New General Managerjoins EMSA

Jim O. Winham, BSN, RN, NREMT-P has been named general manager in Oklahoma City. He is the former director

of clinical affairs Eastern Division for the Medical Control Board for the Oklahoma City and Tulsa Metropolitan EMS System. Jim brings a wealth of experience and leadership in EMS to Paramedics Plus with 30 years of experience in the EMS system. He has served in key leadership roles within EMSA, the Tulsa Fire Department, the Office of the Medical Director and the U.S. Army.

Greg Ford, paramedic, Western Division; Lisa Alexander, paramedic, Eastern Division; and Kelby Nichols, EMT, Eastern Division; were named EMSA’s 2012 Oklahoma Ambulance Association and American Ambulance Association’s Stars of Life award winners.Greg has been in EMS for more than 18 years, including four and a half years as a paramedic with EMSA. He is known as a leader among his peers, including his role as the union’s chief steward and a preceptor for paramedic orients.Notably, in November 2011, he demonstrated great professional poise and clinical care when he treated a patient with a failed left ventricular assist device. Greg found the patient’s emergency kit and replaced the control panel and batteries on a very hectic, dark scene. cont’d to page 2...

Jim Winham

Employees bring home 2012 Stars of Life awards

In this issue:

• New GM – Jim Winham

• Stars of Life

• From the desk of the COO

• Dr. John Sacra

• Fleet Improvements

• OEMTA Conference

• Protocol Changes

• Employee guest column

• Employee Feature

• Kudos

• In the News

• MMRS

• Email Us

• ARC app

July 2012

Lisa, with 20 years in EMS and four years at EMSA, and Kelby, with one year at EMSA, in addition to their consistent, exemplary performance in patient care, exhibited dedication and courage during a specific harrowing call. During a flash flood in August 2011, Lisa and Kelby happened upon a St. John Medical Center nurse who had become stranded in high flood waters. With water rapidly rising and entering the car, they acted quickly and courageously, using equipment from the ambulance, to bring the woman to safety thereby saving her life.

Greg, Lisa and Kelby were honored at the OKAMA Stars of Life banquet in Oklahoma City on March 29. They also traveled to Washington, D.C., to represent EMSA at the American Ambulance Association’s Stars of Life event April 29 through May 2.

Sincere congratulations to Greg, Lisa and Kelby on their outstanding achievement and dedication to EMSA and its patients.

...Stars of Life con’t

Congratulations To Lisa Causby for suggesting the winning

EMSA employee newsletter name, On Scene. As a reward, Lisa has been granted a free,

full registration to the OEMTA Conference happening in Tulsa this month.

Greg Ford, PMED

Lisa Alexander, PMED

Kelby Nichols, EMT

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From the Desk of the COOYour promotions were well deserved. Another important announcement is the selection of a new general manager for our Oklahoma City operation. I would like to welcome Jim Winham to the Paramed-ics Plus/EMSA team. You may recognize Jim from the Office of the Medical Director where he has been employed for the last four years. Jim brings 27 years of experi-ence including many high-level manage-ment positions. I am sure that you will show Jim the same hospitality that you showed me when I first became part of this team. The general manager position will report to me and will be the No. 2 person in the company. He will oversee the day-to-day operations in Oklahoma City and will fill in for me in my absence. I, as the COO, continue to have the overall responsibility for the entire operation. On June 3 we officially opened our first hub in Bixby. At the present time we have one unit assigned to Bixby 24 hours per day, seven days per week with the crews working 12-hour shifts. We will add a second unit in Bixby in the future to assist with coverage in the south Tulsa response area. We are also considering placing a hub in the Edmond area to assist with re-sponse times in the northern portion of the Oklahoma City response district. Look for more to come on that. Lastly, I want to thank everyone for you continued hard work and dedication to serving our patients. Be safe!

