May 2005 EMS Wire Service

Report Claims EMS “Forgotten” in Planning, Funding; Leads to Senate Bill

Sparked by a report documenting deficiencies in EMS funding, training and equipment, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a bill in March intended to improve EMS preparedness by more effectively coordinating a number of federal programs.

Collins’ bill, the Emergency Medical Services Support Act, came on the heels of a report from New York University’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness & Response entitled Emergency Medical Services: The Forgotten First Responder. According to that report, EMS received just 4% of total Department of Homeland Security preparedness funding in 2002–3. Among its other findings:

• Fewer than a third of the country’s EMTs and paramedics participated in a chem/bio/radiological drill in the last year.
• More than half have received less than an hour of training in chem/bio agents and explosives since 9/11, and 20% have received none.
• 60% of ambulance services have received no federal funds to buy equipment.
• In half of all states, fewer than half of EMTs and medics have adequate equipment for a chem/bio response.

The report contains several recommendations, including creating legislation to establish a federal interagency EMS committee; developing EMS-specific terrorism-preparedness guidelines and standards; and increasing homeland security funding for EMS. For a summary, see www.nyu.edu/ccpr/events/20050311-000124.html. For the full report, see www.nyu.edu/ccpr/pdf/NYUEMSreport.pdf.

—USA Today, Center for Catastrophe Preparedness & Response

National Moment of Silence on May 28

The Sixth Annual National Moment of Silence in honor of fallen EMS providers will be held at 7 p.m. on May 28, coinciding with the yearly National EMS Memorial Service in Roanoke, VA.

The National Moment of Silence affords EMS personnel around the country the opportunity to join with those physically attending the Memorial Service in honoring and remembering fellow providers killed in the line of duty. All providers, agencies and emergency communications centers are invited to share 60 seconds of radio silence timed to coincide with the observation in Roanoke. In past years, more than 700 agencies and dispatch centers have participated.

The National EMS Memorial Service, now in its 14th year, will be held at the First Baptist Church of Roanoke. The Memorial Service and Moment of Silence are part of EMS Week, which will be celebrated May 19–25. For more, see page 22.

Those wishing to observe the Moment of Silence can receive instructions for doing so and a suggested script to precede it by visiting http://nmos.nemsms.org or e-mailing nmos@ nemsms.org. To get an idea of how many are participating, organizers ask that participating agency names, cities and states be submitted to the above e-mail.

For more on the National EMS Memorial Service, visit http://nemsms. org. For more on EMS Week, visit www.acep.org/emsweek.

—National EMS Memorial Service

AED Makers Agree: Training Is Important

One of the most important—and possibly the most important—aspects of AED deployment is educating people in how and when to use them, a panel of manufacturers agreed in February.

Representatives from five top AED makers—ZOLL, Cardiac Science, Philips, Medtronic and WelchAllyn—participated in a panel discussion about the role of AEDs in public health and safety at the American Safety and Health Institute’s (ASHI’s) third annual member conference. In a wide-ranging, brand-neutral exchange, they agreed that training is of paramount importance to AEDs’ effectiveness, be they in a corporate environment or a public-access setting.

Participants also agreed that the importance of AEDs is understated, but that it’s a positive sign that the devices are becoming more widely available. All agreed that they’d rather have an AED available—of any brand—than no AED at all.

—ASHI

City Council Mandates AEDs in NYC Locations