grateful to the crew for their quick thinking and actions

A little trivia for ya....

This is Hunter Gray. He "invented" the stick man and the way we stripe out trucks. He also designed our first MEMS Alert campaign .

History of the Star of Life

Did you know??



The blue Star of Life was designed by Leo R. Schwartz, Chief of the EMS Branch, NHTSA. It was officially registered February 1, 1977. Just as pharmacists have the mortar and pestle and doctors have the caduceus, EMTs have a symbol. Each of the bars or six “points” of the blue “Star of Life” represents the six-system function of the EMS: detection, reporting, response, on scene care, care in transit, and transfer to definitive care. The staff on the star represents Medicine and Healing.

Slain EMS worker remembered

The EMT volunteer murdered Friday night in Cape Vincent had a promising career in emergency medical work cut short.

Mark B. Davis, 25, was killed by a gunshot from a high powered rifle while responding to a call late Friday evening.

Mr. Davis was involved in multiple emergency agencies, was enrolled in a paramedic program at JCC and worked full time at Watertown's Guilfoyle Ambulance, says the county's Fire and Emergency Services Director Glenn Morrison.

"He had an amazing passion for it," Morrison said.

Davis joined the Cape Vincent Fire Department in late 2006. He was both a volunteer and paid driver for Thousand Islands Rescue. "This was all he knew at this point," Morrison said. "He gave the ultimate sacrifice."

He said Davis' death is being treated as a "line of duty death," meaning funeral and survivor benefits being made available to Davis' family. It also means a formal honor guard funeral, to be held in Cape Vincent.

The designation of a "line of duty death" requires extensive paperwork which has already begun, Morrison said.

Davis moved to Cape Vincent about 2004 from Florida.

He is survived by his mother, a brother, a sister and other relatives.

murder of an EMS volunteer

Cape Vincent man is being held without bail after being arraigned for the
alleged murder of an EMS volunteer who was responding to his residence.

Christopher G. Burke, 25, was arraigned in Cape Vincent Court on 2nd degree
murder and weapons charges late Saturday morning.

State Police investigators say Burke shot and killed Cape Vincent EMS
volunteer Mark Davis at his 114 South Esseltyne residence late Friday
evening.

Davis and other EMS personnel had been summoned to Burke's residence by a
911 call, authorities say. Police would not reveal the nature of the medical
emergency.

While the EMS workers were tending to Burke, he became agitated, went into
another room and retrieved a high powered rifle. While talking to the EMS
workers, Burke had indicated he had weapons in the home, police said.

"And they heard the action of a weapon being activated. At that point the
EMTs attempted to retreat from the residence," said State Police BCI captain
Mark Lincoln.

As the EMTs retreated, Burke allegedly fired two rounds, one of them hitting
Davis and killing him.

Burke then ran from the home and was tackled and held down by another EMT.
Clayton Police officer Robin Pearce took him into custody with help from
Alexandria Bay Police officer Jerry Delosh.

EMTs at the scene attempted life-saving efforts on Davis and continued
during the ambulance transport to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown,
where he was pronounced dead.

Capt. Lincoln declined to say whether drugs or alcohol may have been a
factor in the fatal incident.

25th Anniversary patch

In Celebration of MEMS 25th Anniversary, we have authorized the wearing of the MEMS 25th Anniversary patch. You are authorized to have this patch on your polo’s, or flying cross shirts in place of our regular patch for 2009.

Since this is an optional patch, and not required so a word of caution, this is only for 2009 so only order what you think you will wear for 09, 2010 we will move back to our traditional patch.

Stations being re-keyed

It’s time to re-key all of the MEMS sub-stations.

We started this week and hope to be concluded by the end of the January.

Now, some things you NEED TO KNOW.

The new keys are going to be color coded: Pink and Blue

Pink station keys will be on each MEMS unit key ring. (The color will insure that they stay on the key ring.)

Blue station keys can be issued to an employee who wants one. Note: employees or their family members ARE NOT authorized to duplicate or have a station key unless it has been issued by MEMS.

MEMS Policy on station keys is: You can be issued a station master key only. You CAN NOT take it upon yourself to have a station master key made. If you have MEMS station key made without MEMS authorization, you will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. (ouch!!) In other words, don’t duplicate key…… J

You can see Louis or one of the supervisors in Conway to have a station key issued. There is a $50.00 fee/fine for the key, if it is lost and/or not returned. If your issued a key, you assume all responsibility until it is returned. If the key breaks or doesn’t work properly, just bring it in and we’ll swap it w/o worries……..

