BrandonInfo.com

It is with regret that I must tell you the video chat with Brandon Valley Challenger editor Jill Meier and MED-Star ambulance owner Jay Masur will not be online Thursday as planned. Jay Masur’s office has said he has a family emergency that prevents him from participating. A new date for the online chat has not yet been scheduled.

Brandon Valley Challenger Editor Jill Meier will have a video chat with Med-Star CEO Jay Masur on Thursday about the recent dispute over its coverage area and other issues. Log on to www.brandonInfo.com at 10 a.m. Thursday to watch the interview and join the conversation through a live chat.

Do you plan to log in to watch the live chat? Will you join in the questions?

If you are unable to watch the chat live, you can watch it later on www.brandoninfo.com.

Minnehaha County Commissioners have created a new ambulance district, which includes Valley Springs. MED-Star of Brandon and Rural/Metro of Sioux Falls both have said they plan to apply to be the designated ambulance service for that area.

Which do you think should get the contract, and why?

MED-Star Paramedic Services will handle Brandon’s emergency medical services for a second year, the city council decided Monday night. MED-Star was the only service to apply.

What do you think of the decision? If you are unhappy with it, what would you have had the council do instead, since no one else applied?

MED-Star owner Jay Masur asked the council to consider extending the contract to three or five years. Right now the contract must be renewed annually. What do you think of renewing the contract? If the city has a service that is doing well, why use taxpayer money for annual paperwork? However, if the service is not doing well, a five-year contract could cause problems.

Does the ambulance ordinance contain any provisions for voiding the contract, on either side? If not, should it have?

At a special council meeting Sept. 6, Craig Jacobus came to Brandon from Nebraska to give the city council an in-person quality report on MED-Star ambulance service. Jacobus reviews reports of all MED-Star’s calls and reports to the city monthly and quarterly on them.
The council asked Jacobus to report in person because two members of the public, Jana Schroeder and Linda Weber, had asked questions at an Aug. 4 meeting, and council members thought Jacobus could answer those questions better than they could. The council did follow up on a question concerning documentation, however. At that time, MED-Star was not current with documentation on employees, licenses and the like, which is a violation of the ambulance service’s contract with the city. The council did not discuss terminating the contract but instead requested the documentation and asked MED-Star owner, Jay Masur, to come to an Aug. 18 council meeting. Masur provided the paperwork but declined to appear at the meeting.

Neither Schroeder nor Weber were at the Sept. 6 meeting. Neither were Mayor Larry Beesley nor Alderman Harry Buck. Masur and several members of his staff were at the Sept. 6 meeting but did not speak.

No one from the Brandon Valley Challenger attended the Sept. 6 meeting. Neither Challenger editor Jill Meier nor I knew about the meeting ahead of time. Notice of the meeting was posted on the city Web site, but neither of us saw it in time. I viewed the recording of the meeting and reported on it on www.brandoninfo.com Sept. 19. My story also is scheduled to appear in the Challenger on Sept. 24.

Jacobus gave MED-Star high marks before the council on how it’s caring for patients in emergency situations. “MED-Star more than fulfills the obligation that anybody within the state would ever ask anybody to do,” Jacobus said.

What do you think of all this? The public certainly can ask the city questions and has a right to look at public documents. Most people don’t attend council meetings, though. Do you? Do you check on city business by looking at the city Web site, www.brandonsd.com? I check that site regularly, but apparently not often enough.

When the school district is planning a special meeting, they fax an agenda to the Brandon Valley Challenger office, but the city does not. Should it? Then again, should the city mail, fax or e-mail regular residents whenever a special meeting is planned?

If you don’t go to council meetings or look at the city Web site, do you get your city news from the Challenger or www.brandoninfo.com?

Or do you even follow city news at all?

MED-Star’s contract requires them to notify the city whenever there is a change in employees, vehicles or licenses. Since MED-Star got the contract last year, the city hadn’t received any updates until administrators sent a letter requesting the information.

MED-Star brought everything up to date as soon as asked.

Are you satisfied with that? Why or why not?

I use my car for my work, so I’m required to give my employer proof of insurance. Every six months, I photocopy the card I get from my insurance company, and give it to the human resources department. Sometimes I forget, though, and they send me a reminder. Is this the same sort of situation?

The first quarter ambulance report is on the agenda of tonight’s City Council meeting. Are you interested in knowing what’s in it?

The council meets at 6 p.m. at the city council chambers, 308 S. Main Ave.

Bloggers recently have posted a lot of opinions about the city’s new ambulance provider. And no matter if you are happy about the new provider in town, or not happy, the provider is who it is.

My question is, what will you yourself do in the coming year to make our city’s emergency services the best they can be? What will you do in the next five years to help make the city’s emergency services successful?

What can we all do to enhance our city?

According to a story on brandoninfo.com, Med-Star will start taking 911 calls at 7 a.m. Monday.

Of course, we hope they won’t get any calls for a long, long while. We sure don’t want anyone to get sick or injured no matter who takes the calls.

Tonight, the City Council will hold its regular briefing meeting in the council chambers at 5:30 p.m. One of the evening’s topics will be what to do about ambulance quality assurance. There are varying opinions about whether the city’s ordinance requires quality assurance to be in place on the day MED-Star’s license goes into effect.

That was supposed to happen today, but most likely it won’t. Metro Communications isn’t ready to dispatch 911 calls to MED-Star, and it’s not known when they will be.

Ambulance quality assurance also is on the agenda for the council’s next regular meeting, which will be Nov. 19.

How do you think the city should proceed with quality assurance? Below are some of the options that have been brought up so far. Which of them look to you like the best choice? Why? The worst choice? Why? Do you have any options not listed below that you would like the council to consider?

Can you contain your posts to discussion of the options and their benefits or drawbacks? I hope so.

Possible options (in no particular order):

1. Recruit one or more medical professionals who are Brandon residents.

2. Recruit one or more medical professionals without regard to where they live.

3. Rely on MED-Star’s medical director.
4. Contract with REMSA.

5. Contract with an out-of-state professional agency.

6. Rely on the City Council for review.

7. Go without review.

Just when it looked like the long months of deciding whether or not MED-Star should be allowed to operate in Brandon, it appears the issue has hit another roadblock.
The three committee members named to oversee the calls and ensure a quality service have all resigned, citing personal reasons.
Some council members say that without a committee Jay Masur and MED-Star should not be able to start doing business in Brandon.
Others say the ambulance service’s medical director could do that work.
It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

This item is part of the City Council’s consent agenda for their meeting Monday: “Conditional use application for sleeping rooms at 922 E. Redwood Boulevard.” That’s the address of Med-Star Ambulance.

In the Oct. 4 Planning & Zoning Commission minutes, I found this: “A Conditional Use Application was presented for 922 E. Redwood Boulevard. Joe, the director of the service was present for discussion. Land is zoned B-2. Establishing 24-7 operations, allowing sleeping quarters for employees. Sleeping quarters would be on the northeast of the building, on ground level. Garages for the ambulances are on the front of the building, sleeping quarters are separate by a wall between the garages. Dave (Swier, city building inspector) will stop by and inspect the arrangement. Commissioner (Jon) Jacobson moved Commissioner (Tim) Jorgenson seconded to approve the application with the condition that it passes Dave’s inspection. Commissioner (Linda) Weber abstained from the vote. A roll call vote showed (Chuck) Parsons, (Paul) Bosch, Jacobson and Jorgenson aye, Weber abstaining. Motion carried.” (Note: I inserted the parentheses in the quote. Commissioner Marv Peterson was absent from the meeting.)

I have these questions: