Dane County

Minutes - Final Unless Amended by

Committee

Emergency Medical Services Commission

Consider:

Who benefits? Who is burdened?

Who does not have a voice at the table?

How can policymakers mitigate unintended consequences?

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

5:30 PM

Virtual Zoom Meeting: See top of agenda for

instructions on how to join the webinar or call in by

phone.

Interpreters must be requested in advance; please see the bottom of the agenda for more information.

Los intérpretes deben solicitarse con anticipación; consulte el final de la agenda para obtener más

información.

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The July 28th EMS Commission is being held virtually. The public can access the meeting with the Zoom

application or by telephone.

To join the meeting in Zoom, click the following link (after you fill out the form, the meeting link and

access information will be emailed to you):

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WkgHmi_wTJuZt_YIXqfXUQ

This link will be active until the end of the meeting.

To join the meeting by phone, dial-in using one of the following three phone toll-free numbers:

1-833-548-0276

1-833-548-0282

1-888-788-0099

When prompted, enter the following Webinar ID: 841 1808 9529

If you want to submit a written comment for this meeting, or send handouts for board members, please

send them to: dcems@countyofdane.com

PROCESS TO PROVIDE PUBLIC COMMENT: ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO REGISTER TO

SPEAK ON/SUPPORT/OPPOSE AN AGENDA ITEM MUST REGISTER USING THE LINK ABOVE (even if you

plan to attend using your phone).

In order to testify (provide public comment), you must be in attendance at the meeting via Zoom or

phone, you will then either be unmuted or promoted to a panelist and provided time to speak to the

body. Registrations to provide public comment will be accepted until 30 minutes prior to the beginning of

the meeting.

A. Call To Order

6 -

Present

Supervisor MAUREEN McCARVILLE, BRIAN GOFF, STEPHANIE LEHMANN,

Chair ADAM PLOTKIN, GARY ZIEGLER, and Supervisor KRISTEN AUDET

2 - ERIC BAUMAN, and MEGAN GUSSICK

Excused

Additional Members Present: Kacey Kronenfeld

Guests: Jennifer Behnke, Cindy Gustavson, Joe Pulvermacher, Mike Mancera, Charles

Tubbs, Luis Bixler

Staff: Carrie Meier, Eric Anderson, Courtney Morency

B. Consideration of Minutes

EMS COMMISSION JUNE 2021 MINUTES

2021

MIN-180

Attachments: June Minutes

The minutes were approved.

C. Action Items

Emergency Department Diversion - Behnke

A hospital Emergency Departement went on diversion about two weeks ago. There was a

debriefing afterwards which identified some confusion. This diversion applied to 911 EMS

traffic also. One ED going on diversion caused stress on the other ED’s in the

community. The debriefing the next day was also to create a protocol and have a

standard process for deciding when to go on diversion. The expectation would be all

hospitals would be doing the same thing as it pertains to communicating and activating.

All hospitals will review and approve the proposed process. It will be re-evaluated at

regular intervals; the intent it to prevent snowballing effects on other hospitals.

Kronenfeld and Plotkin thank Behnke for all the work she and the SCHWIHERC have put

into this work.

Update from South Central Healthcare Coalition

They are expanding RMCC salt triage ribbon project to the entire region and training on

RMCC concept of operation which is just an expansion of the base hospital concept.

Other partners throughout the region outside of Dane county should then be able to

integrate seamlessly. Meier highlights how base hospital has continued to improve in our

county and how DCEMS staff has diligently held drills and held debriefings.

Annual Report

Nothing new to discuss.

Subcommittees

The Commission would like something in writing that would clarify what the committees’

intent is and how the changes will play out in practice. Plotkin shares a drafted letter that

is intended to get shared to the subcommittees. Plotkin asks members to review to see

if it captures the intent of the discussed changes from the May meeting. Goff asks if

there’s a way to clarify that this work isn’t being taken away to be done outside of open

meetings. Kronenfeld suggests after second paragraph, “respect people’s time and other

commitments. When there is a need it will be called”. Goff wants to make sure that there

is no chance for the letter to be interpreted as the groups dissolving. Mancera echoes the

thought that it feels like the letter is suggesting the groups will be dissolved. He says it

makes it sound like the meetings are going away. Suggests adding something along the

lines of “we look to reorganize” and optimize the efficiency of when these groups meet.

