The American Red Cross Mile High Chapter recently launched Save A Life Denver, a program that will allow members of the public to access automatic external defibrillators in an effort to increase the number of people who survive sudden cardiac arrest.

The three-year program, which is among the largest of its kind in the country, is part of an overall preparedness project launching this fall. It is a collaborative effort among the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter, Denver Health, and Philips Healthcare.

The Mile High Chapter is using a grant it received to place 1,000 AED units in public facilities throughout Denver at no cost to eligible businesses. The program also will train 10,000 people in Red Cross CPR and AED skills each year and will offer AEDs for purchase at a discounted rate.

“Save A Life Denver is a unique and worthwhile effort that aims to make AEDs as accessible as fire extinguishers in high use public buildings,” Charley Shimanski, regional CEO of the American Red Cross, said. “We expect Save A Life Denver to become a benchmark for future public access defibrillation programs.”

Sudden cardiac arrest claims more than 300,000 lives each year and is one of the leading causes of death in America. It has been estimated that more than 40,000 lives could be saved each year if AEDs are more widely available.

Philips HeartStart FRx Defibrillators will be used for the program. The machines offer voice commands that tell the responder what steps they should take in order to administer a life-saving shock. The defibrillators then automatically analyze the victim’s heart rhythm and detect whether a shock is needed.

The National EMS Advisory Council has selected 23 people to serve as members. Hundreds of people applied for the available positions and those who were chosen represent all aspects of the emergency medical services sector.

“Experts who serve on the National EMS Advisory Council provide invaluable guidance to our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said. “We are grateful for the service of our new appointees.”

Check out the list of new appointees here.

The NEMSAC was created in 2007 to advise NHTSA and the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services on issues surrounding emergency medical services.

During 2008 the council recommended:

• NHTSA should work with FICEMS to assure integration and utilization of surveillance databases throughout federal agencies.
• NHTSA should encourage and develop relationships between federal and non-federal partners who are using existing reporting systems to improve the consistency of terminology and access to data sources on EMS illnesses, injuries and deaths.
• FICEMS should identify opportunities for enhanced federal collaboration in order to expedite the implementation of the EMS Education Agenda for the Future.
• NHTSA should publish a regular report card on the national implementation of the EMS Education Agenda for the Future.
• Efforts to expand, enhance and fund EMS research based on operation, financial and medical outcomes should be supported.
• Key performance indicators for EMS systems to measure and monitor performance should be developed and published.

The San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District recently unveiled a free iPhone app that lets users know about emergency activity occurring throughout the community. The FireDepartment.org app is the first of its kind and is helping to redefine iPhone functionality.

The app provides a virtual window into the District’s 911 dispatch center and gives local emergency workers a new way to communicate with the general population during a disaster. Even those who don’t live in the area may learn from the live actions of the district’s dispatchers, firefighters and paramedics.

“Using the iPhone and iPad for field-based command and control operations holds great promise for emergency service providers,” Richard Price, Fire Chief for the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, told EMSResponder.com. “This consumer version of our development effort demonstrates the game-changing nature of these revolutionary handheld devices.”

Anyone who downloads the app will have access to:

• Ongoing incidents in the community
• The current response status of dispatched units
• A log of recent incidents
• A photo gallery of significant events
• Notifications of incidents in certain categories
• Live emergency radio traffic
• Information about disasters

The San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District provides fire, rescue and emergency medical services to Alamo, Blackhawk, the Town of Danville, Diablo, the City of San Ramon, the southern area of Morgan Territory, and the Tassajara Valley in Northern California. The District currently serves a population of about 167,500 people.

The City of Detroit announced that as of June 25th it would cut 33 EMS jobs, a move that brought criticism from local leaders and citizens. The layoffs even resulted in a rally of 25 emergency services workers at the Detroit Fire Department.

“The city deserves to hear the sounds of sirens,” Wisam Zeineh, president of the Detroit Emergency Medical Services Association, said at the rally. “You have destroyed the lives of the citizens. The blood of the city is on your hands.”

According to an article by The Detroit News, Zeineh thinks the city should have anywhere from 35 to 45 ambulances in operation, which would cover Detroit’s 900,000 residents. However, there will only be 13 to 15 ambulances available after the layoffs, and police officers may soon be responsible for transporting some injured residents.

