Podcasts about ems agenda

EMS One-Stop Show Notes - National EMS Museum This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com. In this episode of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence discusses the National EMS Museum (NEMSM) with President Dave Zaiman; Museum Director, Kristy Van Hoven; and Jon Krohmer, MD, immediate past-secretary and "We are EMS" coordinator. The National EMS Museum is a volunteer-led organization that collects, preserves and shares the history of emergency medical response in the United States in hopes of inspiring future professionals to take up the call. The National EMS Museum organization operates a virtual museum and produces traveling exhibitions that tour the country every year. The Collections at the National EMS Museum house over 300 years of history that cover the development of prehospital care in the United States, North America and around the world. TOP QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE “We are here to educate the future. We are here not only to document the legacy, but here to provide a foundation and an education that EMS as a profession, as we move forward is respected, is understood, and maybe in a small part this museum can play a part in improving EMS altogether.” EPISODE CONTENTS 03:05 – Origins of the NEMSM 05:04 – The style and model of the NEMSM 07:00 – Changes underway – recruiting individuals with experience in museum activities 11:50 – President Dave Zaiman 13:20 – Getting EMS into the community 15:00 – Favorite artifacts 16:30 – From MAST pants to blood transfusion 17:20 – Fundraising effort in order to take the museum on the road 20:30 – Developing a traveling mobile “We are EMS” museum project 23:40 – How to book a traveling exhibit ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON THIS TOPIC The National EMS Museum California Ambulance Association Siren special edition: Fifty Years of Wedworth-Townsend ABOUT OUR GUESTS Dave Zaiman Dave is currently Sales VP - Midwest at Pulsara.  For over 30 years, Dave has been working in healthcare – both as an EMS professional as well as holding several leadership roles in the healthcare technology industry. Based in Minnesota, Dave spent his first 15 years working in the field as an EMT and paramedic in the Twin Cities metro area for both Allina and Hennepin County Medical Center. Kristy Van Hoven Kristy is the museum director for the National EMS Museum and PhD candidate at the University of Leicester. Over the last 3 years, Kristy has worked with the National EMS Museum's Board of Trustees to develop and implement engaging e-volunteer opportunities and community programs that reach their digital audience. In addition to her work with the EMS Museum, Kristy volunteers at several local museums in Toronto, Ontario. Jon Krohmer, MD Dr. Krohmer served as the director of the NHTSA Office of EMS before his retirement in November 2021.  During his tenure as director, Dr. Krohmer oversaw several milestones for the profession, including the creation of EMS Agenda 2050; major revisions to the National EMS Scope of Practice Model and the National EMS Education Standards; and improvements in the collection and use of EMS data through the expansion of the National EMS Information System. Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Krohmer was tapped to lead the prehospital/911 team as part of the Federal Healthcare Resilience Task Force. Prior to joining NHTSA, Dr. Krohmer had decades of experience as a local EMS medical director, initially in his home state of Michigan. His EMS career began as an EMT with a volunteer rescue squad. Like many EMS professionals, he was inspired by the television show “Emergency!” and by the emergence of the relatively new field of emergency medicine. He entered medical school at the University of Michigan knowing he wanted to make EMS his career. After becoming involved in EMS at the state and national level, he also served as president of the National Association of EMS Physicians from 1998 to 2000. In 2006, he came to Washington to serve as the first deputy chief medical officer for the Department of Homeland Security Office of Health Affairs and served in several other DHS roles before joining NHTSA in 2016. RATE AND REVIEW THE EMS ONE-STOP PODCAST Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Contact the EMS One-Stop team at editor@EMS1.com to share ideas, suggestions and feedback.

