TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
WORK SESSION MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL MONDAY, MARCH 19, 2012
COUNCIL CHAMBERS TIME: 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Delnicki called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor Tom Delnicki
Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano
Councillor M. Saud Anwar
Councillor Cindy Beaulieu (arrived at 7:46 p.m.)
Councillor Ed Havens
Councillor Kevin McCann
Councillor Cary Prague
Councillor Janice Snyder
Councillor Keith Yagaloff
Also Present: Matthew B. Galligan, Town Manager
3. Public Participation
None
4. Communications
None
5. Town Manager’s Report
Mr. Galligan will do his report at the Regular Meeting.
6. Items for Discussion
A. South Windsor Board of Education Budget Presentation
Chairperson David Joy came before the Town Council and presented the Board of Education budget, as shown in attached Exhibit A.
Mayor Delnicki stated that the Town Council should submit questions to the Board of Education so those questions can be answered at the April 3, 2012 Joint Work Session.
Councillor Yagaloff thanked Chairperson David Joy, the Board of Education members, and Dr. Carter and her staff for the hard work that has been done on the budget. Councillor Yagaloff stated that he is inclined to approve this budget as presented but did question what the additional cost would be to the taxpayers in order to fund the ARA monies and the concessions from the Teachers that will not be
ITEM:
6. A. (Continued)
available next year. Councillor Yagaloff said he would not need that answer until the April 3, 2012 meeting. Chairperson Joy explained that the Town Manager would need to provide that answer.
Mayor Delnicki invited the public to submit any questions they would like answered.
Councillor Snyder questioned if the questions should be submitted to the Clerk of the Council? Mayor Delnicki felt that it would be good to direct the questions through the Clerk of the Council.
Answering further questions from the Council, Chairperson Joy explained that the Board of Education’s budget and the presentation from tonight will be put onto the website now that the Council has seen it.
Councillor Havens felt that the Board of Education has begun the budget process in a very positive manner. There does not seem to be any problems with the budget as presented. People move to this community for the education system.
Mayor Delnicki commended the Board of Education for their budget.
B. Office of Emergency Medical Services and South Windsor Ambulance Corps.
Mr. Larry Gorman from the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. and Leonard Guercia who is the EMS Branch Chief were both present.
Answering questions from the Council, Mr. Gorman explained that the Town of South Windsor has paramedic coverage and response times are very good. Paramedic intercept is when the paramedics are called; they will meet the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. between the area where the ambulance was called to and the hospital. When the ambulance is called out, the basic level of service is provided and then there is a tiered effect where the care that is provided goes from basic level to higher levels. The sooner the basic level has been performed, the sooner the care a paramedic will provide can happen. The goal is to give the patient as much care as possible in the field prior to arriving at the hospital. Most Town’s in the State of Connecticut use intercept. This service is provided to the
Town of South Windsor at no cost to the Town because there is a contract with ASM.
Answering further questions, Mr. Gorman explained that South Windsor Ambulance Corps. gets between 1600 to 1800 calls per year. Out of those calls, approximately 40% are ALS calls. The South Windsor Ambulance Corps. gets a lot of calls that are called lift assists and under these types of calls the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. has lost money because the individual refuses to be transported to the hospital. Since 2005, the South Windsor Ambulance has responded to 818 lift assists. Mr. Gorman stated that he would give the Council a number of calls that have been missed because the South Windsor Ambulance was at a different call when he gets that number. If the South Windsor Ambulance Corps and ASM both
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
arrive at a call, if the individual is covered by Medicare, the bill is done in what is called a bundle bill where the invoices get bundled and sent to the insurance company. The Town is governed by the State on what can be charged. Calls are supposed to go through the primary service area and then to ALS, but for the most part calls go out simultaneously. The South Windsor Ambulance Corps. does not always run two ambulances. There are certain times of a day or night where two crews are used because there seems to be a higher volume of calls, but there are times when there are no calls also. Having four people on at one time is not cost effective if they are needed. On other nights, both vehicles are out and two more calls come in. The average response time to a call is between 5.4
minutes to 6.5 minutes. The time seems longer to individuals who are waiting for the ambulance to respond because their adrenaline is pumping and they have no concept of time. ASM’s time is very good, but it does depend on where they are coming from as to how long it will take them to respond to a call.
Councillor Yagaloff stated that the Town Council is asking policy questions to understand if the Town should change the policy so that South Windsor can have advanced life support.
Mr. Gorman explained that unfortunately dollars are the big thing. The start up costs to go to ALS is between $500,000 to $700,000 and then the amount it would cost to keep the service going.
Mr. Leonard Guercia came forward and explained that the revenues that the Town is going to generate will never be enough to offset the costs, even if the Town has paramedic services. Mr. Guercia stated that his office is ready to assist the Town in any way possible if it is decided to move forward to ALS.
