All things ambulance
March 20th, 2007 by 
Alica
Let’s start using just one thread to talk about the ambulance issue. All previous posts will stay as they are, but please put any new posts under this “all things ambulance” heading. That way it will be easier for people to follow the dialogue.
Feel free to post any insights you have, as well as questions, complaints, praise or general comments.
Thanks.
Posted in Uncategorized, Ambulance | 
March 21st, 2007 at 8:10 am
To Momof5 (and everyone else),
There are many other topics mentioned in the ordinance than just response times. Here are some of them:
licensing
application
insurance
equipment
staff
medical director
disaster training and response
certification of drivers
oversight
suspension of certification
Please look into these areas also before you make your decision. You may (or may not) discover that even though the proposed ordinance would give you the faster times you want, it also may take away some other things you want. But you won’t know until you read it.
(Momof5’s comment can be found under the “Another forum” heading.)
March 21st, 2007 at 8:24 am
And if anyone has any questions regarding any of these topics, Jay from Med-Star would be happy to talk about them. I admit that I am not expert on any of these subjects, but Jay is and he has been nothing but up front and forth right with me. I was “on the fence” about this subject until I went to the forum last week and talked to Jay. I would ask anyone that had questions to ask your council members or Jay (since everyone is making this about Med Star, even though he hasn’t even gone thru the appliciation process in this city yet!!)Thanks!!
March 21st, 2007 at 9:11 am
Jay and the council HAS made this about Jay! When Jay went before the council in 2004 to request a new ordianance that he could pass and the council voted to have him write a new ordinance along side the city council, and the flyer that was sent out to the city…alligned the council with him. There was no problem with the first ordinance #286 except Jay could not pass it!!
March 21st, 2007 at 9:22 am
Momof5,
Point #1-The city council made this about medstar when they put their name on Medstar’s flyer. The opposition did not bring it up until council opened the door.
#2-A lot of fire/ambulance services give CPR classes for free. Not a deal maker.
#3-I would hope his facility is clean and neat, just as ALL services are. Again not a deal maker.
#4-Has anyone from the opposition stated they are AGAINST HIM? They are against the ordinance as written!
#5-You say he educated you on this issue. An education means learning about both sides. Have you read personally the old and new ordianance? You can say that the omissions don’t concern you?
#6-Let me say this for those that seem to not hear it….there is NO stipulation in the new ordinance that regulates response time. I’m tired of hearing that this is what the new ordinance “fixes” Read it, it DOES NOT mandate a faster response time.
#7-Are you not concerned that the service that wants to work in Brandon actually sat at the table to draft the ordinance? This can be seen on an earlier post and also at city council meeting minutes.
#8- Are you not concerned that MedStar hasn’t qualified for the old ordinance or the county ordinance?
#9- If you vote yes on this ordinance you will not be getting the same care as Sioux Falls. Their ordinance is written with much more oversight and quality control than our new one.
#10- you seem to have medical knowledge with your use of the terms “rigs” and “line” as those are slang medical terms for ambulance and IV’s. I would think you could pick out the differences in these ordinances. Another commercial for MedStar?
March 21st, 2007 at 10:09 am
Please forgive me for giving an extremely oversimplified example of what some people are saying, which is that the proposed ordinance isn’t well written and could easily cause more problems than it solves.
Let’s say the City Council wanted to make a law to abolish taxes. And they tell everyone, “Vote for this ordinance because it will abolish taxes.”
We probably all think paying no taxes would be a great thing.
But what would you think if the ordinance read like this:
Whereas, we don’t want to pay taxes any more.
Therefore, Mary had a little lamb, indivisible, with liberty and justice of the people, by the people and for the people, forever and ever, Amen.
It’s possible you would say, “Hey, I’m all for paying no taxes, but this ordinance doesn’t guarantee that at all.”
So please read the ordinance before you decide for sure how you want to vote.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:49 am
In regards to Jay sitting down with our city leaders and helping to write an ordinance…..do you suppose that would happen for any other service providers in Brandon??? Why don’t we just let the contractors, refuse companies, fence installers, gas stations, etc, etc. ask for a rewrite so they can do business their way?
March 21st, 2007 at 11:51 am
I know that when the city was “rewriting” the daycare ordiance they asked at least 3 daycare providers to be on the committee. They ultimately wrote the ordiance how they wanted it, but they did have providers there. Is this any different? And I have read the ordinance. There are some things that need to be addressed, but I still feel that having an ambulance service in town can do nothing but good things for our community. Thats what its all about isn’t? Whats good for Brandon??
March 21st, 2007 at 12:45 pm
What is the benefit of putting into law an ordinance that needs work? Why is that better than improving it before it goes into law?
