Saturday, April 2, 2011

EMS: Doors 1, 2, 3 & 4

You may have seen Jim Bellis’s article in the Robertson County Times (RCT) this past week related to the Robertson County Emergency Management Services (RCEMS) – “County Ambulances Could Go Private.”
This article has to do with the viable options that the RCC EMS Committee will be considering at their April 11, 2011 meeting.
I do not want to go through each of the four options that Jim Bellis discusses. What I would like to suggest is what I would like to see happen for RC EMS, but more importantly, for the citizens of Robertson County.
In RC, NorthCrest Medical Center (NMC) and RC EMS interact daily, if not hourly serving some of the most rudimentary and crucial services for this County. These two entities are separate, for sure, but there exists a de facto state of dependency on one another. RC EMS more dependent than the hospital since it serves such a specialized purpose.
Now, with all of that said, here is the point of which I want to focus on Jim Bellis’s article:
A second alternative presented for consideration would involve a partnership with NorthCrest Medical Center in a fashion to be determined through joint negotiations. In this scenario, it was suggested that NorthCrest would provide, operational “management,” in the form of one of their staff, who would oversee staffing , training, policies and procedures, and “medical directorship,” through their emergency medical staff.
Now, just think about this for a moment. What were some of the more disturbing and disappointing facets unfolding from our own EMS a few short months ago? (See here and here)
A consistent mantra I maintained was that we have some very good personnel - our “boots on the ground” were/are second to none. What we needed was leadership through administrative reform.
By now, you probably see where I am going with this….the above proposal would be exactly what NMC could offer the RC EMS. By letting the folks concentrate on what they already do best, this solution would free them up that much more. NMC could and would offer their expertise in items related to administration and leadership.
Moreover, there would be a relationship forged by agreement that would ensure that communications and cooperation could and would exist between two entities that by default work together already.
But, I am just one commissioner.

2 comments:

  1. Northcrest can not even manage there own personnel,we sure don't need anything else here run by them,the hospital is sad enough.Also this goes back when we had a full time fire dept.,now we have to rely on volunteer depts.,just as before you have some county commissioners that put a price on a human life,what we need is a full time fire & ems system put in place to benefit the people of Robt. Co. and not just a certain group of commissioners.

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  2. Anonymous, thank you for your feedback here.

    I do not agree with your broad negative assessment. I want to steer this back to the discussion at hand, and that is the management of EMS.

    I am no sure where you are going with fire departments, etc. since these are separate issues.

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