Blanco EMS keeps its license (Monday's Austin paper)

[Guest guest]

Congrats to Blanco EMS and their new leadership for meeting this challenge

head-on.

-Wes Ogilvie

Blanco ambulance corps keeps its license

Recently reorganized, the corps no longer faces action by Department of

State Health Services.

By _ Lorenz_ (mailto:alorenz@...)

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, November 17, 2008

Ambulance service for half of Blanco County is no longer in jeopardy.

The recently reorganized Blanco EMS has been cleared for operation by the

state and no longer faces a possible revocation of its license by the Department

of State Health Services.

The state had proposed stripping the Blanco Volunteer Ambulance Corps of its

license, after its former director Mark McMain, who stepped down in July, was

found in an audit to have administered fentanyl, a powerful narcotic, to his

wife 237 times without medical authorization. The state had recommended

action against the agency because another employee, " Suzy " Armstead ,

did

not report the misappropriation, and the EMS did not properly safeguard

medications or take action on McMain and Armstead, according to state

documents.

Shortly after an administrative law judge recommended in July that McMain

permanently lose his paramedic's certificate and cited the Blanco EMS

management's support for McMain as contributing to the problem, McMain and the

other

board members resigned, and Mechelle Salmon , the director of a neighboring

EMS, stepped in to build a new organization.

The overhaul that Salmon and the new team put in place prompted the state

health department to withdraw the recommendation to revoke the group's license

after a final November hearing. The state did, however, permanently revoke

McMain's paramedic certificate.

Among the changes Salmon implemented were daily audits of drugs, mandatory

training for members and written procedures for managing the EMS. The Blanco

EMS also prohibited board members from being paid employees of the EMS. McMain

and Armstead were both employees and served on the board.

During the informal November meeting, Salmon and the new Blanco EMS board

members told the state health department that the agency's investigation and

guidance helped the Blanco EMS reorganize, according to a statement from Salmon:

" Both the (Blanco EMS) and (Department of State Health Services) believe

that the efforts and actions taken on behalf of the Blanco EMS can serve as a

positive example and guidance for other troubled EMS organizations. "