If the prposed ordinance is approved, the City Council would have to make modifications and then, by law, have a public first and second reading, which would take a minimum of a month, and then the revisions would have to be published, which happens nine days after the second reading. And then it would have to have the 20-day waiting period before it goes into law. So that’s a minimum of two months to make any changes after April 10.
In addition, the county is currently revamping its ordinance. Brandon’s proposed ordinance #381 relies heavily on the county ordinance. If the county ordinance changes in a way that differs from what Brandon wants, then the Brandon City Council would have to go through the first reading-second reading-publication-waiting period process over again.
Why is that better than voting down #381 this year and then spending a year rewriting #381 and monitoring the possible changes in the county ordinance?
Good intentions do not justify turning a poorly-written ordinance into law.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Dear Mother of 5,
Brandon City Council set up a special committee consisting of 2 doctors, a nurse and a state legislator, whose recommendations were that Brandon did not have enough call volume to support its own ambulance. They also stated (this report is available at city hall), “First responders are a critical element in an emergency medical services system. On many occasions, it is not how long it took to transport someone to the hospital, but what happened in the first few minutes at the scene, which makes the difference in the value of the emergency care provided. Put your money into first responders (i.e. Brandon Police, Brandon Fire Department).”
So, yes the city council had qualified people do a review to assist with writing this ordinance, as well as they had people assist with the babysitting ordinance. The difference being the council did not take the recommendations from a group that they appointed to research this issue.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:02 pm
To Momof5 — everyone seems to miss the point this not only about response times this is about care and quality of care. Here a few quick questions, Why is Med-star not in Aberdeen anymore? Why doesn’t med-star get a county License? some pretty easy questions.
What I have not seen in the paper or any forum is anything about Med-star in Aberdeen. In an article in the Aberdeen paper (available on web) Med-star offered the same song and dance to the Aberdeen council and was granted a license(he has a state license so he good). This was Sept of 2006. As of the March 7th forum - Jay Masur stood up and offered the same song and dance saying that he now has services in Huron(2 units) and Brandon (4 units)– not one word about Aberdeen. So whats the story there.
Qualtiy is more important the quick response time, this whole mess is such a none issue — The city should have included in it ordinance that a county issued permit is also required but they decided to water it down so med-star could pass the med-star/Rubin approved ordinance.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I am very concerned about the whole ambulance issue. Jay with Medstar states that he can provide a quality ambulance with response times that are better than Rural Metros. Says who?? Jay?? If response times are not included in the ordinance, than Medstar can respond to calls just like Rural Metro from Sioux Falls. Jay Masur will tell you what you want to hear, but he doesn’t follow through with what he tells you. Just ask any of his former employees they might tell you what he is really like. He is just like the competition!!!! He is a PROFIT AMBULANCE and wants to make the all mighty dollar like Rural Metro. Brandon should start it’s own volunteer ambulance service or have Garretson come down into the city to provide ambulance service. At least they are volunteers that want to help the citizens instead of putting the mighty dollar into their pocket.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:58 pm
momof 5 are you nuts, what makes jay an expert, because he told you he is!
Try talking to other so called “Paramedics” get their stories, points of view and expert wisdom.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:41 pm
To Momof5 and the others — I would love a paramedic level ambulance stationed in town but I want quality, honesty, reliablity, and then quanity. What do you think Enron boys said? Hey come look at our nice and clean offices, great building, and great business. Oh by the way we had to restate our earnings reports because we didn’t quite give you all the facts up front…..Sorry employees and investors bye bye Savings .. don’t worry about us we sold our shares before.
You need to ask hard questions to the council and Mayor You the citizens need honest, impartail, and complete answers. Not smoke or dancing or the cure all end resposne a quicker response times.
So heres a few more simple questions.
What is the criteria for an applying ambulance company, point by point specific criteria, ? Is the criteria from the new ordinance, county, REMSA, madeup, what we think? This criteria should already be down and available.
How are things going in Huron? What about Aberdeen, only 2 to 3 months and poof? Talk to the councils, hospitals, fire depts.
What is the backup plan if an ambulance is not available (due to calls or transfer)? Per the ordinance only contracted services can serve Brandon without a penality. Police or Fire can only request in an instance of bad weather(blizzard or tornado) snowstorms — I didn’t read unavailable.
Oh the poor people in Mr. Rubins extreme cases. Just laying there no care no support until the ambulance get there. where was the fire Dept? where was the police? What happend in between dispatch and ambulance arrival? What is the rest of the story?
I do have one answer to Mr Rubins shock and amazement that people would drive themselves or family member to the hospital. Money not oh it going to take 45 minutes for the ambulance.
