Agenda - 04-21-2003-4 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 EMS has also received complaints from patients regarding their interactions with non- County convalescent transportation providers. Option C appears to offer substantial benefits when compared to the first two options. Transitioning all emergency medical functions to a single agency offers broad-ranging benefits to Orange County citizens and visitors including: • Assurance that emergency transportation services will be staffed and available for emergency response. • Unified management structure circumvents potential misunderstandings between field personnel who previously had different supervisors and different policies and procedures. • Implementation of a career ladder that enables basic-level EMTs to broaden their knowledge base through on-the-job training and move to the level of response paramedic. The absence of such an internal career ladder has been repeatedly identified as a stumbling block to effective recruitment and retention, both by the Squad and the County. • Comprehensive unified training efforts would enhance the ability of EMS to respond effectively in routine situations as well as in extraordinary ones. • Creation of a single chain of command would potentially improve operations during major incidents and disasters. • Better utilizes staff during special operations. Duties of employees can be easily flexed to meet the workload demands throughout the county, whether that demand is in EMS, Aging, or the Health Department. • Provides much improved opportunities for leveraged functions, particularly in the public health and education duties of EMS. • Offers a pool of consistently trained knowledgeable homeland security responders in the event of any terrorist incident. Next Steps To date, several meetings have been held with key County departments and Squad leaders to craft a transition plan that benefits the County while at the same time offers current Rescue Squad employees an opportunity to grow. Working groups have been established to examine specific components of the transition plan, and work is proceeding. The major components of the transition plan include staffing/training, equipment/facilities, and rescue services.