I am very proud to be writing in our inaugural EMSA newsletter! I believe this newsletter will be a wonderful tool for communication of important hap-penings throughout the Paramedics Plus/EMSA organization. As, I am sure you are aware, I began my new role as your chief operating officer in March. I want to personally thank everyone for your warm hospi-tality and truly making me feel part of the EMSA family. For that I am truly grateful. My short time here has been very busy. We had a very successful EMS week with excellent attendance at the zoo days in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa. I had a great time serving breakfast and meeting crews. Thank you to all who worked so hard to make this year’s EMS week top notch. I want to give a special congratulations to Greg Ford, Lisa Ables and Kelby Nichols for being honored as Stars of Life. Your dedication to your patients and to your community is sincerely appreciated and you have made all of us at EMSA proud. I would also like to thank those of you who attended our Town Hall meetings in June. This was a great opportunity for you to meet the president and vice president of Para-medics Plus and hear the direction for the future of EMSA. With that said, I would like to con-gratulate the following people on

their recent promotions:• Joe Wallace - director of operations • John Graham - director of support services• Kelly Smith - fleet manager• Kasey Larue - scheduling supervisor

John Peterson COO

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John C. Sacra, M.D., F.A.C.E.P., has been named chief medical officer for Paramedics Plus, a Texas-based emergency medical services com-pany with operations in California, Florida, Okla-homa and Indiana.Paramedics Plus President Ron Schwartz said that the addition of Dr. Sacra to the Paramedics Plus team is an important one as the company expands its operations while continuing its focus on quality patient care in the pre-hospital setting. “Dr. Sacra will be a valuable national resource and, while recognizing the autonomy and essen-tial role of local medical directors, he will support them in their efforts to provide clinically effective and cost efficient care. He will also work with our clinical and operational professionals as Para-

medics Plus continues to set high clinical standards for the industry not only in current operations but also in future opportunities, “ Schwartz said.“In addition, Paramedics Plus embraces a ‘just cul-ture’ where system design and employee accountabil-ity focus on quality patient care and safety while responding to staff behavior in a fair and just manner. Dr. Sacra’s track record shows him to be the right person to support our operations,” Schwartz added.

When Paramedics Plus crews identified a number of issues with the 2012 trucks, a lot of people got involved to improve things. Near the end of January, Alternate Field Operations Supervisor An-gela Hill sent a memo to then-COO Stephen Dean outlining some crew complaints with the 2012 units. In an effort to determine how wide-spread the issues were, Jeannie Sacra visited with more than 50 crews in each division in early Feb-ruary and found that many mem-bers of the field staff had similar complaints mostly related to crew comfort. Dean brought the issues to the at-tention of Ron Schwartz, president of Paramedics Plus; Steve William-son, president of EMSA; and Erik Switzer, who runs an ambulance remount division of Paramedics Plus in east Texas. Switzer met with

several medics in Oklahoma City about the issues. Kelly Smith, fleet service manager; Jacob Schlicher, fleet service supervisor; and John Graham, director of support ser-vices; got involved and enlisted the help of American Emergency Vehicles (AEV). Representatives from AEV, Switzer and Smith met in Tulsa to look at ways to solve some of the issues. Although not every problem could be fixed, such as making the cab bigger, the team made modifica-tions that would address crew com-fort. Smith came up with a simple design to retrofit armrests. After a prototype was delivered and evalu-ated, the 2012 trucks were outfitted with the new armrests. The instal-lation was expected to be complete by mid-June. The console was redesigned too. Based on crew recommendations,

the MDT is now flatter making it easier to access and see. The controls were relocated so that the howler is easier to find. The con-sole is now narrower at the front of the cab giving both the driver and passenger more foot space. The factory installed 12-volt outlet is now accessible and a plug has been added for MP3 players. New trucks to be ordered in July will showcase the new console. A final decision on changing the consoles in the existing fleet has not yet been made. “We are pleased to have been able to respond to issues identi-fied by our crews. The Authority, namely Steve Williamson, has been very receptive to helping us make changes. Crew comfort is important to everyone,” said John Peterson, COO for the Oklahoma operation of Paramedics Plus.

Fleet improvements

New chief medical officernamed for Paramedics Plus

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OEMTA ConferenceJuly 11-13

The Oklahoma Emergency Medical Technician As-sociation’s 2012 Medic Update Conference is July 11-13 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Conven-tion Center and will provide the latest in technology, news, education, policies and procedures within the industry.As the host city, all Tulsa EMSA medics will be per-mitted in the vendor area for free. However, to attend any sessions of the conference, attendees must be registered by visiting the conference website online at www.oemta.org.Preconference events take place on Tuesday, July 10 and include:

• Trauma First Response course - a one-day continuing education course that teaches the principles of Pre-hospital Trauma Life Support to non-EMS practitioners, including first responders, police officers, firefighters, rescue personnel and safety officers. • HAZMAT Awareness Train the Trainer Course - an interactive and participatory

training session that teaches participants how to teach others to identify and handle hazardous materials • EMS Safety course - a one-day continuing education course that helps promote a culture of EMS safety and to help reduce the number and intensity of injuries incurred by EMS practitioners• EMS Instructor/Coordinator Tract - to provide Oklahoma’s EMS instructors the most up to date information pertaining to education in Oklahoma EMS.

