ORD-2010-012 EMS Second Reading: Amendments to the EMS Franchise Agreement

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12 1 EMS Systems are also required to have the following components to assure medical 2 oversight of the system:- a medical director, written protocols for adult and pediatric 3 patients, and emergency medical dispatch system, an EMS Peer Review Committee 4 whose membership is defined in G.S. 131 E-155(6b) and written procedures for EMS 5 personnel to obtain on-line medical direction. Both the state statute and the North 6 Carolina Administrative Code continue to require the County provide oversight of 7 personnel performing responders services within the EMS system. 8 9 So while fire departments are not required to have a franchise under the Ordinance, 10 state law and regulations do require that personnel who are first medical responders be 11 credentialed and comply with the policies, practices and protocols of the EMS system. 12 There were no substantive amendments to the sections governing EMS personnel (See 13 Section VII, Standards for Personnel). 14 15 Frank Montes de Oca said that the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee 16 ("Committee") is not a citizens' advisory board; it is a technical advisory board. The proposed 17 members of the Committee, through their positions either as employees of Orange County or 18 through services contracted with the County have the medical responsibility either to the Board 19 of County Commissioners, the Office of EMS, the North Carolina Medical Board or the Board of 20 Health to oversee the medical health of persons within this EMS system. They are credentialed 21 and have the educational, technical and experiential background to recommend, make and 22 implement system wide medical improvements in the EMS System necessary to ensure ahigh- 23 quality, high-functioning medical care. The only proposed enforcement responsibility of the 24 Committee is to review stays of franchises, and after hearing evidence the Committee may 25 ether remove the stay, provide a recommendation for corrective action or forward a 26 recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners for termination or suspension of the 27 franchise. This does not in any way change what is currently or has been required of fire 28 departments within Orange County. 29 30 Commissioner Gordon made reference to volunteer fire departments and said that there 31 is some language that might need to be changed to clarify the role of fire departments. 32 Annette Moore said that the fire departments have never been under the franchise 33 ordinance. Orange County does not have to grant fire departments a franchise in order for 34 them to operate. The County has a contract with the volunteer fire departments to provide that 35 service. As part of that contract, fire services, first responder, and extrication services are 36 included. She said that on February 16th, staff will bring back an amendment that specifically 37 excludes fire departments. 38 John Roberts made reference to Mr. Blake's comments about the fire departments not 39 being included and that it was done in secrecy and said that the fire departments were never 40 intended to be covered by this franchise ordinance. 41 42 PUBLIC COMMENT: 43 Jeremy Browner said that he has had discussions with John Roberts about this 44 ordinance and whether sworn testimony will be allowed in a state hearing on the lift of a stay of 45 the Orange County Rescue Squad. He said that the OCRS still feels it is a necessity to have 46 sworn testimony versus unsworn testimony during the hearing to lift the stay that was imposed 47 by the Director of Emergency Services. He said that the other due process complaints of the 48 OCRS have been addressed. He said that the OCRS opposes the composition of the EMS 49 Advisory Board for the reasons he suggested at prior meetings. He said that the OCRS is