That poor individual who drove to med-star when he was having a heartattack, doesn’t Med-star have paramedics? They could not care for him until the ambulance arrived? I guess no transport means billing so no help. another great story to scare you.
Mr. Karber what about the refund of illegially high fees on prior amublance pplications, is a refund on its way yet?
What about an fair and impartial council whos only job it to represent the citizens of
Brandon.
Staff qualifications?
Experience? Time Schedules? think about what it will cost to staff 2 units 24/7 with a paremdic and an emt driver 365 days a year? I beleive the committee pointed about about 600 calls a year to make it .. not 600 in 2 years.
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
The guy that took himself to Med-Star was treated. But they couldn’t transport him because they, like everyone else in Brandon, has to wait for Rural Metro to get an ambulance to Brandon. Read the article in the Argus archives. He was treated by paramedics at the med-star place.
Like the other person said, you ought to call Jay at Med-Star. Everyone raises this little straw-man arguments. If you really wanted answers, you’d get off your ass and find them.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Anonymous,
Tasteful and grown up… all at the same time.
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
As a citizen of Brandon, I want the best for my family and fellow citizens. I have taken the initiative to complete vital research on what we should have as a community for ambulance services. Before completing any research, I had no clue on what the ambulance business consisted of, including expectations and operations.
First, I consider myself to be very impartial on this topic, only wanting what’s best for my family. I strongly believe the system we have now is more than adequate for our community. We have a great group of firefighters and first responders who are on scene within minutes of an emergency. Why change anything if it’s not broken?
If we change things, we have no guarantee for quality; furthermore, we risk the change of creating a larger problem by having an unqualified service. Why should we drive out the quality that we have now? All first responders we currently have in Brandon are certified to provide life-saving techniques until the paramedics arrive. I would rather wait a couple more minutes for experienced paramedics from Sioux Falls to come in than to have an unqualified paramedic arrive just a few minutes earlier. This isn’t brain surgery people, think about the impact our votes will make on the future of our great community.
We’ve had a fair share of true emergency calls in our community. They were handled very promptly and professionally, according to documents. Our volunteer first responders are able to activate the helicopters from Sioux Falls if needed. We already have quality services here in Brandon; let’s not change them!
I have contacted several resources in both Huron and Aberdeen. The results are completely unsatisfactory. Jay Masur gave false hopes to both communities. Are these his intentions with our community? According to hospital staff in Aberdeen, he pulled his operation out of town. He still states he is in town, according to the Aberdeen American News. This is a very serious matter. Also, his ambulance service doesn’t have hospital privileges at the trauma centers in Sioux Falls. If we allow Med Star to operate within our city, we are allowing a company with an unsatisfactory track record to save our lives if needed. We’re playing with my family and yours. I do not want one of my family members to die because of a mistake we make as a community. Think long and hard about the way you are going to vote.
Here is a scenario I was thinking about after analyzing all the facts. I was told by sources that Med-Star requires two ambulances dedicated to his VA contract. That leaves at most two ambulances to serve the city, if he did operate within the city. First, if one call comes in and then a car accident or something of such magnitude, he will no have enough ambulances to cover our needs. That is best case scenario. Also, does he have enough staff to cover all four ambulance? That would mean he has to have 8 employees on 24/7.I don’t think he would make any profits; therefore, he wouldn’t have that many staff members on. There has been several times, according to sources, in which Sioux Falls ambulance has had to send multiple units to cover an emergency.
I ask each of you to think long and hard about the decision your vote will make for our community. Please think for the safety of your family and mine! Let’s not change what isn’t broken.
March 23rd, 2007 at 10:12 am
I found a discussion group in the Aberdeen newspaper…you might find it intersting to see what Aberdeen is saying about Jay….
Mar-20 Med Star Ambulance gone? http://forums.aberdeennews.com/kr-aan_forum/start
March 26th, 2007 at 11:06 am
i was just wondering…i heard from a little birdy that lives up huron way that last week (???) there was some sort of “closed door” meeting about masur. anyone have any info on what that was about????? hmmm….i wonder what it could have been about.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I looked through all the Huron City Commission minutes for 2007 (available at www.huronsd.com) and, as far as I can tell, no mention of any ambulance is in any of them.
The commission did go into executive session on the following dates for the following purposes:
Jan. 8: personnel and union negotiations
Jan. 15: pending litigation
Feb. 12: personnel matter and contractual matter
Feb 19: pending litigation
Marc 12: contractual matter and pending litigation
It would require more research to say whether or not MedStar was a topic in any of these executive sessions.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Thanks to those with the insight to some of my questions. I sure hope the members of the council are taking notes and checking with the hospital staff, city councils, and local first responders in Aberdeen and Huron. With this ordinance the city and the council is ultimately responsible for your care and pinning it all on an incomplete & poorly written ordinance that doesn’t answer a third of thee questions it is creating.
