The organization and goals of the Davis County Emergency Medical Services Council are being changed because members fear agencies at the south end of the county are getting the bulk of the attention and money.
The council agreed this week to add more members from fire and police agencies from northern Davis County and to begin working up five-year and short-term planning strategies.The changes were instituted at the suggestion of members Floyd Morgan, administrator of Layton's Humana Hospital Davis North; Dr. Dennis Wyman, a Lakeview Hospital emergency room physician; and Bountiful Fire Chief Jerry Lemon.
But the council members, almost all of them representing south county agencies, agreed with their analysis and backed the revamping effort.
The council took one immediate step, adding Layton Fire Chief Allan Peek and Kaysville Police Lt. Dave Helmquist to the council, and agreed as part of its policy to ask northern county members to serve on subcommittees and study committees.
"We need to be more of a planning type of council for the whole county," said Wyman, who's served on the council for nearly a decade. "We're too heavily weighted to the south end of the county, which has the majority of the paramedics and ambulances and gets the majority of the funding.
"We've got to recognize some things, among them that the north end of the county is served by only two ambulances, but they're getting more first-responders (emergency medical technicians) trained through their fire and police departments. And, that Layton is now the largest city in Davis County and Clearfield is right up there, too," said Wyman.
Wyman also suggested the council has been "playing catch-up ball, reacting to issues instead of acting on a long-range plan."
Council members agreed, setting up a committee to draw up both long- and short-range emergency medical care plans and naming Wyman and Morgan to the committee, along with members to be added later.
Another suggestion, to limit members to two-year terms on the council, was discussed but not brought to a vote. It takes at least a year on the council to learn the issues, the members agreed, adding it is sometimes difficult to get persons to serve so there's no point in getting rid of a willing member after only two years.
The council also adopted a revised statement of purpose:
"The purpose of the Davis County EMS council is the planning, development, and coordination of a functional and comprehensive EMS system. The system consists of all personnel, equipment, and facilities necessary for the response to the emergency ill or injured patient, according to the state lead agency standards."