IAEMSC ISSUES STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF NEW JERSEY EMS LEGISLATION
October 28, 2010: The International Association of EMS Chiefs (IAEMSC) has issued a statement in support of S-818 and its companion legislation A-2095 in the New Jersey legislature. The legislation was developed by a task force consisting of representatives from all components of the state EMS system, following eight months of meetings. The bills are intended to address issues that were identified in a statewide EMS study mandated by the New Jersey legislature.
Philips Joins IAEMSC as Leadership Event Sponsor
The International Association of Emergency Medical Services Chiefs (IAEMSC) is proud to announce that Philips has partnered with IAEMSC as the Event Sponsor of the 2010 EMS Leadership Summit being hosted in Washington, DC on October 22-25th .
The annual EMS Leadership Summit is intended for middle and senior leaders in EMS organizations. The summit will include leaders from across the United States as well as the international EMS community. The agenda will include presentations on political engagement and advocacy, leadership challenges in the changing workforce and emerging operational trends in EMS leadership.
“Their continued commitment to supporting the leadership within the EMS community is enabling us to continuously improve the care we provide to patients”, said Lawrence E. Tan, IAEMSC President. “We are grateful to Philips for their continued support and partnership.”
About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified Health
and Well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a
world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into
people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “sense
and simplicity”. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/media.
Additional information on the 2010 EMS Leadership Summit and the registration process can be found here.
The IAEMSC mission is to support, promote and advance the leadership of EMS response entities and to advocate for the EMS profession. IAEMSC membership is made up of leaders from both career and volunteer EMS organizations and proudly represents and embraces the diversity of EMS agencies throughout the world.
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO APPOINTS IAEMSC MEMBER CHIEF PATRICIA DUKES TO NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS TASK FORCE
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of the Preparedness Task Force—a council of experts charged with assessing the state of the nation’s disaster preparedness and making recommendations to Secretary Napolitano about ways to build resiliency in communities across America. Appointed to the Task Force is IAEMSC Member Chief Patricia Dukes, Chief of Emergency Medical Services, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii.
“Enhancing preparedness across our nation requires close collaboration between all levels of government,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The recommendations of this Task Force—comprised of emergency management and homeland security experts from states, cities and tribes across the country—will help guide our ongoing efforts to ensure the resilience of communities throughout the nation.”
“We are proud to have yet another member of the International Association of EMS Chiefs (IAEMSC) serving the nation & profession in a national capacity. Chief Dukes is an accomplished professional who always contributes greatly to the advancement of EMS and Homeland Security” said IEMSC President Lawrence Tan. The Task Force is comprised of 35 members of local, state and tribal governments—many of whom have also served within federal government.
The Task Force will also engage Congressional partners, as well as the private sector and non-governmental and development organizations through a variety of outreach activities.
The Task Force will conduct regular meetings and expects to deliver recommendations in September 2010.
For additional information and media contact: info@iaemsc.org or 1-877-442-3672
IAEMSc NEWs
William H. Sugiyama MA, NREMT/P Named 2009 - Intermedix IAEMSC Harvard Fellow
The International Association of Emergency Medical Services Chiefs today announced the selection of Alameda County (CA) Emergency Medical Services Pre-Hospital Care Coordinator William H. Sugiyama as the Intermedix IAEMSC Harvard Fellow of 2009.
William Sugiyama was selected from a competitive pool of highly qualified candidates from throughout the United States for this highest honor for leaders in the field of Emergency Medical Services. His longstanding contributions to the discipline of EMS and commitment to the advancement of the EMS discipline distinguished him from his peers.
IAEMSC Staunchly Opposes the City of Columbus, Ohio Proposal to Trade Patient Safety for Marginal fiscal Savings
The Officers and Board of Directors for the International Association of
Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) today announced their unanimous staunch opposition
to the proposed reduction of service by the City of Columbus (OH) from a high performance
Advanced Life Support (ALS) provider to a reduced capacity Basic Life Support (BLS) response
program.
