General Meeting Summaryfor

Florida Association of County EMS

And

Florida Association of Rural EMS

Date: January 19, 2017

Location: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, FL

Board Directors Present: FACEMS: Charles Moreland; Harold Theus; Brian Blizzard; Dennis Ward for Joe McManus;

FAREMS: Mike Patterson; Mac Kemp

Others Present:Toby Witt; James Duppenthaler; James Swearingin; Isabella Discepolo; Edward Crews; Robert Sims; Mike Pittman; Chris Drum; Lenora Leddy; Steve White; Tina Maloy; Joe Goodson; Tiffanee Moody; Joe Schenk; Nathan Griffis; David Castleman; Jake Blanton; Sally Waite; Scott Garner; Darian Brown; Katherine Kenney

Staff Present: Marcie Heatherington

AGENDA ITEM / SUMMARY/DISCUSSION / ACTION
Call to Order / Dr. Morelandcalled the meeting to order. / The meeting was called to order at 10:03 am.
Introductions/Roll Call /

Introductions were made.

/ Information
Consideration of Minutes from October, 2016 /

Approval of the minutes of theOctobermeeting was deferred due to lack of a quorum.

/ Deferred
Treasurer’s Report / Deferred.
FACEMS: balance of $16,565.71
FAREMS: balance of $60,256.38 / Information
Membership Report / FACEMS: 0 paid members for 2017.
FAREMS: 0 paid memberships for 2017.
Dues are now due for 2017.
. / Information
Program of EMS Report / Steve McCoy reported that he and Rickey Stone had met with the Office of Rural Health, Randy Calvert and Nicole Lynn, to educate them on EMS, they agreed to partner to look for funding opportunities. He stated that funding is his number one issue. There is less funding for the trust fund due to less law enforcement officers issuing less tickets. There is a need to move the funding source away from punitive sources to more sustainable sources. He is reaching out to other areas in the Dept. of Health to introduce EMS to them. A notice of proposed rule is posted and hopefully no workshop will be needed, but will be held if requested.
McCoy also commented on HB 249, known as the narcan bill, which would require EMS as well as other healthcare providers to report all overdoses to local law enforcement including patient name, age, substance used and estimated dose. Not reporting would be a misdemeanor. The State Office must remain neutral on all legislation but he urged all providers to get involved.
McCoy is also pursuing funding for awareness training of community paramedicine. This would include training in such areas as to how to create a vaccine program, how to get funding, how to possibly bill for the services, etc. Training would be offered in rural counties but others could also attend. / Information
Open Water Lifeguard Report / Mike Patterson asked Steve McCoy what could be done to establish standards for open water lifeguards. McCoy answered that the Bureau does not have statutory authority and that increased regulations is not appealing in the current administration. It will take individual action and possibly a letter from the EMS Advisory Council. The state plan will be revisited in April and possibly this could be added back again. Dennis Ward suggested reaching out to high school students to have them shadow at constituency group meetings. Patterson suggested reaching out to newer EMS providers to bring them to meetings. Moreland stated that department leadership needed to build interest in attendance within their departments. / Information
State Medical Director / No report. / Information
Legislative Update / Mac Kemp reported on bills with EMS implications. Manyitems will change as they work through the committee process. Please stay involved as the session evolves and especially become involved if Mac asks for input from the EMS community. / Information
EMSTARS Update / No report / Information
FACEMS Update / It is time for elections, all positions are open for officers and directors. Please submit nominations along with resumes to Marcie before the April meeting. Send to . New officers should be in place for the July meeting. Dr. Moreland would also like to see FACEMS have a web site if anyone is interested to working on that project.
FAREMS Update / FAREMS was awarded a matching funds grant for training in rural agencies. These funds must be spent by June 30. Please email Marcie with your training needs, we will come to your agency and provide free training, some funds for backfill are also available.
FAREMS has open officer, President, and director positions due to retirements. Please send nominations and resume to Marcie before the April meeting. / Information
Old Business / Raffle tickets to benefit the Chad Reed Memorial Scholarship are now on sale prize is a one week stay in a Destin condo. The condo donation is made in memory of Wynell and Wallace King. Drawing will be held on January 20! / Information
New Business / Brent Williams from First Net made a presentation. First Net is a federal program charged with establishing a nationwide public safety communication network. The program was created in 2012 out of the need for different public safety agencies to communicate with each other. It started as a radio network but has evolved to a broadband network that will be capable of video conferencing as well. First Net is a dedicated spectrum as large as AT&T or Verizon but will be dedicated to public safety and is a private network. Florida Net is funded by First Net and is the planning arm for the network in FL. It is planned to begin in early 2018, currently in the bid process for the commercial partner to build the network. All governors will decide whether to allow First Net to build the network in their state at no cost or build it at their own cost, state built networks would still have to meet all First Net specs. Anyone in public safety can use the network, hospitals, public and private providers. For more information go to
In addition to new officers there will be changes to the program staff in July. We will begin the transition from Marcie Heatherington to Mike Patterson as the program administrator. They will share duties for a while in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Next meeting dateis scheduled for April18-20, 2017 in Jacksonville at the Omni Hotel. / Information
Adjournment / Meeting was adjourned at 11:52 am. / The meeting was adjourned at 11:20am