McCarville adds: “thank you for all the work you’re doing”, move committees to on-call

meeting scheduled, language exists for “at the call of the chair”. How we’ll evaluate at

beginning of 2022 “identify if this process is meeting the needs of the

community/stakeholders” or if there is a need for restructuring at that point. Plotkin

thanks everyone for feedback and says the changes will be implemented for the next

scheduled meeting.

PulsePoint Verified Responder

Kronenfeld discusses the Pulsepoint Verified Responder documents that were sent out

and says the hope is to get feedback from members on any potential roadblocks they

see being an issue to getting this approved. The hope is to expand to private residences

with Community Responder but only for current public safety members. There was

interest in learning more information on the success of the program in Madison. Mancera

asks if there have been any questions about healthcare personnel getting approved.

Kronenfeld recognizes that would be the natural next step, but the hope is to have it

approved with public safety first before complicating it with an expansion into healthcare.

Kronenfeld asks the Supervisors if they see any immediate complications that

community members or jurisdictions would have. McCarville and Audet don’t see any

immediate issues. Audet adds that they’re willing to send it to anyone else for review if

desired. Kronenfeld says next step will likely be going through county leadership. The

only caveat is that this is an all or nothing sort of system; either all jurisdictions would

have to sign on, or none can. Communities can’t be separated. Pulvermacher asks if

there is anything given to verified responders currently to identify themselves when

responding. Kronenfeld says this has already been a consideration and that there is

intent to provide WICAMS cards, or some other type of identification. Ziegler asks if 911

could warn the caller that someone may be arriving. Kronenfeld says it’s not entirely

feasible since 911 communicators have no idea whether a PulsePoint responder is on

the way. Lehmann adds that if the program expands to healthcare that there would be a

need for education on scene safety since they do not experience that type of training the

way first responders do. Plotkin agrees to keep on agenda for next time for updates on

next steps.

Annual Survey

Annual survey covers a couple different topics that were queried. One question that was

asked is for feedback on EMS Commission, and all feedback was essentially for the

Commission to continue to support the agencies in the way that it has. Another point is

the progression of the system with several agencies moving towards paramedic-level

service. Plotkin asks about billing services, uniforms, scheduling programs: there were

only two or three different vendors that were getting used. Would there be potential there

for bulk-buying across the county to share and reduce cost? Middleton has established

501c3 for fundraising; Plotkin wondering if one could be created at county level for each

service to use for funding. Meier agrees that a centralized point for billing/data would be

beneficial from a cost and data perspective.

D. Presentations

E. Reports to Committee

DCEMS - The new ambulance is delayed; the lift for it is backed up. The box/chasse is

all put together. September is the tentative date for delivery. The Cardiac Arrest Survivors

breakfast is scheduled for October 16th. Invites will be going out in two weeks. It will be

at Monona Terrace. Morency to send RSVP link for that soon. Covid rates are averaging

at 36 positives/day, whereas a couple weeks ago it was only 7. 80% are reported as the

Delta variant. There are also break through cases, though vaccination rates in Dane

County are some of the highest in the country. Hospitals are stable, but ED’s have been

busy with non-Covid. Public Health has described the vaccine like a rain coat; you can

go out in the rain and you won’t get wet, but if you keep going out over and over or out in

a bad storm, then it’s more likely you will get a little wet. Members should continue to

advocate for communities to get vaccinated. DCEMS will host a Resuscitation Academy

in November; the hope is to get more leadership and staff from agencies. Anderson has

been gathering data for cardiac arrests and sending follow ups to agencies after all

cardiac arrests to continue to expand response survival. The new DCEM building has

gone out to RFP and then it will go through committees and back to County Board. The

remodel is starting in September, with a tentative move-in date of September, 2021.

Mancera asks for HPCPR dates: November 2nd at Alliant Energy Center, one time in the

morning and one in the afternoon. County Department budget requests are due in

executive’s office; budget hearings will be in mid-September. Executive budget is due by

October 1st. Tubbs commends Meier for her work on the budget for her first year as

assistant director. New staff member will be starting on Monday. The department has

also received approval to hire an additional member that will take Meier’s previous

position. Meier will continue to be in charge of EMS Division.

F. Future Meeting Items and Dates

G. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda

H. Such Other Business as Allowed by Law

I. Adjourn

This resolution was adjourned

Minutes respectfully submitted by Courtney Morency.