[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Galax 8-10-2015.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided state law
references, as follows: regulation of medical care facilities and
services, Code of Virginia, § 32.1-123 et seq.; authority
to provide emergency medical services, Code of Virginia, § 32.1-111.4.
A.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES VEHICLE
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Any privately or publicly owned vehicle, vessel, or aircraft
that holds a valid emergency medical services vehicle permit issued
by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Office of EMS, and that is specially
designed, constructed, or modified and equipped and is intended to
be used for and is maintained or operated to provide immediate medical
care to, or to transport in a reclining position or on a stretcher
or gurney, persons who are sick, injured, wounded, or otherwise incapacitated
or helpless. However, the term shall not mean any vehicle used as
a taxicab or any vehicle used to transport persons who are permanently
disabled but not acutely ill or persons who use a wheelchair .
B.
It shall be unlawful for any person, entity, or agency to transport
a patient in an emergency medical services vehicle without holding
a City franchise or permit. Any volunteer rescue squad in established
operation in the Commonwealth of Virginia, City of Galax, or counties
of Grayson and Carroll, as of May 14, 2012, shall be deemed to have
a permit for operation, subject to such public health, safety, and
general welfare requirements as the City of Galax may impose under
this chapter. This chapter/section shall not apply to the following:
(1)
Any transport of patients originating outside of the City of Galax
and terminating in the City;
(2)
Any volunteer rescue squad established in any county, city, or town
pursuant to Code of Virginia, § 15.2-955, while making a
nonemergency transport from a medical facility located within the
City to a location outside of the City;
(3)
Any transport that results from the rendering of assistance at the
request of the Twin County e911 PSAP in a disaster or major emergency
or in response to the request by the Twin County e911 PSAP for mutual
aid;
(4)
Virginia Office of EMS licensed air ambulance, both rotary- and/or
fixed-wing emergency medical services providers;
(5)
Virginia Office of EMS licensed specialty care ground transport services,
(critical care emergency medical services vehicle that is owned by
and titled to) the receiving hospital that the patient is being transported
to; from the City of Galax.
(6)
Any agency or entity in operation in the City of Galax prior to May
14, 2012, that is included in the adopted resolution of the City Council
of the City of Galax, Virginia, establishment of certain rescue emergency
services organizations and volunteer firefighting organizations in
the City of Galax; that continue to operate as such up to the date
of adoption of this chapter and submit to the City Council satisfactory
evidence of such continuing operation.
C.
Any City police officer may issue a warrant, citation, or summons,
charging a person driving an emergency medical services vehicle in
the City in violation of this section or, if such person is not known,
charging the registered owner of an emergency medical services vehicle
used in violation of this section.
D.
Any prosecution charging a violation of this section where the driver
is unknown, proof that the emergency medical services vehicle described
in the complaint, summons, ticket, citation or warrant transported
a person from a location within the corporate City limits, together
with proof that the defendant at the time of transport is the registered
owner of the vehicle, as required in the Code of Virginia, § 46.2-600
et seq., shall constitute a prima facie presumption in evidence that
the registered owner was the person that committed the violation.
It is in the best interest of the City to create and regulate
a unified emergency and nonemergency medical services system . It
is the policy of the City to promote the provision of adequate and
continuing ambulance service to transport sick or injured persons
in the City in order to preserve, protect, and promote the public
health, safety, and general welfare of the public residing in this
area. In furtherance of this policy, the City may, from time to time,
award by ordinance franchises or permits for the operation of emergency
medical service (EMS) vehicles, subject to such public health, safety,
and general welfare requirements as it may impose under this chapter.
The holder of a franchise or permit shall be referred to in this chapter
as an "authorized provider." No franchise or permit may be transferred
by any means, direct or indirect, including without limitation, change
of ownership or control, trusteeship, and sale of assets. The award
of a franchise or permit may be conditioned upon the attainment of
norms for quality of care and response times that the City establishes
for its emergency medical services system generally, and may limit
the number of emergency or other vehicles to be operated as part of
such franchise or permit.
All authorized providers under this chapter shall be dispatched from the Twin County e911 PSAP designated by the City. No authorized provider shall publish or advertise any telephone number for the purpose for receiving requests for emergency medical services except the emergency number (911) of the emergency medical services dispatch center (Twin County e911 PSAP). All authorized providers shall, at all times, obey the directions of the emergency medical services dispatch center, including by way of illustration and without limitation location of units, positioning movements, and run responses. However, any authorized provider that is exempt by § 51-4 from advanced life support equipment and staffing requirements shall not in normal operations be subject to the requirements of this section, but may be required to comply with centralized dispatch instruction in a disaster.
All emergency medical services vehicles of authorized providers
shall be equipped and staffed to provide advanced life support services,
except the following:
No authorized provider shall fail to respond to a call, to transport,
or to render first aid treatment, as may be reasonably necessary,
or otherwise refuse or fail to provide services originating within
the City because of the patient's inability to pay for such services,
because of the patient's being located at a particular accessible
location within the City or because the provider's emergency
medical services vehicles are unavailable without reasonable cause.
The Chief Administrative Officer (Chief of EMS) may summarily
suspend any franchise or permit issued pursuant to this chapter for
any reason involving a danger to public health, safety or welfare,
including bankruptcy or insolvency. Such a suspension shall not exceed
two weeks in length, and any provider so suspended shall have the
right to a hearing before the Galax-Grayson Emergency Medical Services
Board of Directors. The hearing shall be de novo. It shall comply
with due process requirements but shall not be governed by strict
rules of evidence or procedure.
The following entities are exempted from the provisions of this
chapter:
A.
Emergency medical services agencies based outside the commonwealth,
except that any such agency receiving a person who is sick, injured,
wounded, incapacitated, or helpless within the commonwealth for transportation
to a location within the commonwealth shall comply with the provisions
of this chapter;
B.
Emergency medical services agencies operated by the United States
Government; and
C.
Wheelchair interfacility transport services and wheelchair interfacility
transport vehicles that are engaged, whether or not for profit, in
the business, service, or regular activity of and exclusively used
for transporting wheelchair-bound passengers between medical facilities
in the commonwealth when no ancillary medical care or oversight is
necessary. However, such services and vehicles shall comply with Department
of Medical Assistance Services regulations regarding the transportation
of Medicaid recipients to covered services.
