Council Chairman - Randy Pierson Vice Chairman – Lana Duff
Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Council
Trinity Baptist Church, Calhoun, GA
1100 – October 25, 2012
MINUTES
The chair thanked Trinity Baptist Church, Courtney Taylor and Sharon Smith for the meal and use of the facilities. An invocation was given by Rick Cobb and a meal was served.
A quorum was determined to be present by roll call.
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the previous meeting by Jim Cutcher and seconded by Billy Hayes. A correction to the minutes was submitted by Rick Cobb to change all mention of “Hamilton Medical Center EMS” to “Hamilton EMS” in the minutes. The minutes were approved as amended.
A letter from Dade County Commissioner was read by David Foster to excuse the last three absences for both Dade County EMS Council representatives Alex Case and Tommy Lawson allowing them to continue serving on the EMS Council. The section of the bylaws addressing excessive absences was ready by David Foster as follows:
“The Chair may because of inadequate attendance, inappropriate activity, or other reasonable cause, recommend to the Council the dismissal of a member. The Council may dismiss the member upon two-thirds (2/3) vote of the eligible voters present. If this action is taken, the Chair shall notify the delinquent member in writing within fifteen working days stating the cause for such action.
If such action is due to failure to meet the attendance requirements, then the Chair will also notify said county commission that their appointed member has been removed from the council and that they cannot be re-appointed for a period of two year.
Any member appointed to the Council by virtue of holding a particular job shall be deemed to have resigned by the Council should the member lose the position which employed the appointment to the Council. The removal of a member may be executed at the request of their appointing county commission.
Any member removed from the Council by means other than voluntary resignation or conclusion of the appointment term shall have an opportunity to request a hearing in a manner in accordance with a policy established by the Council.”
Note: a two thirds (2/3) vote is necessary to allow both to continue serving on the EMS Council. There were 27 Council members present by the roll call. Alex Case and Tommy Lawson cannot vote due to conflict of interest and Robert Early was present but outside the room during the vote. Therefore, sixteen (16) votes of the 24 voting members eligible to vote in the room in favor of the proposal would be necessary. The first vote was 10 in favor of retaining both persons and 6 in opposition with 8 persons not voting. David Foster asked for a second vote. Robert Early was still not in the room at this vote. The results of the second vote were 6 opposed and 17 in favor (71%) and 1 abstaining. [Robert Early was asked about his vote when he
returned to the room and he stated that he would have voted in favor.] Therefore, the motion to excuse the three absences and retain both Alex Case and Tommy Lawson was approved.
There was no Office of EMS report in the absence of Dr. Jill Mabley.
Dr. McDougal gave the Regional EMS Medical Director report. He stated that EMSMDAC approved a best practices procedure for sedation assisted intubation at the last meeting on October 23, 2012. A copy of this document is available from Dr. McDougal by e-mailing
Mickey Moore will soon distribute this document to all EMS Medical Directors. An on-line EMS Medical Director training program is available on the EMS Training Classroom on the Georgia Office of EMS and Trauma website at http://ems.ga.gov The Georgia EMS Protocols are still in development and are estimated to be complete in 60-90 days. The protocols are designed to allow modification by local EMS Medical Directors as needed. A public service release on the use of lights and siren by Emergency Medical Service vehicles will soon be available and will be distributed to the media. The release will include an explanation of why all EMS units do not return in emergency status. This release is designed to explain the effort to minimize the risk of unnecessary lights and siren runs by EMS units. Dr. McDougal discussed the effort to replace the START method of triage with the SALT method of triage which is supported by the CDC and EMSMDAC. Dr. McDougal announced an EMS Seminar to be hosted by Erlanger Medical Center on February 8, 2013 from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. This seminar will include 16 lectures which will be 15 minutes each and lunch will be supplied. Dr. McDougal recommended a publication available on Amazon.com by Dr. Ray Fowler and others entitled “Avoiding Common Pre-hospital Errors”.
The EMSAC report was given by Bud Owens. The 2013 Trauma Commission EMS grants are now available including uncompensated care and 10 vehicle grants. The grants are posted on the Georgia Trauma Commission website at http://georgiatraumacommission.org with a December 14, 2012 deadline. Chad Taylor of Floyd Medical Center stated that he will assist with information necessary for this grant and is available at .
David Foster gave the Regional EMS Office report. He presented a proposal to have all meetings of the Executive Committee, EMS Council, RTAC and 501C3 on the same day and location. His proposal is to centralize the four regularly scheduled meetings of all the above meetings at Trinity Baptist Church near Calhoun. The meetings would be scheduled on January 24, April 25, July 25 and October 24, 2013 on the following schedule:
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. – RTAC Advisory Council (children’s church room)
11:00 – 11:40 a.m. – Executive Committee of EMS Council
11:34 – 12:00 p.m. - Meal ready in cafeteria – Meal Sponsor vendor shall have everything ready by 11:25 a.m. –As attendees arrive they may start eating at 11:30 a.m.