The three-day conference includes educational tracks in EMS, Fire, ALS and general information with keynote speakers Ken Bouvier, NREMT-P New Orleans EMS, and retired Fire Chief Alan Brunacini, Phoenix Fire Department.Other featured events include a vendor trade show displaying the latest technology, gadgets and indus-try tools and the OEMTA Annual Membership meet-ing followed by a reception hosted by Saint Francis Health System. A complete schedule of events and online registra-tion is available at www.oemta.org.

Protocol III.15 Intraosseous Vascular Access (Humeral) The July team meeting will provide training on our new insertion site for the The EZ-IO® Intraosseous Infusion System. EZ-IO provides the medical professional immediate vascular access to the central circulation within seconds, delivering medications, intravenous fluids and blood products to adult and pediatric patients alike. With a specially designed cutting IO needle and small power driver, the EZ-IO allows the clinician complete control — avoiding the use of force. EZ-IO provides rapid, smooth entry into the bone’s medullary cavity, creating an immediate conduit to the central circulation. This training is extremely important as the anatomy proves more difficult to locate and the insertion area is smaller. EZ-IO representatives will be on-site to assist in our education and to answer questions specific to the product.

Western Division:July 9th, 0800 and 1300July 10th, 0800 and 1300July 11th, 0730 and 1600

Eastern Division:July 16th, 0900 and 1400July 17th, 0900 and 1400July 18th, 0900 and 1400July 19th, 0900 and 1400Expect team meetings to last 4 hours

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The idea of service to your fel-low man has been around since the beginning of time. We some-times being in a service profes-sion fool ourselves into thinking that we are giving back to the community by doing what we do for a living. To keep my spirit well rounded and my since of being the right size sometimes I have to function as a part of something bigger than myself and volunteering to help my fel-low man is one way I do that.

The idea of helping others brings many different connotations with it. Each person gets to draw their own conclusions as to how a person is in the position they are in. I don’t choose to waste the energy and just try to be help-ful. We need people on every rung of the ladder to be on that rung of the socioecominic ladder at some point. We cannot all be highly educated high wage earn-ers. Someone has to prepare the food at the fast food restaurant, someone has to clean the room at the cheap motels we stay at on vacation, someone has to put the food on the shelf at the gro-cery store, someone has to bring the lettuce in from the fields. The wages paid to these folks are

not enough to keep them off of social services. Most people at some point in their life needs some kind of help from a social program, reduced price lunch-es for their kids, food stamps, Medicaid, help from a battered women’s shelter, their church or spiritual center, or some other program. I will give to the food bank, pack food for the kids to take home on the weekends; I will pack boxes of food for folks to pick up at distribution centers throughout the community. I will help out at the Christmas din-ner downtown. I give small do-nations to the centers that I see as being effective at helping the people who need it. I really do all kinds of crazy stuff to help folks just as many of you do as well.

We have friends who travel all over the world helping people. Some go with their churches to build clinics or provide health care in third world nations. We see folks go to Africa to build play grounds and schools. You can go to China and help with pandas. The Sierra Club goes into the wilderness and repairs trails all over the nation in our state and national parks. We have all kinds of ways to get in-

volved and help make our com-munity a better place for the per-son who has less than we do.

Our legacy ends up being a cul-mination of the actions we have taken during our lives. One must ask what do I want my legacy to be? Do I want to be remem-bered as a person of service and kindness? If your answer is yes take some action get in-volved. A great jumping off place might be volunteermatch.org

I’m Just

Sayin’by: Preston White, NREMT-PAssistant Operations Supervisor

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Want to write a guest column?

Please email your topic to

editor@emsa.netAccepted articles will need to be a maximum of 250

words.