Mayor Michael Coleman, with the support of City Council President Michael Mentel, and other members of Council, commissioned the Columbus Economic Advisory Committee (EAC) to analyze the fiscal condition of the City. In the EAC report released on March 5, 2009 the recommendations for fiscal savings is a proposal to reduce the level and quality of patient care to the community. This proposal is an “ill conceived & short sighted” cost saving strategy that will have untenable negative impact upon the health and safety of the community if instituted.
Our review of this document found that of the fifteen (15) committee members none are medical professionals. The decision to alter a medical standard of care is a serious decision that requires informed deliberations and the expertise of the medical community to reach an appropriate medically based conclusion. Anything short of that professional paradigm is reminiscent of a quick fix scheme that marginalizes the protection of the community and diminishes the importance of having medical professionals driving policy that impacts medical practice.
The present standard of care in Columbus is a robust Paramedic provider ALS system provided through the City of Columbus Fire Department. This system is one of the original four advanced life support systems in the United States. The suggested devolution of the standard of care does not alter the fact that the Columbus Fire Department will have highly trained and dedicated firefighter/paramedics in their employment that will now be prohibited from practicing their skills at the highest level of their competency. This concept is counter intuitive to effective management of available resources and good governance.
Columbus has a long and distinguished history of leading the nation in the provision of state of
the art EMS response. Alteration and degradation of the service level & quality to a lesser
standard will jeopardize the health and well being of the community.
For additional information and media contact:
Jeanne Benincasa
IAEMSC Executive Director
jeanne.benincasa@iaemsc.org
1‐877‐442‐3672
Harvard Scholarship for Summer 2009 Kennedy School Senior Executives in State & Local Government Program
The International Association of Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) and Intermedix
Corporation of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida today announced the opening of the application period for the
Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government
program for the summer of 2009.
The scholarship provides funding for one EMS executive to attend the program without cost to
him/her or their EMS organization. The selected IAEMSC scholar’s agency is responsible for
granting the selected recipient the time to attend this intensive twenty-one day in-residence program
in either June or July of 2009. Applicants must be an IAEMSC member in good standing with a
current membership valid through at least December 31, 2009. An applicant must have obtained at a
minimum a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university.
IAEMSC member participation in this program is made possible by the continued generous support
provided by Intermedix Corporation.
The scholarship winner will be named on or about May 15, 2009.
Development of the National Emergency Medical Services Health Surveillance Data Base
The International Association of Emergency Medical Service Chiefs (IAEMSC) and Intermedix Corporation of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida are pleased to announce a joint project to develop the first ever National Emergency Medical Services Health Surveillance System.
Currently there lack an organized national repository of data related to occupational illness, injury or deaths
of all EMS providers in the United States. Although some states have rudimentary reporting processes and
deaths are reported to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, there is no central data base
whereby EMS organizations of all system configurations can report occupational illness, injuries and
deaths.
This project will enable EMS organizations from the United States to voluntarily report occupational illness, injury and deaths using a common web-based tool. By capturing data from EMS organizations across the country, the IAEMSC will be able to conduct research with the aim of reducing the number of illnesses, injuries and deaths which occur each year to the EMS providers across the United States.
The systems will allow EMS organizations to set up an organizational profile and secure log-in. Once the profile is established, they can log in and submit specific information related to on-the-job illness, injury or death.
For specific questions please contact the Project Manager:
Geoffrey Miller at Geoffrey.Miller@IAEMSC.org.
About Intermedix Corporation
Intermedix helps fund and support our nation's emergency safety net - emergency physicians, hospital emergency departments, and 9-11emergency responders.We engineer advanced technologies into our business processes to meet incident documentation requirements, realize revenue potential, and provide advanced informatics to our customers. Our solution are designed to performance and compliance, allowing our customers to focus on saving lives and promoting healthy recoveries from accidents and illnesses.
Intermedix serves the emergency physician and hospital emergency department market through its subsidiary EPBS, the emergency medical services (ambulance) market through its subsidiary ADPI, and the fire response market through its subsidiary Revenue Rescue. Intermedix has clients throughout the United States and has collected billions of dollars for its clients since its founding.
