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A safety proposal: Sunnyvale is accepting proposals for EMS services
By Zach Markovic, zmarkovic@starlocalnews.com
The town of Sunnyvale recently announced on its website an invitation to experienced and qualified bidders to submit proposals to provide first-responder, basic life support and advanced life support ambulance services.
The successful bidder will be granted an exclusive contract for three years, with the opportunity to earn up to a single two-year extension.
Interim Town Manager Dan Savage said before former Town Manager Scott Campbell left, he had been directed to begin looking into proposals for an EMT service. So the search for proposals was recently loaded to the website to get all involved to touch base with town officials.
This is a request for proposals for Exclusive Operating Area, which includes the entire town of Sunnyvale. The town officials said they desire first-responder, basic life support and advanced life support ambulance services for all medical transports that meet or exceed all state standards for emergency care.
The town's current medical director is through a contract with Biotel. The bidder is not required to contract with Biotel but must provide its own medical director with substantial experience in the practice of emergency medicine, to provide medical control and to assure medical accountability throughout the planning, implementation and evaluation of the local EMS system.
These policies and protocols must ultimately be approved by the town council, and they will undergo regular review and revision.
Town officials also want the bidder to provide communication infrastructure to allow authorized mobile intensive care nurses and base hospital physicians to communicate directly with paramedics during the care and transport of emergency patients.
All of this will be available for retrospective review by the base hospital, service providers and EMS agency to ensure quality patient care by reviewing care received by patients.
The proposals are supposed to be good for up to 180 days, which Savage said will put them around the end of the budget cycle, so the council could decide to make room in the budget for a service if they choose to.
Savage said he has not heard any issues with the volunteer service serving the residents now. It was just a matter that the volunteer service can only supply basic life-support services. If the council approved an EMT contract, more advanced life-support services will be available - services that some of the Sunnyvale volunteer EMTs might qualify for but cannot perform because volunteer EMTs are not allowed to by regulations.
To view the request for proposal, visit www.townofsunnyvale.org
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