Dinnertime on the job for an EMSA medic has never been very appealing to Perry Stafford. The third year basic EMT describes rushed meals from what-ever nearby convenience store is still open. Thus, it wasn’t long after he started with EMSA in 2009 that Perry’s Dogs was born. If you’re at the Eastern Division, you have probably already experienced the original Perry Dog – a pre-mium beef hot dog garnished with mustard, relish and barbeque sauce.Seeing a need for more and better food choices for on-call medics, Perry purchased a hot dog cart, researched the best ingredients, loaded it up and

began posting at areas where EMS crews were likely to be including hospitals. The premium dogs coupled with the “EMS crews” discount Perry offers helped Perry’s Dogs grow quickly.Along with the short bus he currently serves dogs out of, Perry and his wife, Pamela, recently opened Perry Dogs Café in Claremore, featuring simple, but quality menu items like a fried bologna sandwich, grilled ham and cheese, grilled cheese and loaded baked potato.“I never thought I would be doing this,” said Perry, who still works part-time as a medic. “It’s been amazing watching all of this evolve.”Perry now has plans for a fleet of mobile vendors utilizing retired ambulances and additional brick and mortar cafes.“The response has been overwhelming,” said Perry. “It’s not just another hot dog, I found what I would like, what I would pay to eat and tell people they don’t have to pay if they don’t like it. So far every-one has paid.”In addition to the original Perry Dog, Perry serves up polish sausage and chopped BBQ brisket from the bus. “In less than three minutes they can have a com-plete meal.”You can find out where the mobile cart will be each day by checking out the Perry Dogs facebook page.

EMSA medic turns idea into dinner

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Following a Tulsa World investigation and unsub-stantiated accusations, EMSA board of directors voted unanimously to submit to a third party audit to investigate capital expenditures, use of public funds, board governance and policies, billing and collec-tions practices, and existing arrangements between EMSA staff and contractors.The purpose of the audit is to determine if EMSA is following best practices, investigate the manage-ment of EMSA funds and external relationships, and maintain the public’s trust and confidence EMSA has earned in the past 30 years.

As requested by the board of directors in the June meeting, the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office will perform the audit, which is expected to start in Sep-tember with a report issued by December 2012.The care and service provided by EMSA medics and dispatchers has never been in question and will not be under investigation. The audit will focus solely on the authority and does not change day-to-day opera-tions for EMSA medical experts.If you receive questions from the public or would like to further discuss the issues surrounding the audit, please contact Kelli Bruer at bruerk@emsa.net.

EMSA to undergo audit

&KUDOS CommendationsJUNE 2012

Melody AdamsEddie Beaver

Michelle BohachStephanie Bradford

Chase CoatesJordan Colley

Joshua ConradLori Daniels

Dallas DriskellSharon ElliottKevin HaneyJames Hart

Steve JensonRichard Logan

Kevin LongJosh Moll

Randy PaceBryant ParkerEthan PerkinsJason Pittman

Makenzie PoindexterBrady RedusJeffery Rice

Christian RitchieApril RobinsonChris VenableJamie VrskaArt Wallace

Brittany WebbScott Williams

JulyAnniversaries

Robert Gunn - 25 yearsKurt King - 20 yearsJason Whitlow - 15 yearsEric Callender - 11 yearsJason Dillard - 11 yearsRaymond Farrow - 11 yearsRobert Hicks - 11 yearsJason Likens - 11 yearsRobert Reno - 11 yearsJoseph Sherrell - 11 yearsDavid Davis - 10 yearsAngela Hill - 10 yearsKofi Wallace - 10 yearsJohn Steward - 9 yearsMichael Ward - 8 yearsMichele Cole - 7 yearsDebbie Maack - 7 years

JulyBirthdays

Zakia Yazdanipou - 1Paul Shipley - 2Christopher Espinosa - 3Kimberly Maze - 3Eric Schraeder - 3Annamarie Pontius - 6Kenneth Campbell - 7Scott Williams -7David Wright - 7Joshua Reed - 8Kenneth Baker - 9Perry Stafford - 9Kurt King - 10Kyle Morgan - 11Christian Ritchie - 11Grant Secor - 11Kirk Wattman - 11Jordan Manger - 12Peter Radford 12Wendy Hutton - 13

Had a patient call the billing office today to express her appreciation for M. Allen and J. Baker. She is quoted as saying that they were “absolutely wonder-ful” and that they “made a very crappy situation tolerable.” Great work guys!

