REMSA

A Father’s Plea – REMSA, June 28, 2017

A father wants answers and closure following the accidental death of his son but no one in authority will help him. Most involved seem to have a reason to not help Brian Neal of Sioux Falls. So on June 28, 2017 he attended the Sioux Falls Regional Medical Authority (REMSA) meeting in search of anyone who would help him figure out why a phantom ambulance was sent first for his dying son back in April.

No ambulances available is a daily occurrence in Sioux Falls, SD. So what do we do about it? We do not condone this behavior or blame our hard working ambulance staff. Like Brian, we are looking for answers to many questions.

Remember our contract compliant ambulance service? You know the one, proudly exclaiming they found an answer to Level Zero or “no ambulances available” service? Their answer is to issue a 980 call, sending out a phantom ambulance to keep contract compliant.

How many phantom ambulances have you seen on Sioux Falls streets since the program mere mortals aren’t able to understand, was put into effect? Our city of Sioux Falls Health department actually said it was too complicated to explain so guess what? We have to accept people dying or permanently disabled because the phantom 980 ambulance didn’t show up.

Just ask your neighbors, the Orvilles, Brians, Joshuas and more searching for answers while missing all or part of their lives. Do you want to be the next victim of a contract compliant phantom ambulance or a served by a real one?

Sioux Falls REMSA Meeting (Full) June 28, 2017

Publisher’s Note: I encourage everyone to watch this entire video. When I advocate for transparency and recording ALL public meetings, there are reasons why; important discussions and decisions are made in these VOLUNTEER PUBLIC BOARD MEETINGS. While it may make the board members uncomfortable, open government is important. If any of these members take issue with this, they can, at anytime, for any reason resign.

Don’t you love it when we call for an ambulance and they send out the phantom? Why should you expect an ambulance to show up in an emergency? Who do you think you are anyway? 980, what’s a 980?

Recently speakers in this video went public stating the use of the phrase “phantom” ambulances when they aren’t sending you one was a bad choice of words. Not bad policy, just a bad use of words. This city board is the Sioux Falls Regional Emergency Medical Authority or REMSA. Listen for the problem we have with this board’s responsibility. A 980 ambulance is a phantom or fake ambulance. A method designed to skirt contract penalties for not showing up.

The board’s mission is contract compliance first. Got that? We have a contract to give an authorized ambulance monopoly to a company who hornswoggled our town’s top notch contract negotiators. Nowhere in the contract is patient care the top priority. We have city employees who seem to find ways to keep 980 or phantom ambulances in contract compliance while people drive themselves to the hospital, if they are still breathing.

This meeting usually lasts less than an hour on the last Wednesday of the month if they meet at all in an out of the way meeting room in the health department. They complain the public doesn’t show up to see them and then don’t want to be recorded. Well, Cameraman Bruce decided to show up on June 28, 2017 to catch the public’s phantom 980 wambulance wrath.

Is the Argus planning to Livestream/record city board meetings?

The answer is ‘YES’ according to an Argus Leader employee. They plan to Livestream and Record the Parks Board and REMSA meetings from now on. This of course is to pressure the Mayor to change his mind about recording the meetings for the sake of transparency.

There is state law from 1974 that says anyone can record government meetings in South Dakota (as long as it is NOT an executive session).

Remember, this is about transparency for the citizenry, not for the protection of board members. King Huether just doesn’t get it.