Complying
August 20th, 2008 by 
Alica
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?
Posted in Uncategorized, Ambulance | 
August 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I was in favor of MedStar being given a chance in Brandon. I am wondering now if that was a wise decision. It does not sound like they are living up to their contract.
The city should not be having to “babysit” MedStar by requesting information from them. MedStar should be doing that automatically per the signed contract.
As for MedStar not coming to the city council meeting as requested - shame shame shame!
My support has dwindled!
August 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Wasn’t it reported at the last council meeting and on here that city Administrator Dennis Olson stated he had nothing from MedStar. If he didn’t have it? Who did? This doesn’t sound like a company that is putting their best foot forward to prove themselves.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
The following is from the forum section of this website regarding the online news story.
#1 Medstar says he thinks he’s in compliance. The following is taken from the online version of the ambulance ordinance/application which he signed:
“I have the affirmative obligation to immediately notify the City when any of the information contained in this Application changes or for any reason becomes inaccurate.”
So obviously he hasn’t been in compliance for 8 months. A matter of just paperwork?? Makes it sound unimportant doesn’t it. According to the ordinance they could terminate his contract right now.
#2 Our city council requested him to come and answer the all the questions being asked from the last meeting and he refused. Wow. Apparently he’s forgotten who hired him. And what’s the big deal? He says everything is peachy then you’d think he would be happy to answer any questions put forth to him. He was attending every meeting before he was given the contract and now he’s refusing? again….wow.
IMHO, the city council is setting a precedence here. If they let this slide all contracted services will think that they can let things slide. They also will think they can say no when asked to appear before council. The difference here is this is emergency services and that is one arena that paperwork is NEVER allowed to slide.
Why was he allowed to go 8 months out of compliance?
August 20th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Does that mean he didn’t provide the city with the background checks on his employees?
August 21st, 2008 at 4:50 am
The article says they had received nothing since last December.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:57 am
I am disappointed in our City Council when it comes to this matter. For the council to ignore Med-Stars incompetence to abide by their contract could be devistating. A public service company, especially an ambulance service, not following their contract is unacceptable. This is exactly the buddy/buddy relationship the city put itself into and the same relationship that is going to cost the taxpayers a lawsuit. City Administrator Dennis Olson says in the last council meeting minutes that he has been provided with absoloutely no documentation from Med-Star. How does that make you feel Dennis? Can you say that you are doing the job the city is paying you to do? Can you ignore what is happening here and sleep at night? I have absolutely no problem with Med-Star running an ambulance service in this town. I will not use them for service and let me explain why. I work in public service and for those of us who do, we all know how important documentation is. If my training or certifications are not kept up to date then I am out of a job, PERIOD. There are no, I have talked to them and they are going to comply BS lines. Public service is not a gray area, it is very clear what needs to be done and should be done. The first thing that is troubling is the fact that background checks are not provided to the city in reference Med-Star employees. That is a huge red flag to me, you can’t even run a vaccuum cleaner at a hospital without a background check. Not providing the city with the proper paperwork when it comes to ambulances, training, and insurance, COME ON CITY COUNCIL WAKE UP!!!!! You cannot even drive a $100 car on the road in South Dakota without proof of liability insurance and our ambulance service has not provided proof of insurance to the taxpayers of Brandon. These things cannot be ignored when the contract is up for Med-Star. Karber says he has talked to Masur and everything will be updated. Well that is a comforting thought for the citizens. Is Karber gonna bail the city out of a lawsuit when the under the table politics get us into trouble. It is time to draw the line here folks, we are not picking kickball teams in grade school. This is a business that effects our community as well as every person that passes through. I would hope that our newly elected council members would stand up to this and put a stop to the nonsense that has been a part of this since day one.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am
I have to stand up for Dennis on this one….yes, his comments are correct. He HAS brought the issues to the council…but it is OUR COUNCIL that is not doing their job. Dennis cannot act without their ok.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:49 am
Was the info requested AFTER 2 citizens brought it to the attention of the city council or BEFORE? The city employees should have been on top of this situation a long time ago. They appear to be dropping the ball here as well as the council and MedStar.
Great post #6.