I really enjoyed the article in the Sioux Falls Argus leader, Semi retired doctor as a medical director? we are getting one with a local hospital now as well? we have 5 medics,how many rigs overall? who many hours in a day? and finally the comments concerning tthe service to Aberdeen? Wonder what the response time to a 911 call from Huron to Aberdeen is?
The topper was a 2 to 10 minute response time? I will bet you anything that a 10 minute reponse time by the fire or police department is unacceptable? Remember the Med-star/City council sponsored flyer sent by med-star featuring the American Heart chain of life times -10 minutes “Few attempts at resuciation succeed.
As for asking Jay or Med-star about this, I personnaly would like a unbiased consistent answer not ones designed or crafted to scare the public.
Vote No on this ordinance and force the council to really think and craft an ordinance based on unbiased opinions that will improve the care for the citizens of Brandon and guarantee quality and planning for the future. Remember passing this law that needs tweaking will take some time ..apparently 2 years wasn’t enough.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I believe the only thing Medstar has in Huron is hospital transport so probably nothing related to the city.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Where is Medstar responding to emergency calls if not in Huron or Aberdeen? Or is only running transports?
March 26th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Transport only. That’s one of the problems.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:58 am
Ha, “simple.”
“As for asking Jay or Med-star about this, I personnaly would like a unbiased consistent answer not ones designed or crafted to scare the public.”
Unbiased. This forum is about as unbiased as Fox news. People talk about wanting unbiased facts. Why? You made up your mind with the lies those two crazy women spread. If you really wanted unbiased facts, there’s ways to find them and sources that are appropriate.
April 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am
Two crazy women? Who are we talking about here? I believe there is more on the opposing side than 2 women. What other sources? If you’d share them, I would gladly read them.
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I do not think you will have much to worry about Anonymous. I sure the amendment 381 will pass and the city council will immediately pass med-star application the next day, they better Jay did help write it. By the way I got 1000 shares of Enron if anyone is interested .. Kenneth Lay gurantees they will go up and the Arthur Anderson Accounting confirmed the report.
April 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Anonymous is correct this forum is biased but so is Anonymous. With that said -we all hae heard of the extremely long calls by Rural Metro and the average response times. How about an answer from our City Council on the number of 911 calls (not transports), average response times,& longest calls run by all the ambulance companies where Med-star currently provided service? What an idea for a community news paper to run.
I think instead of calling people names we ought to be thankful they care enough to voice their concerns!
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:15 am
Numbers, numbers and more numbers. Ok…try this on….a medical call comes in…it is a code 3 or 4…meaning life threatening…fire, police and ambulance are dispatched. Once the fire is on scene and has evaluated the situation, they can change the code of the call…meaning…if it is not life threatening…they relay this information back to Dispatch and tell Rural Metro to reduce to code 1. So now we have a code 3 call (on the record) and it has been reduced to a code 1…that means normal driving…no lights and sirens…so yes, the times are longer…but safety is being put in place…when you look at the bottom numbers…this call will still show up as a code 3 but times relflect it as being a code 1. The fire department does a fantastic job of getting to the scene fast and being able to evaluate the patient. That is part of the medical protocol. The fire department can do a lot for the patient and they do have airway training including being able to insert a combi tube (which is very comparable to intibatation), and they have a defibulator.
I applaud the ‘2 crazy ladies’ that started this process of doing a checks and balance on our City Council. They tried to work with the council and when found the need to put this issue to a vote. Not only a vote…but to get the community to learn about the issue and find facts. Med star, Jay Masure and some city councilmen should stop the scare tactics of saying this ordianance will save lives…prove it!!!! Racing to a call is not the answer…the answer is getting the best, qualified help on the scene in a safe manner! Does our council have more medical knowledge than the county and the studies thay have done…I really don’t think so. State and County would of stepped in by now if there were instances of ‘people dying’ due to poor response times. That is not what is happening!!!!!
Vote no!!!!!!!!!
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 am
Let’s pretend for a moment that there is an ambulance service based in Brandon and everyone agrees it is the best ambulance service in the world.
Now look at proposed Ordinance #381. Do you think it is written so that it would properly regulate this best-in-the-world service?
Even the people who wrote the proposed ordinance say it needs work. Even people who want it passed say it needs to be written better.
We’re not voting on what kind of service we want. We’re voting on the words that are written on the piece of paper. Will those words guarantee us the kind of service we want?
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Anon….Did that make you feel better? Calling people you don’t even know “crazy”? Shameful and childish.
