Paramedic Program

Fire Service Based EMS - The Right Response

Information from: Fire Service Based EMS Advocates

Fire Service-Based EMS Systems are strategically positioned to deliver pre-hospital emergency medical services that incorporate time critical response and effective patient care.  Fire Service-Based EMS emphasizes responder safety, competent and compassionate workers, and cost effective operations.

The issue of emergency medical services (EMS) is complicated and one that has certainly generated considerable attention on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue…especially following the tragic events of September 11th and Hurricane Katrina.  While Congress and the Administration continue to address a plethora of issues that impact federal programs and policies in this area, the Fire Service Based EMS Advocates are concerned that the full scope of EMS is something not fully understood, leading to consideration of ideas that would have a potentially negative impact on fire service-based EMS and the customers it serves.

To ensure that Congress and the Administration more thoroughly understand the role of fire service-based EMS, the Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Association of Fire Chiefs, International Association of Fire Fighters, National Fire Protection Association, and the National Volunteer Fire Council organizations established the Fire Service-Based EMS Advocates. Their mission is to add clarity to national policy discussions regarding EMS issues.

EMS is not a service that begins with the transport of a victim to an emergency care facility; instead, it begins with a 9-1-1 call and the dispatch of highly skilled and trained emergency medical personnel from local fire departments who provide basic and advanced levels of care.  These are the professionals you witnessed on 9/11 and in the Gulf States when Hurricane Katrina struck, who willingly placed themselves at great peril in order to help others.  They are the same highly trained and skilled personnel from local fire departments throughout the country who respond to over 14 million emergency medical calls annually.

Prehospital 9-1-1 emergency response is one of the essential public safety functions provided by the United States fire service in support of community health, security and prosperity.  Fire service-based emergency medical services (EMS) systems are strategically positioned to deliver time critical response and effective patient care.  Fire service-based EMS provides this pivotal public safety service while also emphasizing responder safety, competent and compassionate workers, and cost-effective operations.

It is critical that policy makers understand the importance of having emergency medical services provided through the fire service.  Fire service-based EMS is prehospital emergency 9-1-1 medical response provided by the nation’s firefighter EMTs and paramedics.  Due to the training, expertise, and equipment of fire service-based EMS responders, they are capable of simultaneously securing a scene, mitigating the hazard, and triaging, extricating, treating, decontaminating (if necessary), and transporting the patients who have been injured to an appropriate medical facility.  Time efficiency is a key component of the best designed EMS systems.  There is no service more capable of rapid multi-faceted response than a fire-based EMS system.

As the federal, state, and local governments consider their strategic plans for an ‘all hazards’ emergency response system, EMS should be included in those considerations and decision makers should recognize that the U.S. fire service is the most ideal prehospital 9-1-1 emergency response agency.

Visit to the On Line Home of the Fire Service Based EMS Advocates

http://www.fireserviceems.com/

View to the On Line Video Presentation of: "Fire Service Based EMS - The Right Response".

http://www.fireserviceems.com/videos.php     

If you have a video player capable of playing an Mp4 video clip, click the below link to play the video directly.

Fire Service-Based EMS The Right Response.mp4

2009 EPFD Paramedic Rescue Units.

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