UAMS is MOVING!

The entire hospital will begin moving all patients, equipment and supplies on Saturday, January 17, 2009.

Beginning Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 0800 the old ER will be closed and the new ER will be accepting patients. The new ER entrance is located off of Shuffield Dr. across from LRVA ER. Follow signs for ambulance parking and entrance.

The new Helipad, located on top of new hospital, will be completely operational beginning Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 0800.

Update on 232 (132)

The new 232 is beginning it transformation. Should be home near the end of February.

MEMS to be mentioned in new book

Lamar Pickens, MEMS patient suffered 3 gun shot wounds to his body after a man asked to use the phone in his business then turned and shot him. Mr. Pickens owns Lamar’s Auto Air and is very happy to be alive today. He attributes his life to Medics Jalana Braqnham and Allen Lawrence, but knows for certain that he was ultimately in God’s hands. Interesting, Mr. Pickens said, “the shooter pointed that gun at my head and I told him In the name of Jesus, don’t kill me…..” Strangely, the gun misfired and he only suffered powder burns to his face and “3-days of sulfur” in his mustache! He did take one bullet to the abdomen, one to his Left femur and one to his Right femur.

His book is called “Psalm 91:1”. He wants to name Jalana and Allen specifically in his book. Also, present on scene was Terry Henson, who he said scooped him up and carried him to the ambulance by herself!!!

I thought this was an interesting note. He is in the process of getting his book published.

MANDATORY Paramedic Training

In January MEMS will carry 2 different brands of cardiac monitors, the LP 12 and Philips MRx. All paramedics are expected to attend one of these MANDATORY classes on the use of the Philips monitor. There are several dates to chose from but each class is limited in size.
Reserve your space early.

Monday, January 5th 1200-1500
Monday, January 5th 1700-2000
Tuesday, January 6th 0800-1100
Tuesday, January 6th 1700-2000
Wednesday, January 7th 0800-1100
Wednesday, January 7th 1200-1500
Thursday, January 8th 0800-1100
Thursday, January 8th 1700-2000
Friday, January 9th 0800-1100
Friday, January 9th 1200-1500
Saturday, January 10th 0800-1100
Saturday, January 10th 1200-1500
Monday, January 12th 1200-1500
Monday, January 12th 1700-2000
Tuesday, January 13th 0800-1100
Tuesday, January 13th, 1700-2000
Wednesday, January 14th 0800-1100
Wednesday, January 14th 1200-1500

We will also cover:

CPAP
Autovent A-3000 ventilators
disposable ventilators
Taser probe removal

Location: Training Building

You must submit registration form to the Training Department no
later than 3 days prior to class.
Space is limited so late submissions are subject to denial.

MEMS turns 25 this year

We are in the process of gathering old newspaper articles, pictures, videos, memorabilia etc...about MEMS for our 25th year celebration. If you have anything that we can scan, copy or have please contact Greg Thompson.

David turner has been working feverishly on writing down our history, already it is a great read. The actual Birthday is May 25th 2009, we hope to put out a multi media project to commemorate this day.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

GT

gthompson@metroems.com

Medics Caught on Tape Allegedly Decided Disabled Man Not Worth Saving

What an incredibly sad and tragic story. May we never allow our humanity and the reason we started doing this work to be lost
GT

Two EMT workers in Britain were arrested after they were heard allegedly discussing whether they should bother to resuscitate a disabled man who had collapsed at home and subsequently died.

Barry Baker, 59, who lived alone, dialed 911 saying that he thought he was having a heart attack. An ambulance was sent to his house while a controller kept him talking on the line.

By the time the ambulance arrived at the house in Patcham, Brighton, Baker had collapsed, but the telephone line was still open and was being recorded.

It is alleged that staff in the control center heard the two medics making disparaging comments about the state of the house.

A police source, who asked not to be named, said that the medics were then heard discussing Baker and saying “words to the effect that he was not worth saving."

The source said that the two men were allegedly first heard commenting on the untidy state of the house and then saying that it was not worth bothering to resuscitate Baker.

They are said to have discussed what to tell ambulance control and decided to say that Baker was already dead when they got there.

“Obviously the crew did not realize that the phone was still connected and, of course, the 999 call was recorded on tape,” the source said.

Sussex Police confirmed that two men had been arrested and that a full-scale investigation into the incident was being carried out by the major crime team.

Baker, who used sticks to help to him walk after undergoing hip replacement surgery, made the emergency call to the South East Coast Ambulance Service headquarters in Lewes in the early hours of Nov. 29.

