Minutes LMC Meeting – January 2015
THESE MINUTES ARE BEING POSTED UNAPPROVED
AT THE NEXT MEETING THESE MINUTES WILL BE APPROVED
THE APPROVAL PROCESS MAY CHANGE SOME SENTENCE STRUCTURE OR
WORDS, BUT SHOULD NOT SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE THE CONTENT
Minutes of the Regular LMC Meeting of January 26, 2015
Present: Jeff Czyson, Amanda Groshens, Ron Gray, Chuck Kaufman, Brett Hopper, Samara Calderon, Ryan Dougherty, Susan Long, Melynda Harjes and Cory Kissling.
Minutes taken by Amanda Groshens.
Meeting called to order at 1335 hours.
Minutes approved from November meeting as submitted.
AHEMS Updates
Finances
We ended the month of December $534,000 ahead of plan in net operating income which places us $534,000 unfavorable to budge year to date. We have cut our year to date budge variance in half. We were $473,000 ahead of plan in net revenue, $41,000 ahead of plan in total salaries and $20,000 ahead of plan in non-salary expenses.
**Every year AHEMS creates a budget to guide operations and provide expectations for recapitalization of the organization. When you hear us use the term “behind plan” this refers to the fact we are performing at a rate that will leave us short of our established goal. This does not mean we are losing money; we’re just not making the amount we targeted before January 1st. Likewise, the term “ahead of plan” refers to the fact we are doing even better than was predicted which is a wonderful situation!**
Ebola
Most of the EMS PPEs have arrived at the Commons but have not been delivered to Mounds View yet. There are 300 kits for us that are a robust PPE for EMS. There are 100 PAPR system wide and will be distributed to each base. There will be a daily check out and check in list for employees that must check out a unit. Supervisors and FTOs will be continuing the Ebola training in the next few weeks.
North Metro Sub-Base Update
Management is still working on locating a sub-base for the 694/Lexington area. They have a location and are very excited about it. Pictures and further updates to come soon.
Union Updates
Officer Elections
There are four positions that are up for elections this year – Treasurer, VP Dispatch, VP Buffalo and VP VST. Ballots will be counted at the February meeting.
Contract Ratification
The contract ratification process went well and the contract passed. We would like to thank management for allowing members to vote at the bases.
Committee Reports
Staffing Committee
We have made a change to the Community Paramedic bid rules. The change will allow the number of shifts that an individual can bid in Community Paramedic to depend on the number of shift available and how many Community Paramedics there are. At this time there is a limit of two per person.
Safety Committee
Safety Committee met on December 18, 2014. There was a discussion about staff safety at the bases which included slippery sidewalks. They currently have three employees that are testing out a different kind of helmet that is out of Australia. Anyone needing base access should contact 610 for code and not dispatch. They are addressing an issue with Road Safe and 30,000 unaccounted for miles. The issue with cot strap placement was address and information will be sent out to staff. Unity is looking to replace the garage floor to make it a flat and not sloped floor. At this time there is not an option for expanding the garage. They are reviewing the placement of the cot hook on the floor of the ambulance for better patient safety. Tomek and Czyson will be reviewing bariatric operations from head to toe.
Rumor Control
No Engagement Survey in 2015
There will be an engagement survey in October or November of 2015. Not sure the reason as to why the change in time of the year.
Supervisor Posting
Originally the supervisor posting was not posted to both internal and external. This was an error and was corrected.
New Sub Base Only for Level 4 or Higher
This is not true. There have been no changes to the deployment plan with the addition of the post in Shoreview. The goal is always to minimize the time spent at street corners but it will never be eliminated.
Standing Reports
Outsourcing Report
There was $31,186.77 reported of outsourced work for the month of December.
Managers doing union work report
There were nine hours reported for the month of January.
Action Item Review
Jury Duty Procedure
This was addressed in contract negotiations. Samara will put together a review of the procedure and send it out to LMC to review.
Financial State Clarification
The statement that Czyson sent was too wordy. Groshens will send the email back and Czyson will re-write it.
Omnicell
Reitan has trained six FTOs to assist with training at the metro bases during peak hours to help re-educate. They are still working on scheduling them at this time. We are still determining where the issues exist. There is some confusion about the green sheet. This sheet must be filled out and should be checked at each base. We will make an action item to create a work group to edit the green sheet and send out to group for review. Long will work on checking on the cheat sheet that was created and ensure that they are being posted on the machines.
Engine Fluid Level Checks
They have put together some images to use in a guide on how to check fluid levels in the rigs. They are working on a simple training/information for staff that is clear. There have been two engines replaced in the regions due to no oil. There is a need for staff to be trained and to ensure that the VST are properly trained on how to check fluid levels and how to add the different types of fluids. This training for staff could be added to behind the wheel training. Czyson is taking on this project and will bring update to next meeting.
Power Stretchers
All the power stretchers have been identified and located. This list will be provided to dispatch and to leaders. Kissling will be bringing the list and the issue to the next senior management meeting for review and discussion. Kissling will report back to the group at the next meeting.
Duplicate Pages
The issue has been identified and fixed.
Prox Cards
Long was told in December that it would be taken care of and she hasn’t heard back. Staff should know that prox cards that are near the SIDA badges will not work. Long has not heard anything back from staff. It will be taken off the action items list at this time.
Pharm Waste (Black) Boxes
Hildebrandt states that all black boxes have been moved to the correct location in the Cambridge trucks. Groshens was in Cambridge a week ago and boxes were not moved. Czyson will confirm with Hildebrandt that they all have been moved. Groshens brought up the issue with the informational placard in the trucks and the confusion about them. She will send an example of a different placard to Harjes for review.