August 21st, 2008 at 11:19 am
Who cares?
www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaiahpeters
August 21st, 2008 at 11:33 am
while that is a very real and true tragedy, who cares, it has what to do with what?
(yeahyeah…the old “find something better to do with your time” and “in the scheme of things, this is such a minor issue”. some of just aren’t as evolved, i guess.)
August 21st, 2008 at 11:56 am
To #9. The situation you are dealing with sounds horrible and devastating. But who cares? I would think one would look at that caring bridge site and say “these people care”!
When you are going thru a medical situation you want to ONLY deal with your loved one. You don’t want to have to worry if your Dr., nurse, x-ray tech, etc. really has the creditianals they claim, are they keeping up with their licensure requirements, do they know what they are doing, etc. THAT is what this ENTIRE ambulance issue is about.
We want to ensure that EVERYONE, from the City down to MedStar, is doing the job we pay them to do to ensure we have a quality ambulance service for our town. That is why we care about this issue.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Is there a local governing board in which the ambulance company would be reqired to report staff and ambulance changes?
I find it hard to understand why the owner of Med-Star refuses to attend a meeting with the city.
Seems like the terms of this contract between the community and Med-Star have been breeched making this contract voided.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
simply amazing. this horse will never die
August 21st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
dkjk-you must mean Jay and Medstar….I guess ‘this horse’ should comply with the conditions of his contract and learn how to play nice?
August 21st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Where you at now Blain Jones??? You upstanding…promising young council person. Lets see how you handle this now. I am getting my popcorn ready cuz this is going to be fun!!
August 21st, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I live a few hours away, and was thinking of applying for the ambulance in brandon, but with what I have read from all the bs from the people in the community, all of you are just plain ass holes. I would think the people of brandon would want a crew ready to help right away instead of waiting. Think of this, when you are in the most pain, worst you ever had and were unable to drive yourself in, would you rather wait 10-15 minutes or get rid of the pain within half that. It takes time for everything to get rolling smoothly. By rule of thumb, it usually takes about a year for all the kinks to be worked out. I want everyone who reads this to do one thing when you get home. I want you to go look into your kids eyes, parents eyes or grand parents eyes and time yourself watching them for 10-15 minutes to see how it feels to do nothing for that long until ems would arrive. I tell you what, it will seem like days, especially if it means it is a cardiac arrest.
Another nite, do the same thing, but wait 5-7 minutes. I guarantee you would be happy to see someone there. For every minute that goes by, it lessens the odds for the persons survival.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:56 am
#16 I agree with your analysis of the extra 10-15 minute wait time. Last year I even was agreeing with our city council to give MedStar a chance. Now, I am not so sure.
Yes, I definately still would like a fast response time but I am not so sure about MedStar. They may be doing a fine job but questions do arise when they are failing to comply with parts of their contract. If they are failing to comply with the obvious stuff, what else are they failing to comply with? Are they trying to hide something?
Also, why would Mr. Masur refuse to attend a council meeting as requested? Why would MedStar not alert to city when new employees are hired? Did they purchase a new ambulance and not inform the city? WHY? Again, something isn’t adding up in my mind about the situation.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Nice post #16 and I agree. It is too bad that this blog always seems to bring out the a-hole bitch and moaners. The glass is always half empty with these winners.
They either need to get laid more or move out of town.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am
#14 no I was not talking about Jay and Med star, I was talking about the bitching.
Good post #16, as you can see some people will never go away, just have to complain about something I guess.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 am
To #16. Glad you will not be applying at MedStar. You seem to be a very angry person and quite upset over an issue that doesn’t affect you on a daily basis. If you post again, you might gain some credibility if you abstain from using profanities. Not too professional.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Does the fact that MedStar is not in compliance really surprise anyone? We were all warned that this would happen before the contract was awarded.
To #16: As you so dramatically suggested, why don’t you go look into the eyes of your loved ones, imagining the worse pain possible, and then envision someone showing up in record time only to botch the care because they do not get to practice their skills but maybe once or twice a month, if that. Besides, Brandon has an outstanding fire department, and can provide CPR and early defibrilaion until EMS arrives. In the case of trauma, the fire department can have a patient packaged and ready to go by the time EMS arrives. Lastly, #16, if you think the people of Brandon are a bunch of a$$holes, then stay were you are.
