For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
AMBULANCE: Any vehicle which is equipped to transport patients, in a reclining position, to or from health care facilities.
BASE STATION PHYSICIAN: A physician licensed to practice medicine in the state of Oklahoma, knowledgeable in the medical protocols, radio procedure and general operating policies of the ambulance system, and a person from whom ambulance personnel may take medical direction by radio or other remote communications device, who shall be approved by the medical director.
EMS: Emergency medical service.
EMS CONTROL CENTER OR CONTROL CENTER: The single facility which is the central communications center from which all ambulances operating in the service area shall be dispatched and controlled, and which receives all 911 emergency medical calls.
EMT: Emergency medical technician, and variants thereof, shall have the meaning ascribed by state law.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL PERSONNEL: Those persons as defined and described in section 330.74 of title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, who shall have the authority to perform the acts described therein.
FIRST RESPONDER: Any person, fire department vehicle, police vehicle or nontransporting ambulance unit capable of providing appropriate first responder service, under the first responder program administered by the medical director, or the city manager.
HELICOPTER RESCUE UNIT: Any rotary wing aircraft providing basic or advanced life support and transportation.
MEDICAL DIRECTOR: The licensed physician, appointed by the city and serving as administrative officer in carrying out the duties described in this chapter, or in the absence of such appointment, the city manager.
MEDICAL PROTOCOL: Any diagnosis-specific or problem oriented written statement of standard procedure, or algorithm, promulgated by the medical director as the medically appropriate standard of prehospital care for a given clinical condition.
MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT: A written agreement between one or more primary providers of emergency medical services whereby the signing parties agree to lend aid to one another under conditions specified in the agreement and as approved by the medical director as to quality of care and medical accountability.
PATIENT: An individual who is either ill, sick, injured, wounded, helpless or otherwise incapacitated, and who is in need of, or is at risk of needing, medical care or assessment during transportation to or from a health care facility, and who is reclining or should be transported in a reclining position under applicable medical protocols.
PERMIT: That document required to be obtained annually by:
A. Each provider.
B. Each emergency medical personnel.
C. For each ambulance under this chapter.
PERSON: Means and includes any individual, firm, association, partnership, corporation, or other group or combination acting as a unit.
PRIMARY PROVIDER OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES: A public or private ambulance service organization which has been designated by one or more governmental entities to provide emergency ambulance coverage throughout a defined geographic area.
PRIORITY: The assigned call priority number (i.e., priority 1, 2, 3 or 4) of all requests for an ambulance which are received by the EMS control center at the time of close of receipt of a request for ambulance service. Such priorities shall be assigned at the time the call is received by the control center, pursuant to telephone algorithms and priority dispatch protocols established by the medical director. Priority 1 calls shall be life-threatening calls. Priority 2 calls shall be all other emergency calls. Priority 3 calls shall be a nonemergency ambulance transport of a patient scheduled less than twenty four (24) hours in advance. Priority 4 calls shall be a nonemergency ambulance transport of a patient scheduled more than twenty four (24) hours in advance.
PROVIDER: Any ambulance operator granted a permit by this jurisdiction to provide ambulance service in this jurisdiction.
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 actual arrival of an ambulance staffed and equipped to operate at the EMT/advanced level, or higher level, at that location within the service area.
RESPONSE TIME STANDARDS: The current American heart association recommendations for the majority of emergent calls within the contiguous service area. All nonemergent medical urgent calls shall be serviced within one hour of receipt. All scheduled transfers shall be serviced within one hour of the scheduled time.
SERVICE AREA: That primary service area which is contained within the boundaries of the municipalities which have adopted and agreed to enforce this uniform ambulance ordinance.
SYSTEM STANDARD OF CARE: The written body of standards and policies governing clinical aspects of the EMS system. As used in this context, system standard of care is a comprehensive term including:
A. Input standards (e.g., personnel certification requirements, in-service training requirements, equipment specifications, on-board inventory requirements, and other requirements which the system must fulfill before receipt of a request for service);
B. Performance standards (e.g., priority dispatching protocols and prearrival instructions, medical protocols, standing orders, response time standards, and other performance specifications describing how the system should behave upon receipt of a request for service).
SYSTEM STATUS PLAN: The dispatching plan and protocols which determine how many ambulances will be available for dispatch for each hour of the day, each day of the week, including the locations of such ambulances specified separately for each hour of the day, for each day of the week, at every remaining level of available ambulances in the system, plus protocols for event- driven deployment and redeployment of those ambulances. (Ord. 1990-2, 2-15-1990)