The EURAMI resignations: why did the leadership quit?
At the end of June, the board members of the European Air Medical Institute (EURAMI) put out a joint statement announcing their resignation, prompting the Institute’s president to follow suit. James Paul Wallis asks what was behind the walkout and what it could mean for EURAMI
At the end of June, the board members of the European Air Medical Institute (EURAMI) put out a joint statement announcing their resignation, prompting the Institute’s president to follow suit. James Paul Wallis asks what was behind the walkout and what it could mean for EURAMI
On 28 June, the five EURAMI board members (Dr Michael Braida, Dr Laurent Taymans, Dr Bettina Vadera, Dr Gert Muurling, and Volker Lemke) issued a joint statement to the Institute’s membership declaring their immediate resignation, due, they said, to a ‘complete lack of confidence in the current leadership shared unanimously by all members of the board’. The statement further explained: “This has been compounded by outstanding conflicts with the EURAMI president, which we attempted to resolve, but to no avail. Whilst we believe in EURAMI as a professional organisation, the dissociation between the members of the board and the president has reached a point where it leaves us no choice but to resign collectively.”
Pictured left to right: Dr Michael Weinlich, Dr Gert Muurling, Dr Bettina Vadera, Volker Lemke, Dr Michael Braida and Dr Laurent Taymans
The next day, Dr Michael Weinlich, the aforementioned president, followed suit, telling the members that he would resign as soon as interim board members were in place, or, if sooner, at the next EURAMI members meeting (at ITIC Barcelona in Spain, 29 October to 1 November 2012).
Next steps
In terms of the running of the Institute, in line with EURAMI’s statutes, which form the legal basis of the not-for-profit association under German law, the wheels then set in motion were for Weinlich, as president, to appoint interim board members (a request for members to put themselves forward went out on 13 July, with a promise that members would be consulted on whom they would prefer if more than five candidates step forward). EURAMI members must be physically present to vote for permanent board members, so election of a new board will take place at the annual meeting at ITIC as described above. In the meantime, there will be, said Weinlich, no impact on EURAMI’s operational activities. In an email
to EURAMI members, he asserted: “The operational part of the EURAMI office remains active according to the statutes and procedures.” He also told members: “Until November, Andrew Wither, as permanent secretary of [the] EURAMI office, will continue the operational functions of EURAMI.”
The conflict
In initial comments made to ITIJ’s sister publication, Waypoint AirMed & Rescue Magazine (Waypoint) on 28 June, Dr Bettina Vadera, medical director of AMREF Flying Doctors, underlined that the resignations were not being made due to a lack of belief in EURAMI as an institution, but solely due to conflict within the leadership: “While all of the board members are fully behind the concept of EURAMI as an organisation for audit, accreditation and standards control, the current situation between the board and the president has resulted in an unproductive working relationship.”
outsiders have been left with four full months to speculate on the machinations until a new board is elected at ITIC
So, what prompted the board members to quit? No one is stating the reason outright, but in his letter of resignation, Weinlich took the opportunity to inform the membership of the status of the EURAMI website and the new Academy (as described at previous members meetings, the Academy is to be an online training resource with e-learning modules available to
members, and the main website is to be overhauled with more information on accredited providers, along with other updates). Strikingly, he went into detail on the website project, which was contracted to EURAMI ex-board member Dr Laurent Taymans’ company l’Aeromédicale. Weinlich stated that delays and incomplete components meant that the contract
had only been 50-per-cent completed, adding: “Therefore I have not accepted invoices above 50 per cent.” Although his message noted disagreement with the board members on this issue, Weinlich did not explicitly connect this with their resignations.
For their part, the board members have declined to go much further than Vadera’s early statements. Dr Michael Braida, regional medical director for northern Europe, International SOS (UK), told Waypoint that the move was down to ‘a lack of confidence in the structure of EURAMI’; with the board having no powers under the statutes to moderate decisions, the president is not required to take its recommendations into account, he said. The statutes, he added, need to be changed in order for EURAMI to move forward. Braida also questioned the wisdom of giving the website project to a board member.
The value of EURAMI accreditation is only worth the confidence that buyers of air ambulance services have in EURAMI as an institution
Taymans, however, declined to comment on issues concerning the website.
The impact
The danger comes from the fact that the value of a EURAMI accreditation is only worth the confidence that buyers of air ambulance services have in EURAMI as an institution. There is a clear risk that such a public falling out could undermine the Institute’s standing, at least in the short term, making the timing of the resignations questionable. The counter argument is that the move focuses attention on EURAMI, and means that the problems with its framework are being openly discussed, creating an opportunity to rebuild a better, stronger organisation. Braida, for example, told Waypoint that he would like to see a revision of the legal statutes, creating a properly structured board. He would also favour an update to the voting rules, which currently require members to be physically present at a meeting, a restrictive rule given that the industry EURAMI seeks to represent is spread across the world and its members are subject to emergency call-outs.
perhaps the new president and board will even be bold enough to remove one layer of intrigue by publishing the accreditation standards
The future
It is clear that the meeting at ITIC will be crunch time. One way or another, EURAMI will need to take concrete steps to reassure the industry of its viability. The key question will be whether measures can be put in place that enable the next board to resolve any internal conflicts and reduce the chance of another walkout. And perhaps the new president and board will even be bold enough to remove one layer of intrigue by publishing the Institute’s accreditation standards. That really would be a new beginning.