I was totally undecided at the last forum….then I had to listen to numbers numbers numbers, and the complete dodging of answers. The two “crazy” ladies didn’t even need to say anything! Based on the behavior and the words coming out of that Karber guys mouth (the ones I could understand between the gum chomping and cracking), he made my mind up for me!
They totally missed the points that were being made! And then to have the audacity to tell horror stories about old women hanging out on an icy driveway for 45 minutes with broken ankles, and that too many people were driving themselves into the hospital. I can GUARANTEE that people that live in Sioux Falls drive themselves to the hospital on a regular basis. Why, one may ask themselves…MONEY. Because if you’re uninsured, or underinsured, where can you expect to pull the $500 out of?
No Anon, what’s really “crazy” about all of this is the fact that someone had the gumption to actually see a wrong and try to right it, putting themselves into the public eye for ridicule, because they beleive in something so strongly. When’s the last time YOU felt that way, Anon? I mean, other than when your favorite sports team lost or they discontinued your very favoritest ice cream flavor.
April 4th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Regarding the latest letter to the editor in the Challenger
“If we vote yes, we have an ordinance we can work with. If we find some challenges in the ordinance, we can bring the issues to the council and have the ordinance amended as needed”
Someone please explain this way of thinking to me.
If that’s how government worked in reality…then why didn’t everyone vote yes on the abortion ban and then just amend it after the fact with the additions of rape and incest? Maybe because that’s NOT how the system is set up to work. We don’t just vote on something and then change it afterward. Let’s just vote in a blank piece of paper and call it an ordinance and fill it in after the vote.
And regarding the vote yes signs that say “Save Lives” They imply we’ve lost lives when in fact that is not true. Scare tactic once again.
We may just have to sleep in the bed we make on this one. It’s the citizens that ultimately will lose.
April 4th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Hey everybody, look at this updated blog on MedStar and Masur….
http://forums.aberdeennews.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=kr-aan_forum&msg=6264.5&search=y
April 4th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Thank you Lewis T ! Aberdeen doesn’t sound to impressed with Med-star promises or their perfomance. Makes you wonder if Jay will just decide it not financially possible and pull out after a few months *** Then what **it happened in Aberdeen.
Remember our city council will gurantee it is quality service that covers us. Look at how much time the members of city council spent working with Med-star to craft ord 381,checking on Rural metro, and those studies on emergency response. Just not enough time to check with Aberdeen or Huron before deciding to back med-star (Mr Kraber said consensus of council backed med-star mailing. I know Jay told em so. Excuse me I completely forgot Mr Rubin has years of experience with Jay and Medstar/caretram, however you want to word it Mr Rubin either employees / contracts with med-star for medical services at their various race tracks.
Jays line in the paper last week I have learned from my days in Sioux Falls (CareTram days).
If you think this council is impartial just see how fast Med-star is licensed if ord 381 passes? minutes, hours, days, or weeks?
April 5th, 2007 at 6:53 am
I think a full service ambulance would be a great addition to Brandon,if this ambulance follows the same guidelines as the other four ambulances in the county already comply with! Mr. Masur, just follow the same rules then there would be no question! Vote no on 381!
April 6th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Am I to take it that the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department is endorsing MedStar??? That’s what I presume from the flyer in my door today? Why doesn’t the flyer also say that “Freddie” is an employee of MedStar?
April 6th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I hope the fire department speaks up and lets people know the letter sent by ‘freddie’ is not the view of the fire department!!!!!
April 9th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Yes, Fred Torberson has worked for MedStar for several years.
In a guest editorial that ran in Saturday’s Argus Leader, Monte Albertson closes his article promoting a “yes” vote on #381 this way: “Voting yes on the ordinance would allow another ambulance service to be a backup. Right now there is no backup, and the only option is to wait. Having two ambulance services in place only makes sense and is loaded with positives.”
What Mr. Albertson fails to consider is that if proposed Ordinance #381 passes, it’s almost certain that Rural Metro will not apply for a license, since the county ordinance won’t allow two ambulance services to cover the same area. In fact, no ambulance service, not even Med-Star, has said publicly (to my knowledge) that it definitely would plan to apply for a Brandon license.
I’m going to vote “no” on #381, folks. The ordinance isn’t very well written. It just seems to have too many loopholes in it. It needs to be cleaned up. Also, the county is revising its ordinance right now. It would behoove Brandon to wait for the outcome of that before trying to pass a law of our own on the topic.
That said, I have to say that eventually Brandon will get big enough that we will have to insist on an ambulance service based right in town. There are many ways this could happen, but the discussion the last couple of months has been a good thing. It has gotten people talking and thinking about the future. We need to always think ahead so we can be prepared when the time comes for things to happen.
In any case, go to City Hall tomorrow and vote!