Hi from Jay and Susan

Hey gang!

Just a quick note and some pictures. Here are some pictures of the third snow we have had this December. This is about 5" and the largest to date. This fell Friday night. Saturday was pretty pleasant, with the temperatures in the upper 20's. Sunday and Monday never reached double digits! Damn cold !! Tuesday it is back to the upper 20's with a chance for more snow this afternoon and evening.

We hope that everyone is happy and healthy and prepared for a wonderful holiday season. My dad and sister are coming out the week after Christmas and we are looking forward to seeing them. We are always ready for other visitors to come say howdy !!! and we are only an hour from one of the ski resorts!

Happy Holidays to you all

We miss you!

Link to pictures

Jay , Susan, Logna, and Dylan Stype

Christmas Party

Remember the MEMS Christmas party and awards banquet this Friday Night. This is open to MEMS Employees and their mates. This year we will be having it at the Holiday Inn Airport on December 5 2008.

Happy hour is from 18:00 – 19:00 with dinner and awards starting at 19:00.

The Husqvarna (Husky) Makes it First Event

Some of you have seen the new Husqvarna that was purchased to take the place of the old “Mac Cart”. It was purchased with a grant from Fire House Subs for a cost of @ $17,000.

Friday at the Miracle on Markham the Husky did it’s job without a hitch.

The Gator will be moved to Conway where it will be stored in ready to respond mode. For large events such as the State Fair, Razorback games etc. you will probably see both in use. We are currently looking at what we will do with the old MAC Cart.






I wonder if it is what brought us luck???

Biggest Turkey Fryer in Town!

This monster is owned by Clay Brannon


Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I want to say thank you to the Lee family for their work in feeding all the metro crews. David came in on his day off, and brought along his wife, father and his girlfriend to do the cooking for everyone on duty.

In Conway, Major Ekenseair started cooking the day before and handed the final preparations off to Major Tabor who along with the Faulkner County crews on duty put together an excellent meal.

Buying the food, preparing the meal, getting the crews by takes a lot of coordination and effort to pull off. I am grateful for everyone who does it with such a sense of servant hood and graciousness.
Thank You!

More on 228

Getting closer

update on 128

We don't often show the status of our remounts. This is the phase that 128 (soon to be 228) is currently in. We don't have a firm return date yet, but believe it will be before 2009.

New Safety Vest

As of November 24, 2008 Federal law requires that a safety vest be worn by, “All response and support activities that occur on the roadways that facilitate the movement of traffic”.

Simply said if you are on a street of any kind Federal Law says you must be wearing your safety vest, day or night.

We are issuing each employee his or her own personal safety vest, however the order is on back order. To meet the deadline, we are placing two vests in each unit satchel. Additional vest can be acquired for any third riders by going through the normal inventory process (i.e. the cage)

When the bulk order comes in you will be issued your personal vest. See Policy #518 for complete details.

Welcome Tim

You may have seen a new guy around the shop. Tim Bissell recently joined Bobo and Kevin. Tim comes to us after working for a Ford dealership as well as owning his own shop for a few years. When you get a chance stop by and say hi.

Congratulations Tate Hamm

Tate Hamm was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant this week. With this new rank he will also be taking over the bike team form Stan Neal who has stepped down for personal reasons. When you see Tate congratulate him.

Red Cross Hero Awards

On Wednesday of this week Corey Burns, Fred Sterling and Alan Falcone were honored at the annual Red Cross Hero Banquet. They received this honor for the successful resuscitation of 18-month-old Caleb Gore who wandered into a pond and was found code blue. They all will be the first to say that they were just doing their job, and while that is true to some extent, it is good that some of our peers were honored for a job well done. Caleb was also at the event and was carried by Fred to the stage as they received their award. Congratulations!

Christmas party

It is that time for the annual MEMS Christmas party and awards banquet. This is open to MEMS Employees and their mates. This year we will be having it at the Holiday Inn Airport on December 5 2008.
Happy hour is from 18:00 – 19:00 with dinner and awards starting at 19:00.