Brandon is just not big enough to support an ALS service. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to staff an ambulance 24×7, and the revenue is just not there.
MedStar has been under the microscope since this ambulance issue began. Staying in compliance would seem to be a given, and not being in compliance almost seems defiant.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Since this topic seems to be about documentation and compliance, I have a question for #21.
You seem to be implying in your post that Med-star is botching care. Can you provide documentation or proof of this botched care that you infer is happening with Med-Star’s service?
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Oh, I am not number 14 so I will put a 2 behind my screen name.
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am
I am not implying that Med Star has in any way botched a call. The only people that would have that information is the patient, the ER doctor, and the medical direction. My point is that #16’s post focused (as so many others) on response times. Let me put it another way…would you rather take your car to a mechanic to have the brakes replaced, when this mechanic only does a couple of brake jobs per month? Even though this mechanic can get your car in right away? Or would you take your car to a mechanic that does dozens of brake jobs each week…but it will take a little longer to get your car in?
The point is, regardless of Med Star’s response times, the need for EMS in Brandon is limited so the number of patients the Med Star medics are working with is limited and the opportunity to use their advanced skills is limited.
Even if I had documentation of patient care that was ‘botched’ I could not share it with anyone. That would be a gross violation of privacy laws.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
Sorry but your analogy of replacing brakes compared to saving a life is pretty weak. Not even close to comparing apples to apples.
Back to the botched care. Your quote:
“why don’t you go look into the eyes of your loved ones, imagining the worse pain possible, and then envision someone showing up in record time only to botch the care because they do not get to practice their skills but maybe once or twice a month, if that.”
Combine that quote with your screen name and I think one can conclude that you are referring to Med-Star either has, is, or will botch care.
I just want to know if there has been improper care since Med-Star has taken over. If so, then I might change my view of them.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
I suspect this issue was raised by someone who didn’t want Med Star in Brandon. Med Star knew there would be people waiting for them to make a misstep. I was wondering why they didn’t dot the Is and cross the Ts. It seems pretty stupid to me. All government contracts have requirements. If they seem like silly requirements, the time to bring that up is before you accept the terms. I don’t think this reflects the care, just the management.
August 25th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
::::big sigh:::::
#25, please don’t try and read anything into what I said. In your opinion my analogy doesn’t fit, and that is your opinion. Period. The moral to the story is that if you don’t practice your skills on a frequent basis then you get rusty. It is that simple. It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic, or someone that replaces brakes.
The name I chose implies that “does it surprise anyone” that Medstar was not in compliance. We were told by many posters on this site that this would happen. My name has nothing to do with any calls or patient care that Medstar has provided. I thought I made this clear in my last post. I am not privileged to inside information concerning anything that Medstar does, and if I were, I sure wouldn’t share it on this website.
August 26th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Thank you #25… here is some public knowledge to back up what you are saying. Any one with common sense can figure this out…
Rural Metro 991 calls to date: almost 7,000
Med Star 911 calls to date: a little over 100
Quality patient care, I say priceless
August 26th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Still waiting for examples of improper care. Might want to go check your brakes. lol
August 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
#29, patient care is NOT, NOT, NOT a public matter. There are very strict HIPPA laws that preclude anyone from discussing, even vaguely, patient care. Therefore, no one, unless they want to get sued, can discuss specific issues.
My brakes work just fine. I had them replaced by a very busy mechanic that has been in business for 25 years. You shouldn’t take your brakes too lightly.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
The paper said that the council requested the owner of Medstar to come to a council meeting and answer questions and he said no.
Where does the city stand on this? Can he really say no to the council? Why haven’t we had a follow up on that. Could Alica find out?
Geez, I bet everyone wishes they could say no to the people that hired them and get by with it. Guess he’s not worried about contract renewal. What am I missing here?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
#27, so if one cannot mention “vaguely” patient care, then who are you referring to when you mention or imply an ambulance service botching calls? Is there a ghost ambulance service in Brandon?
