An interesting letter from a ‘volunteer’ board member;

Like other REMSA members, I serve on a volunteer basis with oversight by the City Council.

First off, while there are volunteer members of the REMSA board, Dr. Luther, SF Health Director Jill Franken and REMSA director Julie Charbonneau are all paid (by taxpayers–county and city), just like the City Council.

EMS systems across the nation take a variety of forms. Some communities operate EMS as a purely governmental function. In those communities, paramedics and EMTs are employees of the city or state.

Other communities employ private companies to perform EMS on a contractual basis. The City of Sioux Falls honors the strong conservative ideology prevalent in the community by engaging with private EMS providers.

I would argue that having a private ambulance provider isn’t always in the best interest of the public. If we are already paying several advisory positions on the board and paying for the fire department to be back up, it may be wise for the city to have a public ambulance service. Not only would it keep costs down for the consumer, it would have more oversight and would actually either make the city money or offset the costs. The city of LA for example has public ambulance service.

In determining the parameters of the contract, it engaged the services of Fitch and Associates, one of the nation’s most respected EMS consulting firms.

If you do some creative googling, you will also see that Fitch and Associates had some conflicts of interest with Paramedics Plus, something that was brought up in the vetting process but was quickly swept under the rug. To say the process was fair is a bit far fetched.

The contract awarded was for exclusive rights to perform EMS within the City of Sioux Falls. The need for an exclusive contract is due to the economic realities of the industry.

I understand the profit margin reality of this, but there is another side. SAFETY OF THE CONSUMER! If a catastrophe happens in Sioux Falls that requires several EMS to assist, where will that come from? A question REMSA and PP have yet to answer. There needs to be a backup plan, not secret experimental agreements and procedures.

As a member of the voting public, I believe the City Council has a responsibility to be a strong contractual partner with Paramedics Plus, to support the system as accredited segments of EMS, and assure the public of their commitment to the provision of emergency services in our community.

As I said above, how can a city council be a strong partner and support a contract when they are left in the dark of how this company operates? Kind of hard to ‘shame’ the council on decisions they make when they are provided NO transparency from REMSA or PP. As I have said, if the operating plans are too complicated for the public to understand, at least provide the details to our elected officials in closed executive session (well within the law) so they can at least make an educated assessment of the situation and the procedures. Otherwise it’s like little Johnny asking the teacher why the Earth orbits the Sun and the teacher responds, “Because”.

4 Thoughts on “Is a board member of REMSA telling the Sioux Falls city council to get in line?

  1. anonymous on October 16, 2016 at 3:08 pm said:

    Jill Franken needs to have the same departure date as Mike Huether. April 2018

  2. The D@ily Spin on October 16, 2016 at 6:33 pm said:

    I wonder if an ambulance service couldn’t just start operating without a city contract. City ordinances are unenforceable because there’s no provision to appeal into court. You can’t sue them and they can’t sue you. It’s merely case dismissed. It would be a good idea to use an attorney to let the city know you’ll be responding. Then it’s a race to be first to respond and service is immediate.

  3. I’d feel better about the editorials the REMSA board members submit if they were anything resembling impartial, but they’re not.

    Instead of submitting letters that just point out their purpose is to ensure the quality of the EMS system, they had to cross the line and become cheerleaders for Paramedics Plus. That in itself is a red flag to me.

    Have you ever attended a REMSA meeting? An open invitation to the public when they kick everyone out and go into executive session more often than the City Council is laughable as well. There’s no transparency with REMSA either.

  4. Go med star

Post Navigation