Annual Awards

It is that time of year to make nominations for Paramedic, EMT, Rookie, Employee and, PRN of the Year. This year the rules are:

Any employee may be nominated for the appropriate category
Attention should be paid to employees that have gone “above and beyond” during the year
Nominee must be in good standing
Medic is defined as Paramedic
EMT is defined as EMT
Employee is defined as any full time employee who does not work as an EMT or Paramedic. (Salary/management staff are not eligible)
Rookie is defined as a Paramedic or EMT hired between October 1 2007 and October 01 2008. (See list)
Dispatcher is defined as any PRN or fulltime dispatcher.
PRN is defined as any EMT or Paramedic that has met the minimum number of hours (260 per year) to be compliant with our PRN policy. (See list)
Nominations will be taken from all staff with final selection from the top three made by management.

Deadline is Noon November 7 2008

ONE nomination vote per employee PLEASE


Ballots available at:
Station one supply room, or at Conway Central Station.

New Secondary Airway

The health department has mandated that EMS services carry a secondary airway.

We are now introducing this device into our protocol. This device will be the King Airway and will be considered the secondary airway of choice at MEMS. Included in your packet you will find the updated protocols to support these changes, MIF information, as well literature written on the King Airway.

This is mandatory training required for all paramedics that must be completed prior to using this new airway. There is a 6 minute training video available at http://www.medic.metroems.org/ If you are new to the medic site please register and then log on to view the video. Available for check out are DVD / CD from your supervisor or please see the Echo on duty. We will also be placing DVD/CD at each outlying station. Also included in your packet is a 10 question exam that must be completed and turned into the on-duty supervisor, Echo (C. Spychalski or C. Goddard) or Foxtrot in order to receive credit for this training. The deadline to complete and turn in exam is October 31, 2008. The exam must be turned in by this day or you will be ineligible to work until training is complete. You can also fax your completed test to 301-1485.

If you have any questions regarding this new device please contact Captain Janelle Johnson in training 301-1464.

Inventory and North Pulaski

Inventory
Inventory system is up and running. I want to remind you to be sure that you check you satchel at the start and end of your shift, as well as complete a start of shift check sheet. This is mandatory. We have found some mistakes, and after tracing them down discovered they were simply matters of just not checking your equipment. We are also in the process of majoring all the Thomas packs and tagging them. We are still tweaking the system, if you have ideas that make is smother or faster, we are all ears.
We will start remodeling the old supply room the week of September 29th. This new office will house the Staff Captains. Currently they have no “home” and have been working on projects such as inventory, Moving of North Pulaski Station, Health department Inspection etc..

North Pulaski
Speaking of North Pulaski, we have moved the trailer that started out in Sheridan, moved to station one and now resides in North Pulaski. It was moved to the North Pulaski Fire Station behind the current NP Station. We received permission from the Fire Department to share their land. We are in the process of getting a septic tank, porch, under pinning etc.. We do not yet have a move in date.

Returning units

Thursday September 25, 2008 units 522 and 507 will be coming home from Excellance. Unit 128 will be sent for remount. Unit 522 will have a diesel run, on board generator with a roof mount A/C system. This is an experiential system for us. We are trying to find ways to improve fuel efficiency as well as ways to better cool the units, reduce idle time etc.. It will look a little different, but we hope it meets the above needs.

Condition Green

I think that we finally finished up from the hurricane.;-) It seems that getting patients here is a lot easier than getting them home. Thank you to everyone who worked so patiently through out this whole process.

Currently in Condition Yellow

We move to Condition RED Saturday prior to the first plane into Little Rock. Again I remind you condition RED is a mandatory call in (check in for availability) of all off duty crews. This AM we moved back to condition Yellow due to the potential of several weather in Arkansas from Hurricane Gustuv. (Yellow be alert and ready to come in)

WOW!!

This is Tuesday already; I wanted to give you an update on the weekend. We started off Saturday at 10AM at MEMS getting ready to receive patients at noon. The first plane did not come till late that evening which meant a lot of tiring waiting. When they did start coming it got busy. The preliminary totals are.
13 aircraft were received
233 patients were off loaded, triaged and transported to local hospitals

The following is an excerpt from Rex Oxner IC of the event for VA/NDMS

This was a massive operation. Probably larger than anything seen during Katrina/Rita and certainly the largest reception activity ever completed over such a short time.
A simple “Thank You” to all of those who helped to make this operation a success seems inadequate but I hope that it is enough that you know what a great job you all did and how much your dedication meant to the success of this endeavor.

Thank You
Rex

J. Rex Oxner, MHA
Area Emergency Manager
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System

I add my thank you to this staff, I have said of events like this in the past, most days we are called to help people, sometimes we are called to help cities. Until later, Thank you, Thank you.

Greg

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.

FYI- It's Inspection Time

It is time for our annual health department unit inspections. They will start @ July 29th. And go through the end of August. Please make sure that your unit is ready, and remember that per the rules and regulations you should have your certification card on you while on duty.