12:00 – 2:00 p.m. – EMS Council meeting
2:00 p.m. (or immediately after the council meeting) Northwest Georgia EMS Systems 501C3 meeting
This schedule will begin on January 24, 2013. Sponsors for these meetings will be solicited from vendors, EMS Services and Hospitals. [The following have volunteered to sponsor the meeting meals: Northside Cherokee Medical Center, Hamilton EMS and Walker County Fire and Emergency Services]
Kelly Buddenhagen gave the EMS-C report. She announced that she has accepted the part-time position as Georgia EMS-C program director for the Georgia Office of EMS and Trauma. She informed the Council that funds are now available to support Regional EMS-C programs and she is attempting to form an EMS Region 1 EMS-C advisory committee. She asks for anyone interested in joining or supporting this effort to contact her by e-mail at xxxxxxxxx. She informed the council that the four regular meetings will be at the same location and date as the Region 1 EMS Council beginning at 9:00 a.m. The first meeting will occur on January 24, 2013. An EMS-C one day training program on pediatrics will be held in Augusta, Georgia soon. The annual pediatric seminar sponsored by the EMS Region 2 EMS-C program will again be held in Gainesville, Georgia in June, 2013. The Georgia EMS-C program is looking at web meetings to avoid travel expenses. Tina Hancock was announced to assist Ms. Buddenhagen as the EMS Region 1 EMS-C secretary.
Randy Pierson gave the GAEMS report. Mr. Pierson informed the Council that he was no longer a representative on the GAEMS. He reminded the Council of the two grants funded through the Georgia Trauma Commission as follows: uncompensated care and 10 EMS vehicle grants. He also reminded the Council of the ASPER sponsored training programs in Region 1:
PHTLS McCaysville ?
EMS SAFETY Rome December 12, 2012
AMLS Rome ?
There are still available slots in all three above courses. Please contact Randy Pierson at for more details.
Randy Pierson gave the subcommittee on trauma report. He reported that the next meeting will be next week.
Randy Pierson gave the 501C3 report. Mr. Pierson stated that the 501C3 bylaws final draft is ready to be approved by the RTAC Advisory Council. The RTAC has been approved by the Georgia Secretary of State office. A list of proposed members of the Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc., Advisory Council was submitted and the proposed Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc., Advisory Council Board of Directors. He informed the EMS Council that Mike Willingham’s name had been removed from the proposed Board of Directors because of a potential conflict of interest. A motion was made to approve the members of the Advisory Council by Rick Cobb, seconded by both Randy Lacey and Curtis Vincent. The motion was approved. A motion was made to XXXXXXXXXX by Jim Cutcher, seconded by Randy Lacey. The motion carried. The Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc., Advisory Council will meet for the first time on January 24, 2013 immediately following the EMS Council meeting at Trinity Baptist Church in Calhoun. They will elect the Board of Directors, Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and approve the bylaws. The regular meetings of the Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc. will always meet immediately after the regularly scheduled EMS Council meetings to provide transparency. The function of the Northwest Georgia EMS Systems Inc (501C3) will always be fund raising for the purposes of supporting meeting expenses, the annual awards banquet and training events as guided by the EMS Council. The IRS paperwork will be submitted next week to provide tax exempt status.
The RTAC report was given by David Foster. He stated that the RTAC proposal was made to the committees are close to submitting the sections of the plan by November 20, 2012. The next RTAC stakeholder meeting will be on November 29, 2012. The RTAC membership will be announced at this meeting and the final draft of the plan will be approved to be submitted on November 30, 2012 to the Georgia Trauma Commission. The first RTAC meeting will be held on January 24, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. in Calhoun, Georgia at the Trinity Baptist Church.
The chairman appointed the nominating committee for the annual meeting on January 24, 2013 to consider nominations.
[Is this necessary since the Executive Committee voted to freeze the Officers for 2013?]
[If you are interested in serving or continuing to serve on the EMS Council, please address the letters of e-mails to Randy Pierson but send to David Foster by December 31, 2012.] The committee will be Darrell Payne, Chris Elzey and Eric Irish. Also the chairman appointed the following members to the Awards Committee: Tommy Sanders, Danny West, Sloan Elrod and Billy Hayes.
Randy Pierson stated that Walker County Fire and Emergency Services had a bariatric unit on display outside the building for display and invited the members to examine it.
A motion was made to adjourn by Rick Cobb, seconded by Larry Owens and passed. The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted
David Loftin, Recording Secretary
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