April 9th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I also plan on voting NO on 381. I cannot vote on somwething that is not in final form. The current council, except for Dan Mostek, seems to be trying to push this through without telling us the truth as to why. Remember, Brandon DID have a city ambulance ordinance that was modeledafter the county ordinance. Med-star didn’t even apply because they could not meet the higher qualifications.
April 9th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I am voting yes on the ordiance, especially after I got the flyer in todays mail bashing Jay Masur. Whoever was responsible for that should be ashamed of themselves. It just comes down to common sense for me. If my child was hurt and in extreme pain and needed pain medication, I would want it in 5 minutes, not the 12 minutes (and thats being generous) for Rural Metro to get here. Our first responders do an excellent job, but they only can do so much. The cannot start an IV or give any kind of pain medications. Did you know that if Rural Metro is called out to Brandon and on the way here they get another call in SF, they will turn around and go back? Its in their contract with SF. But I am sure most everyone on this very biased forum will disagree with me on this before doing any research on it. Because if they did, they would find out that this is a FACT. We should not play second fiddle to SF. MY family and friends deserve better tha that. Its all about saving lives, not about pulling a business and a person down. VOTE YES!!
April 9th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Momof5, I want fast service as much as you do. But you have to realize that voting yes on the proposed ordinance will not guarantee that. The proposed ordinance does not even mention response times. Not once. Not anywhere. Voting yes on the proposed ordinance will not help your cause.
Vote no on the proposed ordinance and then make the City Council rewrite it so it provides for what you want. Because the way it is written right now, it doesn’t.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Mom of 5 since you have such a great relationship with Mr. masurs. Maybe you could answer this for me our city council dose not want to
-why he no services in Aberdeen after his promises to citizens of Aberdeen?
- How many emergency calls has he run in Huron or Aberdeen? What is his average response time?
-Is a an ambulance with 1 paramedic and 1 emt as specified by Ordinance 381 better then an ambulance with 2 paramedics?
-According to Mr Masurs, only 5 experienced paramedics and six rigs What are the odds of an experience medic is going to respond to your child emergency especially when the rigs are running transports for the VA and supporting Mr Rubins Race Tracks on their various nights?
-Do you feel Mr Rubin has any conflict of interest being an employer of Med-star?
*****One final question Why has med-star not applied for a county license in his 8 years of business in Brandon.
But by your own words any ambulance is better then one than a well staff ambulance who’s main purpose/training is to respond to you emergency calls not just transports.
Alicia can you answer any of these questions?
April 10th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Apparently Med-Star didn’t make enough money in Aberdeen to stay there, according to reports.
As a Brandon citizen, I would feel more comfortable if Mr. Rubin had excused himself for any votes that had to do with Med-Star. In an earlier blog entry, I asked Mr. Rubin to reveal if he has ever invested any money into Med-Star. So far, he has not responded. It remains to be seen if there is any conflict of interest on Mr. Rubin’s part. However, there does seem to be the appearance of conflict of interest.
Jay Masur has said that he hasn’t applied for a county license in recent years because of a place on the contract that asks for information that can’t legally be given out. However, it hasn’t seemed to stop at least one other ambulance service from applying for a license anyway. Med-Star has applied for a license in Brandon twice in recent years and was twice denied, because he didn’t meet the qualifications the city required at the time. If proposed ordinance #381 passes, though, Med-Star would qualify.
Now go out and vote, folks.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:39 am
If you go look at a copy of the county license application there is nothing on there that is requesting any confidential information. That can be construed to be illegal. Why don;t you ask Jay what exactly that information is. Also If you look into the minutes of the County commision meeting in Jan. Or Feb. 2006, you will see that Jay did actually apply, he was denied and told to apply during open enrollment for the County which is in Oct. Then he didn’t even apply in Oct. He was also told that he needed to to get a license in Brandon and then the County would give him one. When you talk about quality, what makes you think that making an Ordinance easier so that Masur can quailfy for a license. It is suppose to be the other way if you don’t quailfy for an ordiance then you need to change, not the ordinance!!!!!
Also you say Jay left Aberdeen because he didn;t make the money, Then what makes you think he can make it in Brandon on 91 calls a year, when it takes about 600 calls a year to support 1 full-time ambulance. whats to say that he won’t just pull his 911 truck to make some money on a private transport. And still leave the city of Brandon with a 15 Min. response time from Sioux Falls. Also rumor has it that Jay has said he would commit 2 trucks to Brandon 911 is this true.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:33 am
Just to clarify….I have NO relantionship with Jay Masur, I have only met the man once in my life. And if you have so many questions for him why haven’t you asked him? He had two open houses over the weekend to answer any questions that the public had. He is not hiding from anyone. Did you attend either one of them to get your questions answered? In response to the response time, do you really think that he would not have better response times than Rural Metro being based right here in town? Thats just common sense. He and the city council members have stated that he will have a rig and a paramedic here in Brandon ready to go 24 hours a day 7 days a week. How can they not be faster?