Greg

New Lieutenant

As you all know several changes are now talking place in the area of inventory and asset control. Here are two:

1. Louis Moore will now have the two Oscar positions answering to him. He will be responsible to help manage their time/work load, will do their evaluations etc. In Louis's absence they will answer to the on duty Supervisor.

2. Louis has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. His call sign is Lima 1


Congratulations Louis !

New Supply System coming!

If you have been at station one lately, you have noticed that there is construction going on in the East hall. We hope to have the new supply system up and running in the next two weeks. The focus is on accountability, more to follow…..

New DiphenhydrAMINE packaging

We are no longer able to get Benadryl in the box packaging that we are accustomed to. The new packaging will be in a vial that will have to be drawn up before administration. The dose did not change only the packaging. Please make yourself familiar with this change.

Greg

New Staff Captains

We have added a position of Staff Captain. They will work with me on a daily basis on special projects such as, annual licensing of the fleet (due in August), rebuilding the evaluation process etc.. They will also work to take some of the administration load off the daytime supervisor allowing them more time in the field.
It is part of an initiative that we are working to allow for more proactive vs. reactive work.

Chris Spychalski and Clayton Goddard will be sharing this new role. They will alternate working two days on an ambulance and two days in the office.

New Shop Employee

We want to welcome Tommy Hood to MEMS. Tommy comes to us from South West Hospital where he worked as an ambassador. Many have commented on Tommy’s positive attitude and infectious smile. He has already gotten the shop cleaner and more organized than it has been in a long time. (Kevin and Bobo have been swamped)
When you see him stop in and say HI.

Some changes in the works.

1. Ron Spychalski is now in the QA department. He will be working with Stewart on getting our dispatch accredited, as well as helping to develop training modules etc.. he is sharing a newly furnished office with Mack and Phyllis.

2. We have been given the permission to hire an Admin Supervisor. The goal of this position is to take some of the load of the day sierra so they can spend more time in the field interacting with crews, hospitals etc.. This will be a Captain position that will handled such things as, unit assignments, complaints, keys etc.. We are currently working out the details, and will be posting the position as soon as next week.

3. The Supervisor’s truck was budgeted to be replaced in 2008. The new truck was ordered last week. It is a ¾ ton Chevrolet 4X4, extended cab with a long bed like 955. It will take a little time to get it in, and configured. The old 954 will be used for pulling the command trailers, MCIs, SORT, as well as a back up supervisor vehicle.

4. We are building a plan to handle our supplies better. We are working on a system that tracks our assets such as handhelds, monitors, fuel cards etc.. more efficiently. You will be hearing more on this very soon.

MEMS Picnic

The annual MEMS Picnic will be this Saturday June 7th at the Elks Park off of Crystal Hill

Registeration for the horseshoe tournament will be at 11AM with tournament to start at 12:00 entry is $5.00 per person.

Barbeque to be ready at 1:30.

Directions

Bring the kids and come on out!!

MEMS Golf 2008

The annual MEMS Golf tournament was held on May 14th. The director of this event, Louis Moore gives the following report of the days activities:

Total entries 28
Winners for the 2008 duffer’s cup. Robert Darr & Darrell Feagan
No deaths reported again this year, even though Bobby Blasingame had a small accident on his way to the tournament


Thank you Louis for that informative report ;-)

Link to pictures

New collars coming!!

As of Thursday June 5 2008 MEMS will move to the Ambu Perfit ACE (adjustable collar extrication) c-collar

We have chosen this move for several reasons: cost, ease of use, inventory, guaranteed fit, to name a few.

If you have not been in-serviced see either a supervisor or the training department. All 'old' style collars will be removed from the units as well as inventory and shipped back for credit after this week.

Copter crashes at Grand Rapids hospital

GRAND RAPIDS -- A medical helicopter crashed on the roof of a hospital Thursday, catching fire moments after the two people onboard escaped with minor injuries, a fire official said.

The pilot, a Vietnam veteran, and the passenger were listed in stable condition at the hospital, said Richard Breon, president and CEO of Spectrum Health.

No patients were onboard the helicopter, which crashed around 11 a.m. on a helipad atop Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

The chopper landed on its side and the two people onboard got out before it caught on fire, Grand Rapids Fire Chief John VanSolkema said at an afternoon news conference.

"There's not a whole lot left, but you can tell it was a helicopter," VanSolkema said.