Had a patient call me this week to commend a crew of three for their caring for her. She said they were very gentle and their bedside manner was better than most doctors. She called this in even after having a less than pleasur-able experience with an ambulance crew in January. Congrats to Christian Ritchie, Kevin Haney and Randy Pace and thank you for caring for others in that manner to make a great impression on those in their weakest moments. CR527

Worth Mentioning

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In the News: Heat SafetyAs the dog days of summer continue, there are several messages EMSA will continue to push out to the public in order to ensure public safety and help prevent injury common this time of year.

Heat is garnering high call volume and causing serious stress on the body. EMSA is advising the public to:

• Drink more liquid than your thirst indicates and drink water frequently. Try drinking eight ounces of water at least every hour.• Avoid drinks containing alcohol or caffeine because they will cause you to lose more fluid.• Wear lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.• Apply sunscreen 30 minutes prior to going outdoors and continue to reapply periodically. Sunburn affects your body’s ability to cool itself and causes a loss of body fluids.• Read medication labels. Some medications like those tak-en for Parkinson’s Disease and tranquilizers can increase the risk of heat-related illness. • Keep the back of your neck cool by shading it or covering it with a collar, cap, handkerchief, icepack, bandana, etc. The neck is the body’s sensor for temperature so if its cool, your entire body will feel cool.• Replace salts and minerals.• Use a buddy system to monitor those at risk.

With the dangerously high temperatures, EMSA is also working with local law enforcement to alert the public to the very serious dangers of leaving children and/or pets in the car. The message being delivered is that it is never okay to leave children or pets unattended in the car for any amount of time. The temperature in a car can rise to 172°F with just 15 minutes of direct sunlight and children’s body temperatures rise five times faster than adult body temperatures.

Finally, EMSA is also warning parents to proceed with caution when utilizing playground equipment that’s outside and under direct sunlight as metals, plastic and rubber can reach surface tempera-tures of 50 degrees above air temperatures. EMSA medical experts are advising parents to touch the surface of the equipment before allowing their child to use it.

EMSA regularly alerts the media to health and safety tips for the benefit of the citizens we serve. If you have suggestions for tips based on calls received or field experience, please email them to Chris Stevens at stevensc@emsa.net

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The Disaster Guys….who are they and what do they do?

While responding to and caring for the emergency patient is the main role performed by P-Plus employees, there is another vital patient service performed by a small group of dedicated professionals in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Lawton. The EMSA Disaster Preparedness and Response Division coordinate the medical system response during disasters and a public health emergency. You may know us as “MMRS”, “RMRS”, the “Grants”, the “MERC”, or just “Murph’s guys”.The medical system includes all those agencies and organizations that provide individual patient care. It includes hospitals, EMS, long-term care, home health, clinics, and a host of other agencies and organizations. With our public health partners, we look at the effects of a disaster (ie. tornado strike) or public health emergency (ie. pandemic flu) on the medical system. We then plan, equip, and if need be, respond to the incident at hand.The Medical Emergency Response Center (MERC) is the physical emergency operation center for the medical system. During times of concern, the MERC may be staffed to help coordinate the response among the numerous agencies and organizations that make up the medical system. There is a MERC in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Lawton.We process a significant amount of grant funding to help provide the equipment, supplies, and services needed to improve a medical system response. The Duodotes on the units and the new triage tag kits are examples of the funding applied to meet a need.We cover a lot of territory and serve quite a few agencies and organizations. We are responsible for all of Tulsa County, seven counties in central Oklahoma, and 17 counties in southwest Oklahoma.We’ll provide additional information on what we do. In the meantime, just know we’re working behind the scene to improve the response capability of EMSA and many other organizations. The ultimate goal is the same: to provide the best care possible to our most important person—the patient. ~ Murph

Email usEMSA employee feedback is critical to ensure quality care for our patients and a quality work environment for employees. There are several ways you can provide comments, suggestions, questions or kudos to be received by senior management.

Have a question about a process, procedure or general issue?Askit@emsa.net - is where you can email your questions, which will be distributed to the appropriate supervisor to provide you with an answer.

Have an idea or suggestion on how to improve processes, procedures or the general work environment?Brightideas@emsa.net - is where you can email ideas to be considered by management.

Want to pat someone on the back?Starcare@emsa.net - is where you can email your praise, recognition and kudos for fellow employees.

Each employee newsletter will feature resolutions to problems, implementation of new ideas and kudos to teammates.

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