Mounting of Speaker System in Trucks
No update at this time from Miller. He is still looking at moving it.
Exposure to Chloraprep
Different IV start kits were purchased and placed in the truck with a different style of Chloraprep. Exposure will no longer be an issue as these new Chlorapreps are not in a glass container. This will be removed from the action item list.
Four ALS EMTs
The four have been identified. Two at this time have opted to not move to ALS training and the other two have been assigned FTOs. They will start training next week. This will be removed from the action item list.
Blood Transfusion
The videos were re-shot in the studio. They have been sent to Dr. Lick for approval. Once they are approved, Long will put them on SABA. There are three videos in total.
Bariatric Cot
Non-bariatric adult patients and pediatrics cannot be secured safety to a bariatric cot. They are still working on a place to secure the non-bariatric stretcher pad in the ambulance to convert the bariatric stretcher for non-bariatric patients. These will be in trucks 354 and 353.
Safety Committee
The union recommends Adam Harvey to sit on the Safety Committee. The union has not found any critical care paramedics to sit on the TUG committee.
Bike Team
The policy needs some language cleanup. The test is based on IPMBA standards. Eye goggles will remain recommended and they will be able to purchase them with uniform allowance for bike team. There is a maintenance log kept by Huebner. Rosenberg is taking over as supervisor.
PTO Usage
This was concerning PTO use mostly on the weekends. This was solved in contract negotiations. The intent of the new language was for unscheduled PTO occurrences and not scheduled PTO occurrences. This will be taken off the action item list.
CC EMT Shifts
This is being taken off the action item list.
New Business
Policy – Road Safe
The policy for Road Safe is complete and has a March 1, 2015 roll out date. There was a question about the need for the FAQs section, the FAQ about idling and fobbing out and how to report an incident. These questions will be taken to Miller for review and policy may be revised. There was a request to audit the trucks again as there are reports that some trucks are more sensitive than others.
Policy – Ride Along
The ride along policy was updated and some language was cleaned up. It is finished and will be posted on the AKN.
Policy – Mandatory Shift Move Policy
There was a request for the Mandatory Shift Move Policy because it is not listed on the AKN. A search found a policy that was last updated in 2004. This will be sent to the staffing committee for review and to update if needed. Staffing committee next meets after the bid is complete.
Working in different Job Classes
There was a question about the inter-facility dispatcher working 911 dispatcher shifts. This is ok as long as the shift has been offered to 911 dispatchers first and if the inter-facility dispatcher is “red” trained.
Mechanic Phone Requirements
A mechanic asked about the requirements for the mechanic phone. The union was unaware of this “on-call” phone. Management is going to follow up with Terry about this.
Mechanic Seniority
There is currently not a seniority list based on hours worked for any job class that does not have biddable positions which includes the mechanics. We overlooked this when negotiating the contract and would like to propose an LOU to address this issue. Groshens will draft language and bring it to the next meeting.
Seniority on the AKN
The seniority listed on the profile page on the AKN when employees log in is incorrect. The union would like to see this removed from the page as it causes confusion. Calderon will look into it.
G&K Poor Performance
There have been complaints from Grand and Forbes about the turnaround for uniforms. Terry has had one conversation with the company but it has not changed the timeline. Czyson will follow-up.
Radio Traffic in Elk River
There have been complaints from staff in Elk River that there is confusion about which dispatch center to talk to when a call is dispatched and whether EMTs have been paged. At times there is a communication issue between the two centers. It may change in the future. Hildebradt and Czyson to follow up.
Equipment - Vents
Hildebrandt did bring one of the orange vents to Mounds View. Kissling will follow up to ensure that it is at Mounds View. They are thinking about adding education on both types of vents at the fall mandatory education.
Equipment – Write Up
There was a question about how to write up a malfunctioning stretcher. The Bags and Bin committee did create a policy and new procedure for writing up all types of equipment. This went to Miller for review. It has not been sent out to staff at this time. This issue will also be discussed at next senior leadership meeting.
Equipment – Computers
The issues of computers shutting down and the loss of signatures were brought up. This seems to be happening more frequently and it has been pushed how important these signature are for billing. Any issue with the computers should be reported by starting a ticket with IT. This can be done the easily online. Management will communicate with staff the procedure to submit a ticket online as the staff in the room state that they were unaware that this could be done.
Managers in shifts in the Regions
The question was asked about managers being held to same standard as staff for calling in for shifts. There has been an issue with shifts in the regions and managers telling staffing to take them out at the last minute. Czyson will follow up on this.
Dispatch Staffing
Dispatch is in need of more dispatchers. In a perfect world they would be approved for eight dispatchers. They are in the middle of the approval process and looks like they will be approved for six dispatchers and three supervisors. There are also looking at possible moving to a call taker and dispatcher as separate jobs model.
New Employee Report to Union
Calderon will send a weekly report of new employees to ensure the union is notified of new hires per contract.
Seatbelts
The seatbelt guide will be emailed out to staff to clarify where seatbelts should be attached to the stretcher and which belt the racer straps should be attached to.
BLS South Metro Cot
There was an issue in the South Metro and the BLS inter-facility not having a power stretcher. They were told there wasn’t one for them even though that truck must have a power stretcher. This will be added as an action item and followed up on.
Next Meeting Date:
February 26, 2015 at 1330 at Mounds View Conference Room.
Adjourned at 1659 hours.