Regular Membership Meeting November 15, 1999
STATCARE, Louisville, Kentucky

Unapproved minutes posted for review

 

Officers Present:

Dennis Kiper, President
Jodie Hignite, President Elect
Rick McKinstry, Secretary

Members Present:

John Blumenstock
Bill Milan
Kim Phelps
John Hultgren
Lee Bratcher
Cathy Spry
Rick Nickoson
Dawn Wheatley
Karen Lucas
CJ Whalin
Rick Nickoson

Guests Present:

Randy Moulin
Steve English

Programs Represented:

Angel Wings
Just for Kids
STATCARE

Call to Order
The Secretary determined that a quorum was present and President Dennis Kiper called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm.

Reading of the Minutes
Copies of the Minutes of the regular meeting of KyAAMS held on September 9, 1999 at the Kentucky EMS conference in Owensboro, Kentucky were distributed and read by all present. Dennis Kiper noted that Just for Kids was not represented at the meeting as indicated by the minutes. Rick Nickoson made a motion, seconded by John Hultgren to accept the minutes as corrected. The motion carried unanimously.

Old Business

KyAAMS Tee Shirt Logo
Laura Otte is contacting a company she has used that requires no setup fee or minimum to give us a quote on doing the logo and possibly get a sample shirt. Laura was unable to attend this meeting so this will be reported at the next meeting. Jodie Hignite passed out copies of some logo designs she printed from Flightweb.com. A discussion of likes / dislikes of the designs followed. CJ Whalin will contact Mike Orr to come up with a proposed design for KyAAMS.

KyAAMS Newsletter
Jodie Hignite presented a draft of the KyAAMS newsletter design / format developed by Paul Skaggs, editor of the KyAAMS newsletter, to ask for input of those present. Comments from the group were positive and the format was approved. It was noted that the biggest hurdle to getting our first issue printed is getting articles from each member program since we are all so busy. The representatives that were appointed from each member program need to submit articles are: Just for Kids - Dennis Kiper, STATCARE - Paul Skaggs, CareFlight - Mike Orr, UK Air Medical - Steve Talbert. Jodie Hignite will talk to Paul Skaggs to see when the newsletter could be sent out.

KyAAMS Bylaws Revisions
Jodie Hignite was told by a member of the National AAMS executive board at the AMTC in Nashville that the KyAAMS bylaws revisions were on their agenda and were expected to be approved. As of this writing the official word had not been received. This will be reported at our next meeting.

Air Ambulance Regulations Subcommittee
John Blumenstock (chair) reported that the committee has met a twice since the last KyAAMS regular meeting. John distributed a copy of a memo circulated among committee members that discusses proposed changes to the regulations. These proposals were forwarded to Keith Smith of the Cabinet for Human Resources (CHR) at his request so that they could be discussed at the next EMS council meeting. Some of the proposals are:

After review by the EMS council, the CHR lawyers will be consulted to see if these changes are significant enough to require legislative approval. If so they will be added to a future legislative docket.

After some discussion by those present, John Blumenstock was asked to take back to the subcommittee concerns about dropping the requirement to have a paramedic as part of a crew that does scene flights.

New Business

Election of Officers 2000
Nominations were asked to be submitted from the membership to the temporary nominating committee members (Dawn Wheatley, Rick Nickoson) in the September 9, 1999 KyAAMS regular meeting minutes. Dawn reported that she contacted all the member programs to encourage nominations from their staff. The nominations received are:

President elect:
Gary Stromberg - CareFlight
Rick Nickoson - Angel Wings

Treasurer: Laura Otte - CareFlight
Walter Middleton - STATCARE

Secretary:
Rick McKinstry - STATCARE

An eligible write-in candidate will be allowed on the ballot for each office. The eligibility requirement to be an Executive Officer is that the person must be a Voting Member of KyAAMS.

For the first time absentee ballots will be accepted. Our previous bylaws only allowed voting in person. Of course, members are encouraged to be at the meeting if possible as your input is vital to the success of KyAAMS. The Secretary must receive absentee ballots no less than ten days prior to the meeting at which the vote will be counted. If you wish to submit your absentee ballot electronically, email your votes to: rick-mckinstry@statcare.org .

The meeting at which the vote will be counted will be held at 7 p.m. January 17, 2000 hosted by CareFlight in Lexington, Kentucky. Voting Members present may cast their ballot at this meeting. The highest number of votes will determine the succeeding candidate. In case of a tie, a secret ballot will take place at the meeting. To be eligible to vote at the meeting, the person must be an active Voting Member no less than 10 days prior to the meeting.

KyAAMS Membership 2000 It's time to begin renewing our memberships to KyAAMS. The membership period is from January 1st through December 31st. Membership dues are due by January 1st of each calendar year. If dues are not received by February 15th the member will be dropped from the books of the chapter.

Please continue to support the efforts of KyAAMS and encourage your fellow crew members to join with you. The interests of the air medical industry in Kentucky are best represented by a strong and unified KyAAMS membership.

KyAAMS Membership Dues:

Voting member: $20 Associate member: $10 Corporate membership and Member Programs: $100

An application may be printed from the KyAAMS web site: http://hultgren.org/assoc/kyaams/homepage.htm

Mail this with your check to:

Kentucky Chapter, Association of Air Medical Services c/o Dennis Kiper 2126 Village Dr Unit 5 Louisville KY 40205

Air Medical Memorial Wings Pins Sold at AMTC
KyAAMS was asked to set up a booth at the AMTC in Nashville to sell the Air Medical Memorial Wings pins. Cathy Spry and Mo Nethery were instrumental in developing the wings that honor our colleagues that have been injured, or have died, as the result of an air medical accident. Cathy Spry reported that close to 600 wings were sold at the conference. More orders are expected to come in after the conference as participants took many order forms back with them.

The wings were sold at cost plus $1. Two thirds of this dollar will go to the National AAMS Safety Fund and one third to the ASTNA (formerly NFNA) Bereavement Fund. In addition, Rocky Mountain Helicopters, Corporate Jet, Inc. and possibly Sikorsky Helicopters have agreed to provide to KyAAMS matching funds for each dollar that will go the Safety Fund or the Bereavement Fund.

This adds up to a very significant contribution to these funds from KyAAMS. Every member of KyAAMS should be proud of the leadership role and international recognition of KyAAMS that has come from this project. It seemed almost everyone was wearing the wings on their nametag at the AMTC. Many participants at the AMTC expressed their thanks to KyAAMS for developing the Air Medical Memorial Wings pins.

Equipment Return
John Hultgren reports that he has received several emails from EMS directors venting their frustration about not getting their equipment back when a patient is transported. This is not isolated to one transport service or receiving facility but seems to be a common problem. Discussion by those present mentioned that one problem often is vague identifying information on the equipment such as only initials that may apply to many agencies.

John Blumenstock pointed out that the air medical providers are a small part of this problem. He suggested that the receiving hospitals and EMS agencies should take responsibility for a solution. John Blumenstock will serve on the Kentucky Ambulance Providers Association (KAPA) board and will take this problem to them for input.

Adjournment
There being no further business, Dennis Kiper adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m.

NEXT MEETING: January 17, 1999 7pm at CareFlight - Lexington, Kentucky.