Part of the reason for the EMS job cuts is that the city is struggling to balance its $3.1 million budget. In addition, 100 police officers will lose their jobs, 77 parks and two neighborhood city halls will close, and many public services will be reduced.

City officials have not yet announced when the police officer layoffs would take place or whether or not any firefighters will lose their jobs as well.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently released a list of 207 EMTs who falsified necessary certifications. That list stems from an investigation that revealed a Lexington firefighter had falsified hundreds of records certifying EMTs who did not complete continuing education requirements.

According to an article by FireFightingNews, most of the EMTs involved in the scandal will have their certifications suspended for 45 days or nine months, depending on whether or not they used the false certifications they received.

Among those involved in the scandal are employees from the Billerica Police Department, Townsend Municipal Ambulance and Trinity EMS. The DPH has referred the investigation to the attorney general’s office for potential prosecution.

State officials have assured the public that no patients have reported receiving inappropriate care from EMTs who were falsely certified and that the companies and municipalities employing the EMTs were not involved in the scandal.

Most of those employers – many who fired the EMTs on their own prior to the release of the list – are not guaranteeing that the EMTs involved will have jobs after their suspensions are up.

In loads of occasions, a high school degree is mandatory in order to participate in an emergency healthcare technician or paramedical training program. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, these programmes normally give expansion at progressing grades, including ems-fundamental, ambulance-medium and ems-paramedical.

During ambulance-primary training, course-work centers about emergency talents, similar as wielding with respiration, trauma and heart emergencies, as additionally as patient judgment. Educatees frequently dissever their time amongst typical paths, pressing situations rooms and emergency vehicles.

First tier training offers instruction on how to deal with bleeding, bone cracks, breathing impedimenta, cardiac halt and emergency child labor. Pupils find out how to expend and observe ordinary urgency items, such as back boards, sucking devices, stabilizers, ventilizing bringing machines and backboards.

Trainees that pass from approved emergency medical services-basic training syllabi are vital to transcend a written and practical exam dispensed by the state licensing office or the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Training requirements for the subsequent level, emergency response-intermediate, alter by state. The 1985 and 1999 american determined concentrations generally postulate 30 to 350 hrs of study dependant on the area of practise. Trainees at such a level study forward-looking talents corresponding as the application of innovative air-way devices, intravenous fluids and a few medicament.

The final and highest advance training tier is the EMT-paramedical stage. Caregivers at this tier have development in figure and physicality as well as forward-looking healthcare skills. Development, which can end in an associate’s grade, is typically lead in community universities and technological schools within a one to 2 year time.

Scholars are required to pass all-inclusive relative preparation and take infirmary and occupation know how. Following advancement, they’re needful to undergo the NREMT examination in order to become a certified paramedical.

Altho certification necessities alter by state, all states need documentation for each of the paramedic concentrations, and scores of states call for credentials with the NREMT. Nevertheless, particular states direct their private documentation analysis or provide the selection of undergoing either the NREMT or the state examination.

In order to uphold documentation, paramedic and ambulance are needful to recertify each 2 years, and they ordinarily must be employed as an emergency medical services or ambulance worker and fulfil a chronic training requisite in order to do that. After needed expansion is concluded, emergency response and ambulance of all tier are able to under-go review course work and take part in repeating expansion.

New Hampshire-based Portsmouth Regional Hospital recently launched a program that allows people to use text messaging in order to avoid long waits at the emergency room. PRH and Parkland Medical Center, located in Derry, N.H., are the first hospitals in the state to use the service.

“This new transparency of ER wait times is a celebration of more than 18-months of work by the ER to improve the speed at which we get the patient to the provider to begin their exam,” the hospital notes in a press release. “We know that Seacoast families are busier than ever and that every minute matters when someone is ill or injured. Our team has worked hard to ensure that patients receive quick attention when they most need it and now patients will have visibility to just how quickly they will be seen by the provider.”

Through the program, anyone planning a trip to the ER can text “ER” to 23000 and will receive a response asking for their ZIP code, and then will receive a specific wait time. However, the text messaging service does not act as a reservation for the patient.

Wait times are updated every 30 minutes and are defined as the time between entering the ER and the beginning of the medical examination from a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. The technology has been tested by many Hospital Corporation of America-owned hospitals.

Hospital officials have noted that those facing medical emergencies should not use the service and should instead directly call 911. However, anyone planning to use the ER for non-emergency conditions can use the information to better fit the visit into their own schedule.

