Orange County Grand Jury
• 2021-2022
• Agency Response
Rhonda Shader Robert S. Mckinnell City Treasurer Mayor Pro Tem Kevin A. Larson Chad P. Wanke City Administrator*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F2, F6, F7, F8
Findings and Recommendations 6 findings
F1
emergency medical departments, most have not updated their emergency response protocols accordingly, but have simply absorbed emergency medical responses into their existing fire response models. City's Response: The City agrees with this finding. ALS staffed ambulances or smaller squad vehicles are often the most appropriate
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Deployment Plans, as well as other studies, the Grand Jury recommends that, by 2024, all Orange County fire agencies utilize criteria-based dispatch protocols and send a single unit response to those incidents triaged as non-life-threatening (BLS). F1, F2, F5. City's Response: The City agrees with this recommendation as Placentia already adopted criteria-based-dispatch protocols utilizing Priority Dispatch software prior to the launch of its new service model. The dispatch protocols have been reviewed and approved by the County Medical Director. The County Medical Director, pursuant to the State Health and Safety Code, maintains the authority, medical control, and the responsibility to approve an agency's proposed dispatch protocols and medical triage. While OCEMS should recognize how certain policy changes may pose operational
F3
response to medical calls and do not compromise the quality of medical care. City's Response: The City agrees with this finding. There has been a breakdown of communication and trust between OCEMS and
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Orange County Fire Chiefs. City's Response: The City agrees with this finding. Over-deployment of firefighters for medical calls contributes to the current climate
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
challenges to emergency responders in the field, fire leadership should recognize and respect the independent oversight authority and expertise of OCEMS. F4. City's Response: The City agrees with this recommendation. The California EMS Act of 1980 created the California EMS Authority and enshrined in the Health and Safety Code (1797.100) a two-tiered system of State regulations of EMS services. Within that act, Local EMS Authorities (LEMSAs) as the second tier of the system, were created and empowered at the County level to design, evaluate, and oversee all provisions of EMS services within the geographic region of the County, which includes the EMS services provided by both public and private EMS providers. Departments with publicly owned ambulances should allow OCEMS to inspect
F5
of forced hiring and firefighter fatigue. City's Response: The City does not agree or disagree with this finding as the City's service model is not experiencing these issues with its firefighters. The City's service model does not require forced hiring and the City's firefighters do not suffer from fatigue as a result.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
their ambulances for compliance with State EMS guidelines and adopt OCEMS recommendations. City's Response: The City agrees with this recommendation. The ambulances used by the City's contracted 911/ALS paramedic service provider are inspected annually by OCEMS pursuant to OCEMS Policy 720.40. In the best interest of the public's safety all ambulances operating in the County, public and private, should be inspected every year. OCEMS should exercise its statutory obligations to ensure that all ambulance service providers meet the same safety and regulatory requirements. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your request. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (714) 993-8171. Sincerely, Bhalles Rhonda Shader Mayor Placentia City Council CC: City Administrator Fire Chief
F9
OCEMS has the authority to and responsibility to inspect all for-profit ambulances operating in Orange County; however publicly owned ambulances are not automatically subject to OCEMS oversight. City's Response: The City agrees with this finding as it is the City's understanding that pursuant to Orange County Ambulance Ordinance 3517 and OCEMS Policy 720.40, the Orange County Healthcare Agency is the responsible entity that establishes the standard for inspections of ground ambulance providers conducted by OCEMS staff members. Neither the ordinance or the policy differentiates between public and privately owned ground ambulance providers. To the City's knowledge, the County has not inspected publicly owned ambulances since 2011.
No recommendations for this finding
F10
Placentia's changes to the emergency medical response protocols after leaving OCFA have resulted in improved medical response times. City's Response: The City agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.