April 10th, 2007 at 8:44 am
I don’t know whether I’m amused or disappointed in the “Vote YES on 381″ signs. They say Vote Yes - Save Lives. Save lives? How many people have died en route to Sioux Falls because the ambulance was there in 12 minutes instead of five minutes? And then we are going to have our Brandon Safety Committee review these ambulance calls to see that they are meeting the ordinance criteria? Also, the license will only allow an ambulance company to operate within the city limits. If an accident occurs on Holly in front of The Bluffs, Jay would be called, if that accident was farther east on Holly, before the bridge, Rural Metro would have to be called because that stretch of Holly is NOT in the city limits.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Momof5….simply…do you write one thing on one blog, and half truths on the other? On this ambulance blog you just said that you have no relationship with Mr. Masur, and have just met him once. On the other blog on the BV Challenger website you said that you “just got your CPR recertification at MedStar and had a nice tour of the facility and ambulances, etc.
hhhmmmmmmmmmmmm………
met him once is as though you just said hello I would think….getting your CPR certification from him and getting a tour by him, is a little more than “met”
April 10th, 2007 at 10:44 am
so, another question for y’all… according to my info (includes documentation), Mr. Rubin DID invest in MedStar. That would definetely be a conflict of interest for him to vote, or even bring up this issue in the first place I would think…
April 10th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I voted today about 11 a.m. and the ballot boxes were already stuffed for all three issues (mayor, Ward I council, ambulance ordinance). Looks like it’ll be a pretty high voter turnout, which is wonderful.
If you haven’t been to City Hall to vote yet today, you’d better hurry. The polls are open until 7 p.m.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I wonder if that is the reason Mr Rubin didn’t check or discuss the reponse times in Huron or Aberdeen? As for asking Jay about his response times or other information - I would liken that to the hen asking the fox Do you eat chickens?
April 10th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Lewis T. Regardless of the outcome of today’s vote, it is incumbent upon you to provide any documentation you possess that points to a conflict of interest for Mr. Rubin to the Mayor and City Administrator. Should Ordinance 381 pass, if Mr. Rubin indeed does have a conflict of interest, he should at the very least be required to recuse himself from any future votes relating to this ordinance (e.g., a MedStar application).
April 10th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
The one time I did meet Jay Masur is when he gave me CPR certification. That day he gave us a tour of his facility. I DO NOT give half truths and do not appreciate people saying that I do. Again, have you asked Jay about any of your issues? Are you basing your opinion on the all the “half truths” going around town? If you have questions about an issue, go to the source, thats what I did and got some pretty good answers.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
mom,
Did you listen to just Jay’s side or did you speak with the opposition as well? I thought so.
If this ordinance passes it will be a matter of time before everyone figures out that an ambulance service can NOT financially make it on 200 calls per year. They will be coming to the city for money. JUST
April 10th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Here are the facts. You have a watered down (from the original) ordinance in 381. With lowered insurance benefits, who do you think will cover the tab when claims exceed coverage? The ordinance requires the Brandon Safety Committee to oversee the performance of the licensed ambulance operator. Who the hell thought this one up? The city council (probably Karber)? Masur was directly involved in drafting Ordinance 381. Read the council minutes. I don’t know Masur but doesn’t this just feel a little creepy? At the end of the day, and 3 years of effort by our city council, we are now being asked to approve this admittedly, by the city council, flawed ordinance with the expectation that somehow, they will get it right sometime down the road? Additionally, the city council will then, presumably, have the wherewithall to negotiate a contract that ensures high quality AND super-fast response times? I could go on but it seems like we already have beat this to death. However, if it smells like fish, it’s tuna.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
continued……
IN WAGES ALONE it will cost 30,000 per month. 3 medics (assuming Jay will be the 4th) X 24/7 coverage.
Faster is not always better, common sense means to evaluate ALL the information, not just one point.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
It passed, quit bitchin.. its over. move on to something else.
bye
April 11th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Well pilgram your right it is over..now the city can approve the ruben/masur (med-star) ambulance company. Lets hope the Brandon Mafia (citiy council actually do some checking but I won’t hold my breath. This council has shown it hand all along - vote yes on Med-star (ordinace 381).
