Fla. County Medical Director to Handle Paramedic Training, Standards
March 22--North Collier fire officials have agreed to put Collier County's medical director in charge of all paramedic training and operating standards, ending a monthslong lawsuit between the fire district and county commissioners.
Under the settlement approved Tuesday, county medical director Dr. Robert Tober will have final say on the protocol, training and recertification standards for the nearly 100 medics employed by the fire district, a main concession the county has been seeking for months.
District medics won't have to be recertified until the end of 2017.
The agreement allows the fire district, which was created in 2014 by the merger of North Naples and Big Corkscrew Island, to use advanced life support techniques if they beat an ambulance to the scene of an emergency throughout the newly formed district. Since the merger, fire medics were only allowed to use the techniques within the former North Naples boundaries.
"We're looking forward to providing these services throughout our entire district," said North Collier Chief Jamie Cunningham.
The deal ends a legal fight that began this past fall, when county commissioners refused to renew the district's certificate to hire its own medical director. Commissioners had approved the certificate -- called a COPCN -- in each of the last five years.
Fire officials sued the county in October, saying commissioners never gave them a fair hearing, and asked a judge to order commissioners to renew their medic certificate.
The county's medical director has always set the protocol that the district has followed, Cunningham said.
"We have always operated under Dr. Tober," he said.
But while the protocols were set by the county medical director, for the last five years the day-to-day operations of the district's medic program -- the training, testing, supervising and monitoring -- have run through the district's own medical director.
Commissioner Tim Nance said the agreement will ensure paramedics throughout the county are trained to the same standards.
The district agreed to give the county medical director access to patient records and to follow the county's ride-time requirements by having medics ride along with a patient in a county ambulance every time advanced techniques are used. The fire district had wanted its medics to ride along only when specifically requested by the county paramedic on scene.
The district has struggled to work under Tober in the past, especially during 2009 and 2010 when county officials accused North Naples firefighters of cheating on their paramedic tests.
The time has come to check that baggage at the door, said fire Commissioner Jim Burke.
"I think all parties came to the realization that they are in business to provide life safety emergency medical services to the residents," Burke said.
In other county business, commissioners on Tuesday declared an emergency to speed up the dredging of Clam Pass as turtle nesting season draws near. The declaration will allow for a compressed bidding window, which kicked off March 4, to get the project finished before the nesting season May 1.
The cost of the project is estimated at just over $450,000, according to county records.
The pass, which was partially dredged in 2013, has not closed, but is constricted. About 19,000 cubic yards of sand have accumulated there over the last few years.
Tidal flow in and out of Clam Pass is critical for maintaining the saltwater-freshwater balance and the health of the shallow, mangrove-lined estuary that fronts the Pelican Bay and Seagate neighborhoods. Heavy winter rains along the coast -- 278 percent higher than normal from Nov. 2 to Feb. 19, according to county reports -- have impaired tidal circulation.
The county has been seeking a federal permit to dredge the pass for more than a year. The county received its 10-year permit on March 11.
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