At 8:00 p.m. Mayor Delnicki recessed the Work Session in order to call the Regular Meeting to order. The Work Session reconvened at 8:03 p.m.
Answering questions, Mr. Gorman explained that a portion of the $500,000 to $700,000 would be to train 10 to 14 individuals to provide paramedic services. There is a lot of training that is necessary to become a paramedic. It will take approximately two to three years for the Town to be ready to provide paramedic services.
Mr. Guercia stated that the Town is not prohibited from hiring paramedics who have medical training already and then the process would not take two to three years. If the Town were to hire and train their own paramedics then it would be a two to three year process and the Town would also have to purchase more equipment. Mr. Guercia explained the process that South Windsor would have to take to become certified for paramedic service.
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
The Council discussed how ASM and the Town would work together if the Town provided paramedic service.
At 8:17 p.m. Mayor Delnicki recessed the Work Session in order to go back to the Regular meeting. The Work Session reconvened at 8:24 p.m.
Councillor Anwar felt it is important for the Town Council to be looking to the future needs of the Town. As the number of seniors increase, there may be an increase in the number of calls which would require an immediate service for emergencies. Councillor Anwar questioned if there is data to tell the Town Council at what level of the demographics change of a community that an ALS becomes more important?
Mr. Guercia explained that there are resources that can be found on-line but it is Town specific to decide whether paramedic services are necessary.
Councillor Prague stated that the cost to go to a full time paramedic service is enormous and would have a profound effect on taxes, schools and services because something would have to be given up. Councillor Prague requested that Mr. Gorman come back to the Council with a report of how many people over the last 10 years have died who would have not died if the Town had a faster response time and/or if the Town had ALS service.
Answering questions, Mr. Gorman explained that the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. was a volunteer service from 1981 to 2002.
Councillor Prague then stated that South Windsor is a Town that believes in regionalization and all Towns need to help each other.
Answering questions from Councillor Beaulieu, Mr. Guercia explained that if the Town wanted to train their own EMT’s and train them, it would take anywhere between 18 months to 2 years, but if the Town wanted to hire a someone who is already a paramedic that could begin right a way. When ASM sends out paramedics, the paramedics have been trained and meet the minimum requirements set by the Commissioner and the Department of Public Health and additionally they have active medical control from Manchester Hospital which involves ongoing training and education. The experience of paramedics is impossible to track but there are stringent protocols and training to get to a paramedic status.
Ms. Marge Tisha the EMS Trauma Coordinator for Eastern Connecticut Health Network came forward and explained that ECHN has regionalization and strict guidelines established. ECHN operates under the mandate from the State to meet certain requirements and there are wonderful requirements for the paramedics to be trained. During the day, ASM has 9 to 11 paramedic units all over the place stationed in different areas. They have an elaborate system where they move to
ITEM:
6. B. (Continued)
meet the need of each Town. There are people who are hired that will just do quality improvement to make sure the process is running in the most efficient and effective manner.
Answering further questions from the Council, Mr. Guercia explained that South Windsor Ambulance Corps. could go through the certificate of need process to upgrade to the paramedic level, but the issue becomes who responds to an ALS call, who has the obligation to respond and who has the right to respond. The two services could co-exist and usually can work out some type of mutual agreement for one to surrender to the other but it is all locally driven and Town specific. If the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. was upgraded to an ALS level, the Town would not be able to restrict the paramedic services to only serve South Windsor because there would be a mutual aid agreement and truthfully the Town would not want to restrict that because as many times as the Town may provide assistance, it is probably equal to or a
greater number of times that the Town would need assistance.
Councillor McCann informed the public that there is a Heart Safe Training Program that will take place on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at Company 3 beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Councillor Snyder thanked the State for coming and stated that she has never heard anything bad or derogatory about the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. As the demographics of the Town changes then that would be a good time to make a change if the Ambulance Corps. finds it necessary.
Deputy Chief Richard Riggs gave the Town Council a description of an incident that happened on December 10, 2011. The first call came in at 7:50 p.m. to dispatch. ASM was dispatched at 7:52 p.m., they were on route at 7:57 p.m. and arrival time was 8:11 p.m. Answering further questions, Deputy Chief Riggs explained that when ASM is called, dispatch does not know where they are located unless dispatch asks.
Mr. Gorman explained that the South Windsor Ambulance Corps. always says were we are responding from when dispatched.
Mayor Delnicki stated that he feels it is agreeable that paramedic service would be a great thing to have in Town but even if South Windsor did have paramedic service, that service could be responding to another community and not be available for an emergency in South Windsor. There is a mutual aid agreement mandated by the State of Connecticut.
7. Executive Session
None
ITEM:
8. Adjournment
At 9:04 p.m. Councillor McCann made a motion to adjourn the Work Session. Councillor Snyder seconded the motion and it was approved, unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah W. Reid
Recording Secretary
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