During the Forty-First Annual National Emergency Medical Services Week this year, May 17 through 23, we would like everyone to recognize the tremendous role local EMS personel play to improve health in the community.
Emergency care professionals are committed to delivering emergency medical care in the community. Our own Stevens County EMS personnel includes: Margaret Bell, EMR; Michael Burrows, AEMT/TO; Brad Dahle, AEMT;Bailey Esarey, EMT; Kyrie Esarey, EMT; Beverly Gerrond, AEMT; Danny Gerrond, AEMT/TO; Phil Gooch, EMT; Nylene Johnson, AEMT / TO; Rodney Kelling, AEMT/EMS Director; Joy Lewis, AEMT /IC; Bridget Marshall, EMT; John Moser, AEMT / TO / Asst. Director; Darroll Munson, EMT; Susan Munson, EMR; Terry Pierson, AEMT; Betty Rosel, AEMT; Penny Sandoval, EMT; Tom Schechter, EMT; Greg Sohm, AEMT; Ed Stevenson, AEMT; Phil Thompson, EMT; Tom Torrey, EMT; and Melvin Vaughn, EMT.
In 1973, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS Week to celebrate EMS, its practitioners and the important work they do in responding to medical emergencies. Back then, EMS was a fledgling profession and EMS practitioners were only beginning to be recognized as a critical component of emergency medicine and the public health safety net.
A lot has changed over the last four decades. EMS is now firmly established as a key component of the medical care continuum, and the important role of EMS practitioners in saving lives from sudden cardiac arrest and trauma; in getting people to the hospitals best equipped to treat heart attacks and strokes; and in showing caring and compassion to their patients in their most difficult moments.
Whether it’s the team at Grady EMS in Atlanta who had the expertise to transport the nation’s first Ebola patient, the volunteer firefighters and flight medics called to search for and rescue survivors in the Everett, Washinton mudslide or the thousands of EMS responses that happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week and don’t make the news, EMS is there for their communities at their greatest time of need.
This year, NAEMT is pleased to announce a new partnership with the American College of Emergency Physicians on a national EMS Week promotional campaign, known as EMS Strong. By joining forces with ACEP, NAEMT will continue to work toward ensuring the important contributions of EMS practitioners in safeguarding the health, safety and well-being of their communities are fully celebrated and recognized.
That has never been more important, given the changes in healthcare occurring as part of healthcare reform. With the nation seeking ways to control healthcare costs while improving the health of patients, and the way in which medical care is paid for shifting from a system that rewards the volume of services provided to one that rewards high quality, effective care, EMS is proving it is dedicated to solving the nation’s healthcare challenges through innovations such as Mobile Integrated Healthcare and Community Paramedicine.
As the role of EMS continues to evolve, there is no better moment to celebrate how far EMS has come, to remind communities about the vital work of EMS practitioners, and to lay plans for where EMS wants to go in the future.
Whether celebrated with a company cookout or a catered lunch; an open house, an awards ceremony or even quiet reflection about what it means to be an EMS practitioner, EMS Week is the perfect time to recognize EMS and all its practitioners do for our nation and communities.
Make a point to thank one of these professional people next week for the service they provide the community.  At times it can be a very intense, sobering, scary, not to mention physically and mentally challenging, job. They must take hours of training and  most all of them work as volunteers to serve you. What would your community do without them?  These volunteers have to take time off from their family and “real” jobs  for training and calls, so maybe you should also thank the employers that allow these people to take this valuable time to serve our community.  So all-in-all – hug an EMS worker next week or bake them a pie or take them out to dinner to celebrate National Emergency Medical Services Week!!