Angela Investigatnecke over at Stormland TV decided to take a cue from Detroit Lewis and start digging around at Paramedics Plus. Even though there was ten million red flags when they were awarded the contract, like stomping all over MED-Star’s reputation because they didn’t fill out a couple forms correctly, then after getting the contract, employees stealing from dead people (maybe that is why the calls take so long? They have to finish robbing peoples homes before going on to the next call)?
While Angela reveals many interesting issues with the service, like how many times a guy running an ambulance service can lie in a TV interview (and our 911 and health director), I found this part about a ‘supposed’ contract with MED-Star hypocritical;
“Angela, we do not have a contract in the City of Sioux Falls, but interestingly enough, we’ve been called twice in the last couple of weeks to come into town to be mutual aid. But we haven’t transported anybody as of this date,” Jay Masur of MED-Star said.
The City says MED-Star has been “sent” the contract for mutual aid and Masur tells us he’s been trying to meet with Michael Bureau of Paramedics Plus to finalize the agreement.
So the company that was dragged thru the coals during the vetting process is now being asked to bail out the #1 choice for ambulance service in Sioux Falls. It doesn’t get anymore hypocritical than that.
I like how they keep quoting the 95% compliance instead of saying how many people that translates into – that would be over 400 people per year that they don’t get to either on time or at all – it’s hard to tell since Franken casually pulled out of her ass that, “sure”, it’s due to cancellations that the ambulance didn’t ever get there.
From the KELO article “but you can count on it within 15 minutes and 15 seconds, Michael Bureau of Paramedics Plus said”
Does anyone know how long the ambulance has to get on scene and still be in compliance?
Because if the City allowed 15 minutes and 15 seconds in the contract, that’s ridiculous – you could drive yourself to the hospital in that timeframe.
You’d be brain dead in that amount of time and have less than a 1% chance of surviving a cardiac arrest.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that Rural Metro had 8 minutes and 59 seconds to get on scene under their contract, so if it was raised under the new contract to 15m 15s, that is another huge red flag.
Making sure the provider could be compliant was put ahead of patient survivability.
I noticed an ambulance response yesterday to 2 blocks from the fire station at Kiwanis & Madison. City paramedics responded immediately. Then, I noticed several other private ambulances a few minutes later. I despise ambulance chaser lawyers. Something new, ambulances chasing ambulances.
The City provides basic life support (EMT’s) not paramedics. So when the fire department shows up first, or when they are sent instead of an ambulance, you aren’t getting the same level of care you would get if an ambulance with advanced life support and paramedics was sent.
So don’t believe the crap you’re being fed about how fire filling in is the same thing, it’s not. Typical city lies.
I did know that and thank you for pointing it out. So I ask why can’t the FD just have paramedics also? I know some of them have the training already. It makes no sense for my tax dollars to be paying for double duty. That is why a public ambulance service ran by the FD would make sense.
Besides, I would rather have just an EMT show up then no paramedic at all.
Ask REMSA. That’s the board running EMS in this City and making the decisions behind the scenes.
Bad decisions apparently. I just read the REMSA meeting minutes on the City website. It just leads to more questions:
May 25th
Paramedics Plus was just given a raise by the REMSA board. Apparently the contract allows them to raise their rates by the CPI or 3%, whichever is GREATER, so they’re raising their rates by 3%. Way to stick it to the citizens City of Sioux Falls. Apparently they can afford to pay over $24,000 in fines without batting an eye, but they need a full 3% rate increase?
The Executive Director of the REMSA board is listed as Julie Charbonneau. She is also listed as a health department employee. She also is the person who reviews the response times for Paramedics Plus.
How can a city employee serve as an Executive Director of a board?
Should that same employee be the one reviewing the response times?
Feb 24th
If more ambulances are needed, a Paramedics Plus supervisor has to approve it? So if there’s a bus crash with 20 patients on board and the fire truck pulls up, the fire supervisor knows he needs more than 5 ambulances but he can’t call for them, he has to go through the Paramedics Plus and let them decide?
Who wrote this contract? Who runs this board?
