For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
AMBULANCE.
Any motor vehicle equipped with facilities to convey infirm or injured persons in a reclining position.
AMBULANCE PATIENT.
Any ill, infirm or injured person transported in a reclining position in an ambulance to or from a hospital, physician's office, nursing home or other health care facility.
AMBULANCE SERVICE SYSTEM.
An organized, fully coordinated and legally established network of individuals and organizations capable of effecting a fully coordinated response to every emergency medical incident, modified appropriately by the context of the competing demands upon the system at any point in time. Essential components include, but are not limited to, CPR training of the general public; single point termination telephone access to the system; fully centralized professional dispatching and system status management by medically trained dispatchers in direct radio contact with every ambulance operating in the system and who have the full authority and responsibility to manage system response under all circumstances; integrated team training and compatible equipment inventories of first responders, basic life support units, volunteer units, and paramedic units; rapid first responder and paramedic unit response times to all life threatening emergencies; and continuous, orderly and routine physician supervision, evaluation and authoritative corrective action to ensure persistent upgrading of ambulance system performance.
BASE STATION PHYSICIAN.
A physician licensed to practice medicine in Indiana who has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the EMS Foundation knowledge in the medical protocols, radio procedure, medical audit process and procedure, and general operating policies of the city emergency medical services system, and a person from whom ambulance attendants may take medical direction.
EMS CONTROL CENTER.
A single facility designated by the Three Rivers Ambulance Authority as the central communications center from which all ambulances subject to regulations pursuant to this subchapter shall be dispatched and controlled at all times.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES FOUNDATION INC. (EMS FOUNDATION).
A professional and charitable organization formed by the Fort Wayne/Allen County Medical Society composed of licensed physicians who shall be responsible for clinical leadership, medical supervision and regulatory quality control over all aspects of the EMS systems operation which may directly or indirectly affect patient care.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN (EMT).
An individual certified by the Emergency Medical Services Commission to provide emergency medical care at the scene of an accident, illness, or during transport, and certified by the Medical Director.
FIRST RESPONDER.
An individual who is trained in providing emergency medical care and is the first individual to respond to an incident requiring emergency medical services.
HELICOPTER RESCUE UNIT.
Any rotary wing aircraft providing basic or advanced emergency medical service and transportation.
LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY.
A situation posing immediate threat to human life or of long-term disability, including but not limited to acute respiratory distress, shock, airway blockage, bleeding beyond control, acute poisoning, acute cardiovascular distress, or central nervous system injury.
MEDICAL AUDIT.
An official inquiry into the circumstances involving an ambulance run or request for service, conducted by a member of the EMS Foundation who is qualified by the EMS Foundation designated to conduct such an audit by the EMS Foundation Board. No physician performing a medical audit shall have been directly involved in the care of the patient who is the subject of the audit. The medical audit procedure is intended to be educational and positive and not vindictive or punitive. Any individual whose actions are under review may not be excluded from the audit process and shall have the right to appear and be heard.
MEDICAL CONTROL.
Direction given ambulance personnel by a base station physician through direct voice contact, with or without vital sign telemetry, as required by applicable medical protocols approved by the Medical Director.
MEDICAL DIRECTOR.
A licensed physician appointed and paid by the EMS Foundation, whose duties are more fully described in § 112.75; who generally is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the ambulance system from a medical perspective. The Medical Director shall serve at the pleasure of the EMS Foundation Board of Directors.
MEDICAL PROTOCOL.
Any diagnosis-specific or problem-oriented written statement of standard procedure, or algorithm, approved by the EMS Foundation as the normal standard of pre-hospital care for a given clinical condition.
MUTUAL AID CALL.
Request for emergency ambulance service issued by an ambulance dispatcher or crew in one political jurisdiction to an ambulance dispatcher or ambulance crew normally operating in a neighboring political jurisdiction.
OPERATIONS CONTRACTOR.
That person or organization which, after a public bid process, has contracted with the ambulance authority to operate and manage the non-volunteer portion of the ambulance system created by this subchapter.
PARAMEDIC.
An individual who is affiliated with a certified paramedic organization, has completed a prescribed course in Advanced Life Support, and has been certified by the Emergency Medical Services Commission and by the Medical Director as knowledgeable of and competent to perform advanced life support procedures and the medical protocols established by the Medical Director.
PUBLIC UTILITY MODEL.
That strategy for the organization, financing, management and regulation of ambulance service operation which employs the use of a single level of advanced life support capability for the conducting of all emergency and non-emergency service within a geographical area, mechanisms of payment which neutralize the "fee-for-service incentive" to over-serve or under-serve any given patient or geographic area, optimum economies of scale to spread fixed costs of sophisticated ambulance service operations over a wider range of production, competitive procurement of "facilities management" services from a qualified private firm, financing strategies which minimize or allow minimization of local tax subsidy, ownership or direct control of all systems hardware by the public sector, and other features intended to promote clinical excellence, reliable response time performances, disaster readiness, long-range stability of service, and cost containment.
RESPONSE TIME.
The actual elapsed time between receipt of notification at the EMS control center that an ambulance is needed at a location and the arrival of that ambulance at the location.
SENIOR PARAMEDIC IN CHARGE.
That individual among the certified personnel assigned to an ambulance, not the driver, who is a certified paramedic designated as the individual in command of the ambulance, its operation and any other persons assigned to the ambulance on a given shift. The employer of personnel in an ambulance shall designate the senior paramedic in charge of that ambulance.
SPECIAL USE PERMIT.
A permit issued by the Medical Director to hospitals and other institutions serving the public, for the provision of specialized mobile intensive care services and emergency care.
THREE RIVERS AMBULANCE AUTHORITY.
The entity established by the Three Rivers Emergency Medical Services Cooperative to oversee and manage the operations of the ambulance service system described in this subchapter.
THREE RIVERS EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES COOPERATIVE.
A body jointly established by the city and county for the purpose of establishing and implementing the ambulance system described in this subchapter.
VOLUNTEER PROVIDER.
Any nonprofit organization except a township which provides ambulance service for ambulance patients; provided that a majority of the manpower furnished by the volunteer provider shall not receive any salary, wages or other pay for their work for the volunteer provider, and which provides only emergency work and does not provide routine patient transfer service. A township may contract with the Three Rivers Ambulance Authority to be a volunteer provider if the township agrees to be bound by the terms of this subchapter and therefore to become part of and served by the ambulance service system established by this subchapter. The authority may not enter into any contractual relationship with any township unless such contract includes provisions effecting a complete coordination and integration of that township into the ambulance service system. A township contracting with the Three Rivers Ambulance Authority may be called a participating volunteer provider provided, however, that the authority may provide services to townships if the townships consent to such service, which consent shall not be considered to be a contractual relationship hereunder, and which consent may provide that the township not become a participating volunteer provider or otherwise be bound by the terms of this chapter.
VOLUNTEER PROVIDERS ADVISORY COUNCIL.
The entity composed of individuals appointed by the volunteer providers who participate in the ambulance system, whose duty it shall be to advise the EMS Foundation on matters related to the development and enforcement of standards affecting volunteers and volunteer providers. Each volunteer provider who is a full participant in the EMS system may appoint one individual to the advisory council, which individual shall be the physician advisor for the provider. If the provider does not have a physician advisor, it may apply to the Medical Director to appoint a substitute. ('74 Code, § 9-12) (Ord. G-16-82, passed 7-27-82; Am. Ord. G-19-98, passed 5-12-98)