Check out this recruiting video about Portsmouth Regional Hospital’s new texting program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxFsAxLjMhw

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced that it will award a $500,000 safety grant to create a National EMS “Culture of Safety” Conference and develop the national emergency medical services strategy.

The NHTSA is accepting proposals for the conference through June 17. In the meantime, the organization will work to put together a committee of stakeholders who will convene in Washington, D.C., and establish a national strategy on safety.

The steering committee will be made up of 15 members, including those from the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, American College of Emergency Physicians, National EMS Advisory Council, National Fire Protection Association and National Volunteer Fire Council, as well as several physician, nursing and education organizations.

“Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been identified as a high-risk industry with injuries and deaths among both EMS personnel and the public,” the grant notes. “EMS personnel are routinely exposed to factors that threaten their personal safety and this, in turn, can impact the safety of the patients they serve.

“There is also evidence that suggests one of the biggest risk factors for EMS personnel are combative patients and bystanders whom they encounter in the field,” the grant continues. “Moreover, there are times when a patient’s safety is negatively impacted by the inadvertent actions taken by EMS personnel while providing care for the patient. Regardless of how EMS personnel or the patients they serve are harmed, the public, government and EMS industry have a duty to identify these threats and find ways to remove and reduce the harmful impact.”

Check out this recruiting video for NHTSA:

Gov. Mark Sanford recently approved a law that will make certain emergency medical services data available to the public. Citizens will now have access to such things as incident reports and response times for the first time since 2004.

However, the public will not have access to the identities of emergency medical technicians, as the SC EMS Association argued that EMTs are just like any other healthcare worker who must be protected from unfair scrutiny.

The only people who will have access to the names of EMS personnel include patients who receive EMS care, relatives of deceased patients and representatives of their estates. Sen. Harvey Peeler, who pushed for the law, said concealing the identities of EMS personnel was a “fair compromise.”

“Whether a paramedic should be treated like a doctor or a nurse or like a policeman or firefighter is a debate for another day,” he told The Beaufort Gazette.

More debate on the current law is expected during the near future, as state leaders and local officials differ over the secret identity issue, with many saying EMS workers should be held to the same accountability standards as firefighters and police officers.

“All emergency responders, whether they are firefighters, EMTs, law enforcement officers or lifeguards, should be held to the highest of public standards and subject to local public scrutiny,” Tom Peeples, mayor of Hilton Head Island, previously wrote to lawmakers. “There is no legitimate reason to fear the release of EMTs’ names.”

Most EMS workers undergo some sort of local or state training to prepare for a career in the field, but job seekers and employees alike should know that a number of federal agencies also offer educational resources to supplement traditional schooling.

Entities such as the Department of Health and Human Resources and FEMA have various offices and programs that can help EMS workers of all skill levels.

Here is a list of government resources for EMS workers, as compiled by EMSResponder.com:

• National Incident Management System – This system provides a structure by which government, non-governmental and private-sector entities can coordinate to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from incidents. The NIMS Resource Center – which operates as part of FEMA – created a five-year plan in 2008 to establish an operational basis for NIMS training, including competencies, courses and qualifications. It also contains information on many Homeland Security grant programs that can help agencies train employees. Both the Emergency Management Institute and National Fire Academy offer NIMS-compliant training.
• Department of Health and Human Services – This agency has tons of information on diseases, trauma and the medical implications of terrorism. The department includes such branches as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, which offers guidance on public health emergency response and crisis communications; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which serves as a responder’s main source for disease information; and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which maintains an Emergency Preparedness and Response page with resources for terrorism, natural disasters, and site management.
• Office of EMS – This is a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration office and the official federal site for all things EMS. It has content related to the National EMS Information System and the EMS workforce, as well as a comprehensive list of federal agencies and offices with EMS responsibilities. Some of those include the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; the Health Resources and Services Administration; the Office of  Rural Health Policy’s EMS for Children; the Federal Communications Commission and public-safety broadband information; and the General Services Administration’s ambulance purchase standard.
• FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau – The Bureau’s First Responder page lists such resources as guidelines for emergency planning, while the Clearinghouse page has emergency, interoperability and continuity plans; case studies and best practices; and grant information.

Some other good resources include FEMA’s Citizen Corps, which offers Community Preparedness Webinars with partners such as the American Red Cross; FEMA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s interactive flood map; and the Lessons Learned Information Sharing platform, which allows responders to share information with each other.