Again, just curious2.
August 29th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Let’s see if I can explain myself more clearly:
Who would be more likely to botch a call…a service that does 4 or 5 calls per week, or a service that does hundreds of calls per week? At no time did I say that Medstar had botched a call. I was merely asking #16 to “imagine” having someone show up in record time only to botch the call. Perhaps I should have said to “potentially botch the call.” The point was what was better: A quick response time and an inexperienced crew, or a longer response time and a crew that has ten times the number of calls and ten times the amount of experience.
I give up. Forget I said anything.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
#30
Quality patient care is public business as long as a patients medical record is not violated. We have a right as a patient to quality care. (read those posters in the ER)
Quality Assurance and quality patient care can be tracked without divulging a patients name or other identifiable details. The only thing that is tracked is procedures performed, outcomes and general patient criteria. How do you think medical studies are performed?
HIPAA (not HIPPA) (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) of 2003 ensures that people can continue to have coverage if they change of lose their job. It also put a security mechanism in place for our growing electronic data systems regarding confidentiality of medical records.
As far as the mechanic analogy….how about this one:
Would you rather have a brand new surgeon operate on your child or one who has performed the procedure a thousand times? Do you think you have the right to ask the surgeon that question?? And should he answer you? What if he says he won’t answer? Would you hire him or find someone else?
Another senario:
You have 1-2 minutes to start an IV and deliver a life saving medication…do you want a seasoned nurse or a fresh grad? You can’t get the medication if you can’t get the IV started.
Another:
Brain death starts in 4 minutes if there’s no breathing. Who do you want to put in an endotracheal tube? Someone who does in one every 6 months or someone who does it routinely? (and you want to keep your vocal cords functioning in the process)
August 30th, 2008 at 5:56 am
The question should be, why can he not comply with the ordinance and contract that he helped create?
August 30th, 2008 at 6:31 am
An even better question….
WHY IS OUR CITY COUNCIL SWEEPING THIS UNDER THE RUG???
What are they hiding?? And why??
What recourse is there for a council that doesn’t follow the ordinance they wrote???
Alica,
You said in an article a while back that Jay Masur refused to come to a meeting….that’s it? That’s all your going report on? Is there more to the story? How did he refuse?
August 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Alicia,
Can you confirm…did the city have all the documents that were stated in the ordinance/contract when Medstar started business? Or what the city asked for now part of what was NEVER furnished????
Hey city council….better to fix it now then to wait 6 more months and let a MEDICAL service continue practicing when they don’t stand up to the ordinance.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Alica…sorry for the misspelling
September 1st, 2008 at 1:32 am
To #36: When I asked Jay Masur if he was going to be at the city council meeting, he said, “Why?” I said the council wanted to ask him questions. He asked, “What questions?” I said I couldn’t speak for the council and he’d have to ask them himself. He said the quote that appears in the story, that he supplied the documents requested and he didn’t see any reason to go to the meeting.
To #37: At the time the contract was approved last December, the city had all the required documents, to my knowledge. I didn’t see the documents with my own eyes, but city administrators, the mayor and councilmen have told me so, and I have no reason to doubt them.
Later this fall, MED-Star’s contract will expire and the council will consider renewing it. If you have any questions or concerns, that would be the time to attend a city council meeting and speak. City agendas are available on the city Web site, www.brandonsd.com.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:04 am
Isn’t it amazing how if someone leaves out part of a question or answer it changes the whole meaning?
There was more in question than the paperwork.
I believe as the news article stated the paperwork question was: there has been no updated paperwork submitted as the ordinance requires. Ex: new ambulance, new employees, new licenses.
I just love how some want to pretend they don’t know what’s going on now. Sure knew it all and had all the answers 9 months ago.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:06 am
My prediction of Medstars license renewal:
3 to 3 tie of the council.
Mayor will “struggle”
with the decision and then vote to renew.
Mark the words.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 am
I would like to know how Med-Star is affording to operate here in Brandon, as I look through the Police reports they sure dont go on many calls. Does anyone know what their finanical status is? Because that is the last company I want saving my life, a company that is cutting corners to save money, since they dont have the call volume.