If they are not in compliance where is the quality control and quality assurance If none what kind of contract did the city enter in to. Sounds like paramedics contract should be terminated for convience or default and city put back on street. Are the city workers that damn stupid or is mmm collecting s check
There is definitely some great irony in this whole story. Twenty-five plus years ago, the city of Sioux Falls was trying to keep Mr. Masur and his ambulance business from doing ambulatory work within the city of Sioux Falls. Now, speed forward twenty five years later and the current ambulance company for the city of Sioux Falls claims to have a business relationship with Mr. Masur’s ambulance business and claims a necessary reliance upon it…. I think they call that poetic justice….
On a side note, about a month ago Paramedics Plus responded to one of my neighbors calls for emergency aid. PP arrived after the fire department. PP claimed they had trouble finding the house (Don’t they have GPS?) Then this is the real kicker, according to my neighbor who called PP, when PP left the neighbor’s house they asked for directions to the hospital from that house from both the fire department responders there and from family members of the patient they were taking to the hospital….(What?)
Eenny, miny, minie, moe who will die and who will go.
The real nuts and bolts of it is, people are bailing left and right out of the big cities looking for smaller communities to move too. That’s why were seeing this shortage of middle class housing as well as ambulance service. Not to mention Lutheran social services are making a bundle by bringing as many people/immigrants over here as they can.
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/lutheran-social-service-of-minnesota-is-responsible-for-the-somali-chaos-in-st-cloud/
It’s nice to see KELO followed up on the story:
http://www.keloland.com/news/article/investigates/level-zero-update
They caught the Paramedics Plus representative in a lie, and since they exposed the ridiculous stipulation about Paramedics Plus having to approve mutual aid, REMSA immediately changed it so the fire department can do it without going through them first.
They also reported on the 3% rate hike coming and the fines are up to $26,000 now.
Wow, I wonder what else the media might do now that they’ve learned they have power if they just do a little investigative journalism.
Makes you wonder if there is a policy to station ambulances at the larger, important sports events in town, like NCAA basketball, bull riding, etc.
Hopefully the council will make Paramedics Plus justify the need for the increase and make them show they can do things like reduce operating costs like avoid $26,000 in fines instead.
Hold them to a 1.1% CPI increase and and ask Franken why she felt it was necessary to be so ‘generous’ with the taxpayers money and automatically award them the higher 3% amount every year in the contract?
Maybe Angela Kennecke should get a seat on the REMSA board. She’s done more to improve patient care with one news story than Jim Sideras has done to advancing the fire department’s level of care by attending meetings in over 15 years.
It is disappointing that no one at the fire department or health department was an advocate for patient care and fought to make this change for calling for mutual aid years ago.
I cannot believe it’s been in the contract since the Rural Metro days and no one outside the system caught it before this.
Those in the city that were aware of this and left in the contract for the private ambulance company’s profitability at the expense of patient care should be held accountable.
If you need transport to the hospital, call Uber. Wow, interesting concept and the perfect way to get around city incompetence. Trained Uber medics paid with PayPal so it’s barter that can’t be taxed or regulated.
D@ily Spin – it wasn’t incompetence on the City’s part, it was willful misconduct and/or gross negligence.
The City INTENTIONALLY put a private company’s profits ahead of patient care.
KELO should obtain a copy of the not only the current Paramedics Plus contract, but the previous Rural Metro contract and see how bad things were and what has changed.
Jay has been spit on, shit on and anything else by Sioux Falls politicians, yet he is there when needed. He has been dragged through the coals, his personal life defiled by media drama. Fuckin’ sad. This man and his company should be allowed a good contract for their consistency serving the folks of Minnehaha County Selflessly. I don’t even know the man but I have watched him, being a former EMT myself and even when in class back in the early 90’s he was being badmouthed by the EMT instructors who were former Knob bobbing employees of then SF Ambulance working out of McKennan. That agency was so bent on keeping him out of the SF medical scene, they just tried to destroy him. Just my opinion…. But a damn good one….
Well said i12doit!
Jay Masur’s experiences over the years with the “powers that be” in this town has been a textbook example of sincerity and substance versus elitism within our political system.
The fact that the medical establishment now has the audacity to try to cling on to Mr. Masur for solvency makes me want to cry and laugh both.
Hopefully, someday Mr. Masur will be signing a real contract with our City and not just a contingency contract with a competitor, who is a chosen amongst the self assumed chosen….
Anybody remember that Tempest interview with that KSFY reporter guy back then?