[Ansteorra] Chiurgeon Redux- Reason for Change

[David Backlin]

Mayor: Chirurgeons overstepping certifications reason for change at Point
Submitted by desiduck on Thu, 08/17/2006 - 09:13.
By Peregrine Fairchylde
The questions were pointed and sometimes angry, and the responses did not 
always satisfy the crowd, but tempers remained largely in check during an 
hour-long public meeting held Wednesday afternoon by Pennsic 35 Mayor 
Baroness Brise Sanguin, OP, outside the First Aid Pavilion, formerly 
Chirurgeon's Point.

And in response to the foremost question on the minds of many there- exactly 
what had transpired to cause the mayor to turn over operation of the Point 
to NorthWest EMS - though Mayor Brise remained unspecific on the details, 
citing privacy issues, she did say that some chirurgeons at the War had 
"exceeded [the] authority" of their mundane first aid certifications, which 
had given her "grave concerns" and led to the action.

"We had gotten to the point it wasn't one or two people," she said. "It was 
chronic."

At that point, Viscountess Kaellyn mac Dermott, who was the War Chirurgeon 
for Pennsic 35 and is now coordinator of first aid volunteers for the War, 
added: "It's because I couldn't police it fast enough to answer their 
concerns."

Starting at 1 p.m., Mayor Brise and Viscount Viscount Edward Zifran of 
Gendy, the emergency deputy mayor, took more than 30 questions over a little 
more than an hour from a crowd that started at about three dozen but 
ultimately swelled to more than 75 gentles, most of whom appeared to be 
chirurgeons: Red hats, leeches and fleams were abundant. Despite the heat, 
the crowd stayed almost undiminished until the mayor ended the session 
shortly after 2 p.m.

Judging by the crowd's reaction, the most promising answer provided by the 
mayoral staff was to an inquiry as to whether the reports regarding the 
incidents that led to Mayor Brise's decision could be released after having 
confidential personal information removed from them.

"You've brought up a good point," said Viscount Edward. "Allow her some time 
to actually give this thought and consult with some folks and consider this 
possibility."

Mayor Brise also reported that the personal medical information that had 
been removed from the Point previously was back in the hands of Viscountess 
Kaellyn.

After the meeting, Master Caelin on Andrede, OP, of Ansteorra, the Deputy 
Society Chirurgeon, said the records had been removed and placed in his 
possession according to procedure laid out in the Society Chirurgeon's 
Handbook and no request had been made to him for those records until late 
Tuesday night, at about 10:50 p.m.


During the public session the question "Why?" was brought up again and 
again.

"Now that you have put 10,000-plus people at risk, can you please explain 
the reason so the rumors stop and we all have a clue?" asked Master El of 
Two Knives.

"I have not put anyone at risk," responded Mayor Brise. "We have EMS taking 
care of triage . we are fully staffed, we have doctors, we have paramedics, 
we have first aid people."

The other major question that, judging by crowd reaction, was not 
satisfactorily answered dealt with the question of liability protection for 
warranted chirurgeons who volunteer as first aid helpers, the U.S. Volunteer 
Protection Act, and Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan law. While the mayor and 
her emergency deputy both insisted the protections were in place, some in 
the crowd contested that position. Viscount Edward asked one questioner to 
provide a copy of the U.S. Volunteer Protection Act so it could be reviewed 
and a more satisfactory answer provided.

Mark the Faceitous, a heavy fighter and chirurgeon who identified himself as 
a mundane family practice physician, said that "we've always appreciated 
having EMS back up the chirurgeons," but asked the mayor if she was 
comfortable having non-SCA persons providing first aid, given the unique 
issues the chirurgeonate is used to dealing with, such as armor extraction.

"We are in a different position than the mundane world," he said.

"Yes," Mayor Brise responded to whether she was confident in the ability of 
NorthWest to handle such situations. "We have SCA individuals involved in 
this."

Another gentle asserted that, as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the SCA 
and the Pennsic War were subject to the federal Freedom of Information law, 
and that minutes of meetings - such as any that led up to the announcement 
that EMS would run Chirurgeon's Point - must be made available to the 
public. Viscount Edward countered that, saying that such minutes "would be 
under executive session," and thus exempt from disclosure.

The question of money donated to the Chirurgeonate Fund was raised, and 
Mayor Brise said that money would carry over to next year's War to be used 
to purchase supplies, as was usual practice. This prompted a query as to 
whether the chirurgeonate would be in charge of the Point again next year, 
to which the mayor replied, "That's up to next Pennsic's mayor," Baroness 
Rosamund Beauvisage.

Another gentle asked whether NorthWest EMS was reimbursing Pennsic for 
supplies they use that had been purchased for the War; she said that 
anything they used was being replaced. Master Iustinos Tekton, called 
Justin, a former War Chirurgeon, added that supplies were purchased for the 
war with money already part of the event's general revenue, and further that 
he had no problem with the EMS personnel using the supplies on hand.

Mayor Brise also told the crowd that no additional money was being paid to 
NorthWest under the contract they have with the War.

A question about whether chirurgeons in training (CITs) would be allowed to 
work shifts during the war led to some brief confusion. Viscount Edward has 
replied to the gentle that, "We'll have to take that up with the senior 
chirurgeon staff." But this prompted another question: "Is there a cirurgeon 
staff?"

"Here is the thing," His Excellency replied. "Yes, there is no active 
chirurgeonate on site. That does not mean you're not warranted chirurgeons. 
There is not active chirurgeonate activity. Whatever rules and procedures 
you folks have are still in effect."

"[But] not as an organized part of the Pennsic staff," added Mayor Brise.

Toward the end of the meeting, Lord Yehuda ben Maimon, who has worked as a 
chirurgeon at Pennsic the past 10 years, pointed out that the mere fact so 
many gentles showed up to the meeting was a good sign.

"The whole reason you're here in the heat is because you care," he said. "I 
think we all came here because we want the answers and unfortunately we can't 
have them today.... We all want to make that decision ourselves, but we have 
to ceded that authority to the mayor."

Then, turning to Mayor Brise, he entreated, "Please promise there will be 
more information later." In response, she said she could only promise to try 
and get more information out.

After the meeting, Viscountess Kaellyn said she felt that first aid service 
was going "very, very well" under the new arrangement.

"The EMS and the doctors have been working like demons. I worship every one 
of them," she said. "They've been doing far more than they were expected to 
do here."

But though she has some volunteer first aid helpers, she said she would very 
much like to have a dozen more to get through the end of the war.

"We can figure out what happened and what could have happened better after 
Pennsic," Her Excellency said. "Right now, we need to concentrate on giving 
first aid to the populace. I understand completely what the chirurgeons 
feel - I'm one of them. And I don't feel [ill will] against any of them if 
they don't feel they can come back. But I would like to see some of them 
work out the differences and come in and help us out until the end of the 
event."

Deputy Society Chirurgeon Caelin said in an interview after the meeting that 
he differed with Mayor Brise's interpretation of the Society Chirurgeon's 
Handbook when it came to the authority to remove the chirurgeonate from 
operating at the War.

"What it [the handbook] says is you can have an event with no 
 chirurgeonate," he said. "It doesn't say you can remove the chirurgeonate."

He cited section III.9, General Policies, which reads in part: "Any 
Chirurgeon who is available and willing to provide first aid at an event can 
not be prohibited from doing so by anyone other than the Kingdom Chirurgeon 
or a duly-delegated administrative superior in the Chirurgeonate (e.g., a 
Chirurgeon-in-Charge at an interkingdom event)."

"They're choosing very small segments out of context," Master Caelin said.