Meeting Minutes 3-23-2022
 
Guests
Billy Boutilette (Jason as host)
Marc Burdick (KJ as host)
 
Scribes
This week: Staci
Next week: KJ
 
Sargent at Arms
This week: Jon Secrest
Next Week: Dan Dietz
 
Speaker Hosts
This week: KJ
Next week: Staci (won’t be here and doesn’t have a speaker so Mona will improvise. Thanks Mona!)
 
Rotary Minute
What the heck is a Rotary Club? Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary is the world’s first service club.
 
Rotary Quote
“The heart of a volunteer is not measured in size, but by the depth of the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others.” –Someone whose name I missed
 
Student Rotarians
Absent but Megan and Mason provided Toni with the following update from Hinsdale:
 
“Unfortunately Mason and I are unable to make it this morning, as Mason has to be at school early to take the SATs! Some new things going on at Hinsdale include the start of the spring sports season which started this past Monday, the graduation date officially being set to June 11th, and the senior class has planned our last final trip as a class to Boston! We will be touring Fenway Park, shopping at Faneuil Hall and taking a harbor cruise. Also, students from clubs like NHS and the Student Athletic Leadership Team represented our school to interview the two principle candidates for next year since Mrs. Freitag is retiring this year.”
 
Birthdays & Anniversaries
None
 
 
Announcements
 
Mona: BUHS/WRCC is hosting a reality fair for juniors/seniors that helps them make life choices. Can come in for morning/afternoon or the entire day. If interested, see Mona’s e-mail sent to club members on 21 MAR.
 
Mona: Bowling Night: April 29th from 5:30 – 7:30 joint club socialization with Noon Club. Let her know if you can attend. Food (pizza) is free and adult beverages available for purchase at bar.
 
Tristam: Distributed literature as a follow up to last week’s presentation about the Rotary mid-term assessment project where he was dispatched to a club in Illinois. They run a successful project that could potentially work here.
 
Tristam: Challenge that we raise money for Ukraine. Spoke with Dr. Claudine Schooley (sp?) about how Ukraine doctors are lacking adolescent wheelchairs. To help, a global grant is being written to help USAID/Rotary get money to the Ukraine. However, the easiest resource for us is the communication line already started by John Bob so we could also pursue that avenue of support. Check/Venmo/Paypal accounts from John Bob’s e-mail. Rotary of Milford is in charge and will send contributions to Poland. John Bob’s family has already contributed $5000. 
 
KJ: Trivia – come sponsor Ukraine support – wear yellow and blue!
 
Cards
No winners
 
Brags
 
Josh (with Toni as inspiration): When people travel outside of Brattleboro, we have a choice to be an ambassador of our club which we should remember as we embark back into the world. We have a great opportunity to connect with other people again!
 
Jon: To KJ who let Jon know that a tree fell down across their property entrance while he was gone. KJ freed the guests from Jon’s apparent house of horrors.
 
Jon: Just returned from 2-week travel to Guatemala where sister-in-law’s brother runs a turtle refuge. Had both kids with them and did lots of traveling throughout the country. Felt mostly safe except for a 6 minute faster route that took them through sketchy terrain. Jungle has howler monkeys that were cool to listen to. Was warned not to go swimming in pools at night due to potential wild animal skinny dipping. Did a jungle trek up the shear face of a rock to an amazing view. Made the kids cry but that’s a normal Secrest vacation. Summary:  Awesome trip with cheap rum, great beaches & still smoking volcanoes. Best part of traveling with Kerri is her diplomatic immunity card that got them through JFK in 10 minutes.
 
Turner: How great it is to see Lisa!!!
 
Lisa: Escorted a group down the Mississippi River last week – had a special gentlemen with 37 years perfect attendance – wonderful person reminded her of Turner. Appreciates the warm welcome she received this morning.
 
Speaker
 
Marc Burdick (Director of Training Rescue Inc) is a paramedic at Rescue Inc. Will discuss a brief history of EMS in the US.
-Originally from CO. He was a search and rescuer around Vail. Grew up in the Greenfield area and is now here helping out his older parents.
-Was a recipient of a Rotary scholarship during high school. Originally intended to attend med school but then discovered skiing in CO. He is a part-time ski bum who works seriously, plays seriously and takes care of people while having fun.
-Ran EMS in Keystone area. Did multiple talks to Rotary groups there because he was impressed by their level of community leadership. 
-Spent most of professional career in EMS with multiple roles. Extremely busy these days. Loves this profession and how it’s changed through the years.
 
 
Brief history of EMS:
-Ambulance service began in the Civil War. This was the first time in the US where there was any effort to have a system to transport injured people off the field to local medical care areas. -Ambulances saved many lives by getting still living soldiers off the field to small town doctors working out of their homes. Believe it or not, the primitive amputations actually saved lives.
-Ambulatory systems progressed during both world wars. 
-A groundbreaking paper called “Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society” was published in 1966. This paper became known as the “White Paper” that focused on the epidemic of motor vehicle accidents/deaths during the 50’s and 60’s. It was ultimately responsible for improving vehicle and roadway safety by prompting safer vehicles with seatbelts & suspensions, changing road design and regulating transportation permits. 
-This paper sparked EMS and its coordination in the US. Also helped start the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) that established standards on ambulances, EMT testing, etc.
-Rescue Inc. started in 1966 and is still running today. Came out of transportation safety.
-Congress passed the EMS Systems Act of 1973 to provide EMS with money and paramedic training, etc. Handled national legislative things.
-DOT is still the official home of EMS but it’s more complex than transportation now.
-The payment model for EMS is the transport of a patient to a hospital so not ideal.
EMS = Transportation → Patient Transports – Getting Paid → Poor Reimbursements
-NHTSA helped establish the 911 system where the first call was made in 1968.
-EMS agenda for the future: Project that involves leaders planning for the next 20 years as an industry. Focused more on patient safety, ambulance design.
-Next significant event: Vietnam War where more efforts toward rapid recognition and getting patients to care faster were made. Getting field care was the largest medical advance to come out of the war. The use of helicopters for patient transport was also established in Vietnam. 
-In 1972 the television show called “Emergency 51” premiered and inspired many people to get involved in EMS and Fire Rescue services. The actors from the show still travel the country to speak about EMS.
-The Affordable Care Act also greatly affected EMS because for the first time money was put toward the innovation of health care. The Act combated ideas other than just going to the hospital for care. Helps us look at medical treatments in different ways to help increase care and reduce ER visits. Created some field models for non-transports and penalized hospitals for readmissions.
-Community Paramedicine: Been around for ~10 years. People credentialed in ambulatory care see patients at home that helps people with mobility issue/no transportation etc. Facilitates homecare with field providers that provide care instead of just going to the hospital. 
-Doing the same thing in Brattleboro/Southern VT would improve the health of our community and reduce ER visits. Would also work for mental health crisis by greatly increasing the efficacy of mental health treatments. 
-Rescue Inc had a very large Covid response in VT!
 
-High Performance EMS Systems should involve the systems below:
1) Sole Provider Regional Systems (from an ambulance side – single system is more efficient with more accountability. If there are multiple service providers, it can drive up cost)
2) External Accountability
3) Local Control
4) Maximize Revenues
5) Flexible Production
6) Dynamic Resource Management
 
-Current challenges in the business:
1) Staffing
2) Loss of education programs
3) Poor pay
4) Lack of professional respect
5) Lack of public support and funding
6) Hostile territorial disputes (Fire Departments)
7) Federal/Insurance falls short of cost to provide services
8) Physical, emotional & mental safety
 The suicide rate in EMS is 3X national average!
 
Ended Meeting with the 4 Way Test