April 11th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
pilgrim, you are correct in one regard; the election is over, the people have spoken. Now the city council must actually write the ordinance. There are a number of items that needs to be addressed. All that was voted on is whether or not we want an ambulance service in Brandon because the actual law isn’t finished.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I know for a fact that Rubin’s pay Jay a lot of money each year for his “volunteer fire crew”. The paramedics are sub-par in real field experience. Jay can not keep staff because he does not pay very well, but expects them to live their lives for Med-Star. I wouldn’t trust Jay with my life.
April 12th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I will repost this on this blog now:
The issue before the voters was not Med-Star versus Rural/Metro. It wasn’t even whether Brandon needed a full time ambulance service. (The City Council made that decision for us last year) The issue before the voters was if the ordinance as written was sufficient. The reality is, it is not. The ordinance was changed, the rules ‘relaxed,’ and promises made to fill in the gaps “down the road.”
Look at any other ambulance ordinance in any other community and it is really quite alarming to see how lax our ordinance is. Speaking only for myself, if I was in need of advanced life support I would like to know that the skill level, experience, and backgrounds of the paramedics working for the local ambulance service have already been checked. I would feel much more comfortable if this new service had access to a Medical Director that was familiar with pre-hospital emergency care.
The information provided by the two council members seemed to be laced with nothing but politics. The Masur family and the family of one of the council members goes back a long, long way. That, in and by itself, appears to be a conflict of interest. In my opinion, this council member should have excused himself from the debate. The statistics quoted about response times were taken completely out of context. The 44 minute response time was a code one and occurred during an ice storm. Check any ambulance services response times in other cities and you will find extended response times during ice storms. Code three and four calls take priority, and on that day, there were many more than normal.
The council member that is allergic to bee stings, was stung by a bee, and then putzed around for 20 minutes before going to the hospital, is nothing short of absurd. Why this played a role in this council member’s defense of the City’s ordinance defies explanation. What does his poor judgment in dealing with his own potentially life-threatening condition and a City ambulance ordinance have to do with each other?
The ’sky is falling’ scare tactics was presented by our council members. The two representatives against the ordinance seemed only to be interested in a smear campaign against Jay Masur. The issue should have been the deplorable sieve of an ambulance ordinance that the City put forth, and a practical determination as to whether Brandon could support a private ambulance service.
This is as factual as it can be:
-Rural Metro transported approximately 90 patients from Brandon to Sioux Falls hospitals in 2006(per fire department records). At $1000 per transport (this is an estimation only) that is $90,000 per year in revenue. Payroll and benefits for six full-time paramedics would exceed $200,000 per year. The numbers do not add up.
-A Medical Director with ER privileges is of the utmost importance. The cost for this type of medical direction is not $10,000, or whatever crazy statistic was quoted. It is probably closer to four or five times that amount. The city will have to pick up this tab.
-Competing ambulance services is a disaster. The City of Sioux Falls already has experience with that nightmare. Ask around at the two hospitals and someone will be glad to tell you the horror stories. And yes, ambulance services have been guilty of ‘cherry picking.’ If a call comes in from an address that didn’t pay the last time they needed 9-1-1, the service could and will recognize the address and may choose not to show up.
The reality is, the residents of Brandon are now going to be serviced by a private ambulance company that cannot possibly earn enough revenue to support a full time staff and facility. Paramedics that may or may not have experience, that may or may not have ethical violations in their background, that may or may not have the skill level to treat critically injured or sick patients, are going to be servicing our city. The reality is, this new service may be getting their medical direction from a doctor that treats the flu, bunions, chronic back pain, and other non-life-threatening conditions, instead of someone practiced in emergency care. But, hey, at least the response times will be 2-3 minutes.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I just moved to Brandon and I am slowly, but unfortunately, finding out about this medstar place. I also fortunately have some time on my hands…has anyone researched the true history ( besides the recent history in aberdeen and huron) on this sub-standard, non-experienced ambulance place? In the late 80’s Jay Masur, without the media at the time point blank saying this, was forced out of Sioux Falls, for his sub-standard care which resulted in having to find somewhere else to pretend emergency care. No where which was found until Aberdeen fell into the trap. Fortunately again, he was not responding to 911 calls. As I understand it, he did not run A 911 call, but transported the ill, but “stable”, outside of Aberdeen. So, I now find myself wondering why I moved into a city that would allow an ambulance to function or actually pretend to function in this fashion. If I would have known this I would have moved into Sioux Falls where, as my research found, city policy is crystal clear that only top-notch paramedics, highly trained paramedics, extensive continued training and those who respond to 200, 911’s/wk, not 100/yr. and not have to pay extra taxes for! How could any citizen in this city let that slip through their hands? Since I do have some time on my hands…I think that I will start looking at places to live in Sioux Falls, not only for the 911 issue, but the obvious stupidity within this council! What else are they willing to slump to if they put 911 in such a vulnerable position?