Crash debris was found near the hospital, but there were no reports of injuries or damage on the ground.

Patients were temporarily evacuated to other buildings on the Spectrum Health campus.

"We basically believe it was practicing approaches," said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago. The FAA was investigating and the National Transportation Safety Board may investigate, Cory said.

All surgeries at the hospital temporarily were canceled, but were expected to resume later Thursday, said spokesman Bruce Rossman. Patients were evacuated from several floors of the hospital, but were returned to their rooms later in the day. None were injured, Rossman said.

Patients awaiting discharge were being held on the first floor of the hospital until roads leading to the facility were reopened to traffic other than emergency vehicles, he said.

A backup generator restored electricity, which went out after the Aero Med helicopter crash.

Kelli Wiltjer, a student aide in a Drug Enforcement Administration office nearby, said she looked out the window as the crash happened.

"The nose of the helicopter was kind of up and it almost looked like it was turning around, and then it dropped real fast," she said.

"Pieces were flying in the air" after the impact, said Wiltjer, 23.

Another witness was watching from her office in the nearby College of Nursing at Grand Valley State University, when she saw the helicopter come in from the south.

"We were standing here at the window ... and about five minutes later, we saw the black smoke," said Cheryl Borgman, 58, of Grand Rapids. "It was just a big huge billow of black smoke."

American Red Cross spokeswoman Caroline Clunk said Red Cross volunteers were setting up canteens on the scene to assist any evacuees, firefighters and other rescue workers.

Spectrum Health Butterworth, located in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, is part of the largest campus of Spectrum Health, which is a nonprofit health care system based in western Michigan.

Butterworth Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in western Michigan. The hospital's emergency room was closed as a result of Thursday's crash, and patients in need of emergency medical treatment were sent to other area hospitals.

Associated Press writers Ben Leubsdorf, David Runk and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report

North Little Rock Truck changes

It is no secret that the North Side units are running more calls that we would normally expect from a 24-hour shift, but are being paid as regular 24 hour shifts. We have decided that starting Saturday May 17, 2008 until the 1st of October North Side units will be paid as follows:

· 12 hour city pay with no shift differential
· OT done at these shifts will be at normal OT rates.

During September we will again look at the workload, and determine how we will handle the next quarter.

I understand that Sherwood has been caught up in the North Side calls; we will monitor Sherwood’s calls and posts to determine if a change is needed there also.

BLS Changes

We all understand that BLS trucks take a tremendous load off the system. I have looked at several ways to make them more appealing for people to chose them for over time.

Starting this week all BLS trucks are “sprint” cars on an 8-hour schedule. For those unfamiliar with the term sprint it simply means that once a predetermined number of runs are met prior to the shifts normal ES, the crew is paid for the full shift and are allowed to go home.

Our BLS units will be 8-hour shifts with a 6-run sprint.
The shift times are:
· Monday, Wednesday Friday- 07:30-15:30, 10:00-18:00, 12:00-20:00
· Tuesday, Thursday- 07:30-15:30, 09:00-17:00, 10:00-18:00
· Monday-Friday- 18:00-02:00
· Saturday- 10:00-18:00
· Monday-Friday- 05:30-15:30 This unit is a 10-hour that is used for training and can sprint with 8 calls

A few of the questions that have been asked:

Q. What if I am pulled from my AlS truck to sprint?
A. Once you assigned to the BLS truck you are sprinting. The example I am giving is;
You have already worked 2 hours on your ALS, you are moved to he BLS and know out 6 calls in 6 hours. You will have a total of 10 hours. (even tho you have only worked 8 total) You may be required to stay until the end of your shift, or be allowed to take PTO for the remaining 4 hours to make your 14 hour shift. If your are put back on ALS and asked to say till your normal ES time, you will have earned 16 hours for a 14 hour day.

Q. Do out of town calls count for more than one call?
A. We will have a mileage radius grid in dispatch to determine if a call meets the requirements of counting for two.

We will continue to monitor this program, and make changes as necessary.

Congratulations Brandy!

On Saturday, May 10th, 2008, Brandy Ritchie was honored with the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars Medic of the Year Award for exemplary service to EMS and Faulkner County. Brandy was nominated by the Foxtrots for her leadership, dedication and skills. Congratulations, Brandy, and thank you for being such a wonderful asset to MEMS.

Congratulations New Captains

Corey Burns and Dean Douglas will be promoted to the rank of Captain. They will begin their orientation training in the next few days. Thank you to everyone who applied; this is not an easy process for either the applicants or the staff.