By Jamie Cone
Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Emergency Medical Services in Vermont will likely see significant changes in order to reach compliance with updated EMS rules.
The rules must be established by March 1, 2011, in order to implement the provisions of Act 142, passed in the 2010 legislative session, and Mark Considine, Rescue Inc.'s chief of operations, was recently chosen to serve on a committee that will look at a variety of issues such as training certification and licensure.
Rescue Inc. is a communitybased emergency medical services provider serving 14 communities in Southern Vermont and New Hampshire.
According to the Vermont Department of Health website, this new legislation, which took effect on June 1, makes a number of significant changes to how EMS is regulated.
Considine was selected by Shap Smith, speaker of the House, and Peter Shumlin, president pro tempore of the Senate.
Also appointed to join Considine on the committee are Peter Cobb, a volunteer on Londonderry Volunteer Rescue Squad, and Dr. Stephen Leffler, division chief of the emergency department at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington.
They will meet several times with Vermont’s Health Commissioner, who will then make a recommendation to the Legislature.
“We want to figure out a way to implement the new legislation so that there is not undue burden,” Considine said. “We want to make sure (emergency) services can plan effectively, with an ample amount of time.”
“What we’re trying to do right now is get the word out — to obtain as strong a consensus as we can that the document is going in the right direction,” he added.
Considine also recently joined the Vermont Ambulance Association’s board of directors, which means that for the first time since Finger can remember, Windham County will be represented on the board.
“Mark is an excellent person for the job,” Finger said. “He’s very much engaged in what’s going on and very knowledgeable.”
At the core of the concerns expressed by the VAA and emergency medical service providers regarding the new legislation are the changes it makes to the way EMS staff and volunteers are trained, Finger said.
Under the new law, those being re-certified do not need to go through written or practical testing, only further education, Finger explained.
The rules that are being developed will dictate what the education will look like, he said.
Considine said the changes to the EMS model were first made at the federal level, adding that he and the rest of the Rescue Inc. staff and volunteers are working very hard to stay on top of the upcoming changes.
“We’re trying to be incredibly proactive,” he said. “It’s very important for the future of Rescue and also the industry as whole to be aware of changes; it’s going to impact the whole industry ... you have to always be willing to adapt and change.”
Recently there was a series of pre-public hearings regarding the proposed rules for information collection purposes, and Rescue, Inc. was “right on top of that in terms of participation” in all five, Considine said.
Rescue Inc. is staying very busy, he added; in the current economy, people are continuing to call on the Ambulance to bring them to the emergency room more frequently than usual.
With LeFevre EMS in Bellows Falls abruptly closing its doors earlier this month, Considine said he is keeping a close eye on how closures affect the dynamics of EMS services within the state.
“We’re closely monitoring, in our section and statewide, services who have threatened to cease operations, because what it could potentially do over time is shift the burden to adjacent services,” he said.
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