An odd question

[pgoldsmith]

I am still in the running for my Ops grant for a monitor/defib and 3 MDTs. This is the good news.

The bad news is that the county Fire Department was awarded for 60 monitor/defibs and we will be issued one of those for our ALS ambulance.

Before everyone's drawers get in a twist, we have an agreement with the county fire department, we're a properly organized non-profit corporation with our own TIN and NFIRS IDs. We own everything except the SCBA and the monitor/defib on the ambulance (county-issued items). We can (and have) apply for grants for items that are not county-supported (SCBA and turnout gear).

We applied for the monitor/defib because the county had informed us that they were unable to replace the current obsolete monitor/defib due to budget issues. They never told us that they had applied for a grant!

Our original plan was to put the AFG monitor/defib on the ambulance, move the county-owned obsolete unit to the paramedic engine and offer our company-owned obsolete unit (from the paramedic engine) to a museum or someone who owns a small boat.

What I would like to do in the event that we are awarded is accept the grant and replace the company-owned monitor/defib on our paramedic engine. I am thinking that I had better speak with my regional rep before I do that. Do I have a reasonable chance of this working?

Thank you to all for your advice and wisdom.

Phil Goldsmith

[LVFD301]

Our original plan was to put the AFG monitor/defib on the ambulance, move the county-owned obsolete unit to the paramedic engine and offer our company-owned obsolete unit (from the paramedic engine) to a museum or someone who owns a small boat.

What I would like to do in the event that we are awarded is accept the grant and replace the company-owned monitor/defib on our paramedic engine. I am thinking that I had better speak with my regional rep before I do that. Do I have a reasonable chance of this working?

Thank you to all for your advice and wisdom.

Phil Goldsmith

If the old monitors are "obsolete" then why would you put them on any piece of equipment?

Or do they just not have the newer bells and whistles?

[onebugle]

I am still in the running for my Ops grant for a monitor/defib and 3 MDTs. This is the good news.

The bad news is that the county Fire Department was awarded for 60 monitor/defibs and we will be issued one of those for our ALS ambulance.

Before everyone's drawers get in a twist, we have an agreement with the county fire department, we're a properly organized non-profit corporation with our own TIN and NFIRS IDs. We own everything except the SCBA and the monitor/defib on the ambulance (county-issued items). We can (and have) apply for grants for items that are not county-supported (SCBA and turnout gear).

We applied for the monitor/defib because the county had informed us that they were unable to replace the current obsolete monitor/defib due to budget issues. They never told us that they had applied for a grant!

Our original plan was to put the AFG monitor/defib on the ambulance, move the county-owned obsolete unit to the paramedic engine and offer our company-owned obsolete unit (from the paramedic engine) to a museum or someone who owns a small boat.

What I would like to do in the event that we are awarded is accept the grant and replace the company-owned monitor/defib on our paramedic engine. I am thinking that I had better speak with my regional rep before I do that. Do I have a reasonable chance of this working?

Thank you to all for your advice and wisdom.

Phil Goldsmith

Did the county fire department submit a "regional" grant application for the defibs?

[pgoldsmith]

LVFD: Because I don't have the numbers to support a grant app for two at once. We're in monophasic LifePak 12's that won't even be supported by the manufacturer after 9/2012. I am exploring other opportunities to fund the second unit.

Onebugle: Not a regional app. Solely for the County Fire Department. They can choose to issue us equipment, but have no obligation to do so.

Phil

[onebugle]

Onebugle: Not a regional app. Solely for the County Fire Department. They can choose to issue us equipment, but have no obligation to do so.

Phil

Your best bet is to contact your regional rep about this situation as this scenario, to me, is sending up red flags. I don't believe the county dept. can issue those defibs to non-county depts. even though you are in the same county. They wrote the grant for themselves and that equipment should remain with them.

[BC79er]

Depends on how the county wrote it and how many ambulances they claimed, after all if they asked for 60 in an individual Ops app then that means they're saying they had 60 vehicles to place them on. If they don't have 60 vehicles and they included the ambulances of the other departments in the county then there's something wrong in Grantsville.

If they just so happened to decide not to place one somewhere else and thought you guys could use it technically as long as they know where it is, where it's being used, and it's benefiting the residents of the county, there's nothing specifically against them giving you one. Same reason compressor/cascade trailers can be parked anywhere. A lot of our departments end up putting them at a central spot, or even at the fire marshal's office or training center if it's secure. Normally someone's always there or it's easier to gain access to for mutual aid versus being in the station.

Either way if you were awarded that would reduce your quantity since you'd have to acknowledge it's there.

[islandfire03]

Phil: I'm guessing that the "county" dept is Reading fire dept that received the 999,000 grant for equipment?
Seems to me that Hanover and Reading are quite a distance apart.
If they used your ambulance for their request count , AND you applied using the same ambulance in the count, then there could be an issue when an audit occurs. And you better believe with a million $ grant , there will be a thorough audit.
I would hate to see you get caught in the crossfire. Talk to the AFG regional rep and explain ALL the facts and get any responses in writing.

As far as obtaining a unit for your engine, Talk to the brass at the snack factory. They spend more $$ than that on oil changes for the fleet every week.

[LVFD301]

I think you better drop south rather than Reading. Say, around Baltimore County?

[islandfire03]

I know where he is located. The only large grant big enough to purchase sixty 12 lead monitors is listed as Reading fire dept.
Hence my confusion ???

[SLY4420]

Reading isn't it -- that's a regional Comm grant that was packaged with the $976,448 for Womelsdorf.

I think LVFD is right...$1,750,000 went to Baltimore County Fire Department.

[LVFD301]

I know where he is located. The only large grant big enough to purchase sixty 12 lead monitors is listed as Reading fire dept.
Hence my confusion ???

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/New...6emsgrant.html


Add to it, the OP used to have his department name on his posts, which is a department squarely within this county.

Just saying

[islandfire03]

My BAD! I missed the Baltimore county grant when perusing through the awards. Hence my confusion.
:-}

[pgoldsmith]

LVFD is correct. I am a member of two companies and write grants for both. We are under contract to the Baltimore County Fire Department and are bound to all of their SOPs, etc, etc. They provide support for some things and not for others. Any volunteer company in the county that operates an ALS ambulance has the county's blessing to do so and is entitled to a monitor/defib issued by the county. That monitor/defib remains the property of the county and they provide its maintenance and service on their nickel.

I am definitely planning on speaking to my regional rep if we are awarded the grant and we'll go from there.

Phil

PS Island, we're not in the same first due as the snack plants. All we get is a lousy Walmart Supercenter and a nursing home. They have historically supported the hospital-based ALS program, anyway.