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com. This week, Host Rob Lawrence welcomes back, Alexander Isakov, MD, MPH, professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, executive director of the Emory Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR), and EMS lead for the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC). Returning guest, Dr. Isakov provides an update on the current emerging pathogens, diseases, outbreaks and fevers that have featured recently in the news. Candida auris, Marburg virus disease, avian influenza, Nipah virus are discussed as well as recaps on Ebola, COVID-19, polio and seasonal influenza. TOP QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE “What's concerning CDC officials and experts is there is a multi-drug resistant strain of Candida auris that is really picking up in their surveillance programs.” “While no one wants to be exposed to a multi-drug-resistant Candida auris, it's really the ominous compromised patient that's going to be likely most affected by it, so that means elderly patients or patients that are getting chemotherapy and have some immunosuppression consequence of that or people that are taking immunosuppressant drugs, they are the ones really at greatest risk.” “The likelihood that EMS personnel are going to encounter somebody with Marburg virus disease in the U.S. during routine operations is extremely low, but good to be vigilant about it and identifying that someone might have been exposed, and understanding their travel history, if someone is ill, has a fever or myalgia, GI complaints and has travelled within the last 21 days to equatorial Guinea or Tanzania, then it would raise suspicion.” ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON THIS TOPIC CDC: Infection prevention and control for Candida auris CDC: Information for infection preventionists NETEC: Situation report: Marburg cases rise in equatorial Guinea and Tanzania NETEC: EMS guidelines for Marburg virus disease ABOUT OUR GUEST Alexander Isakov, MD, MPH, is a professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine in both emergency medicine and emergency medical services (EMS). Dr. Isakov is the director of the Section of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine whose faculty provides medical oversight for 911 communications centers, and ground and air EMS responders in metropolitan Atlanta. He is also the executive director of the Emory Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR), which serves as the center for Emory enterprise-wide planning for and coordinated response to catastrophic events. Dr. Isakov has provided leadership in emergency medical services and disaster preparedness locally and nationally. He serves as the medical director for the Sandy Springs Fire Department and Air Life Georgia. He is the founding medical director for the Emory-Grady EMS Biosafety Transport Program. He is the EMS lead for the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) and is a designated Subject Matter Expert for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (ASPR TRACIE). Dr. Isakov is also on the American College of Emergency Physicians Epidemic Expert Panel and is a member of the EMS sub-board for the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He previously served on the National Association of EMS Physicians board of directors and the Technical Expert Panel for NHTSA's EMS Agenda 2050. Dr. Isakov has an MD from the University of Pittsburgh and an MPH from Boston University. He completed his emergency medicine residency training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and his EMS fellowship with Boston EMS. Dr. Isakov has lived and worked in Atlanta for 20 years. He practices clinically in the emergency department of Emory University Hospital. RATE AND REVIEW THE EMS ONE-STOP PODCAST Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Contact the EMS One-Stop team at editor@EMS1.com to share ideas, suggestions and feedback.

As the third decade of the 21st century approaches, we all find ourselves living in a world we didn’t create and we do not understand. There are too many current challenges to list here, but I suspect many readers and listeners feel a lot of tension about the future. The goal of Charlottesville Community Engagement is to provide a bit of relief in the form of information and context, all with an aim of helping as many people as possible at least try to understand. I’m Sean Tubbs, and that hope is what’s fueled my entire career. Don’t miss an installment or podcast! Sign up! On today’s program:Charlottesville’s Fire Chief gives an update on his efforts to move the Fire Department into the 21st century by playing a major EMS role Dr. Denise Bonds of the Blue Ridge Health District updates City Council on COVID and vaccinations And City Council tells staff to advertise a tax rate increase of ten cents as they build the budget year for fiscal year 2023The first shout-out goes to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Charlottesville Pandemic updateAll of today’s program focuses on Council and let’s start with the second thing first, followed by the last thing second, and the first thing last. The director of the Blue Ridge Health District appeared before Charlottesville City Council last night for another update on the pandemic. Dr. Denise Bonds reminded Council there’s been a surge of COVID cases since December that is only just now beginning to recede.“This of course represents omicron, the highly contagious variant that causes thousands and thousands of cases across the United States and really the world,” Dr. Bonds said. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 4,689 new cases and the percent positivity has further declined to 19.1 percent. Dr. Bonds said there is still a high transmission risk in the community that’s much higher than at most parts of the pandemic. She recommends people continue to be vigilant. “Even though generally omicron is much milder and we have a large percentage of our population that are vaccinated and thus either weren’t infected or didn’t suffer illness that was as serious, there’s a high number of unvaccinated individuals in our community who are still driving very high hospital numbers,” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds said this surge also saw increases in cases with children under the age of 11, particularly with vaccines still not being authorized for those under 5 but that may happen in the near future. “However the numbers are really still being driven by adults at this point in time,” Dr. Bonds said. So far, Dr. Bonds said the Omicron subvariant has yet to be found in Virginia. She urges people to continue to get vaccinated.“There have continued to be individuals that get their first vaccination and we’re up by almost a thousand individuals since the last time I spoke with you about a month ago so that’s great!” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds also said it is crucial that people who have not had their booster dose yet to get it as soon as possible. She also encourages people to upgrade their mask from cloth to at least a surgical or medical mask. Yesterday, the Virginia Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit filed by parents in Chesterfield County against Governor Glenn Youngkin’s revocation of a mask mandate in public schools. Councilor Sena Magill asked Dr. Bonds her opinion.“The CDC definitely recommends that mask use is an important mitigation strategy for both adults and children in school,” Dr. Bonds said. “I no longer have school age children but if I did have school age children I would have them wear masks in school.” Dr. Bonds said the long-term ramifications of a COVID infection are not yet known because even after nearly two years of a pandemic, the virus is still novel. For a list of places where you can get a vaccine, visit the Blue Ridge Health District website. Council directs staff on tax rate So far this year, Council has had two discussions of the budget for the next fiscal year but they gave their first significant direction Monday night. At their work session last Thursday, Council were told they needed to decide whether they wanted to advertise an increase in the tax rate above 95 cents per $100 of assessed value. For all of that discussion, go back to Saturday’s installment of this newsletter. Senior Budget Analyst Krisy Hammill said that a five-cent increase in the tax rate would not be enough to cover the additional debt service for a capital improvement plan that includes $75 million for renovations to Buford Middle School. Council also wants to honor the goal of putting $10 million toward affordable housing initiative for at least ten years. “In actuality, the five-cent tax increase does not afford the $75 million addition,” Hammill said. Hammill showed a variety of different scenarios, but said five-cents are all that is needed to be dedicated to capital. “Ten cents we don’t need,” Hammill said. “Seven isn’t quite there but seven and a half is a little more than we need so I think we’re somewhere seven and eight cents to comfortably cover $75 million.” The update to Council was not on the agenda for the meeting but was delivered during the report from the Interim City Manager. (February 7 presentation)Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall said comparing tax rates doesn’t tell the whole picture. For instance, Roanoke has a tax rate of $1.22 per assessed value, but there’s a reason. “The average median house cost is $225,000 so when you think of that and a $1.22 tax rate, it’s going to hit a little different than in Loudoun County, where the average median home value is $625,000,” Marshall said. This year, residential assessments went up 11.7 percent and 67 households lost the ability to apply for tax relief because they now exceed the $375,000 cap. The city would have to ask the General Assembly for a charter amendment to increase that amount. Hammill showed a slide that depicted how much of a tax increase would occur. For instance, a hypothetical property assessed at $300,000 paid $3,487 in 2021. That would increase to $3,895 in 2022 without a tax increase. That would increase to $4,305 in 2022 with a ten cent tax increase. Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said a ten cent tax increase would also allow more funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund to meet the affordable housing fund, a local match to extend a federal grant for firefighters (see below) and more. That had the support of Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade.“I think that at least even though we may not do the whole ten cents to give the staff direction tonight at least to go with that so we know we can’t go higher but we can certainly go lower,” Wade said. Councilor Michael Payne said he would support that rate. “We’re not even having a serious conversation until you begin with a ten cent real estate tax increase because otherwise it is not affordable,” Payne said. “I’m comfortable with advertising that at the rate to start out conversation but I still don’t think that gets us to a point where we are having a realistic conversation about the state of our budget.”Mayor Lloyd Snook said he was concerned about raising the property tax rate this year because of the assessment increase, but called Charlottesville undertaxed. He said he wanted to increase a half-percent raise in the meals tax. That would yield just over $1.25 million according to staff projections. “At meals tax, we are at the moment I believe just a little on the low side and that may give us a little more than a million plus a year,” Snook said. Councilor Brian Pinkston said he supported the advertisement of ten cents.“I’m not personally convinced yet that we need to raise it by a dime,” Pinkston said. “Maybe we do. Maybe it’s seven and a half cents. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a nickel but for me it is just for the purposes of this conversation tonight is the advertisement piece.” Councilor Sena Magill took ownership.“I support advertising it,” Magill said. “It was my idea.” With that, the recommendation was officially made and check the classified section of the Daily Progress this weekend. The unscheduled conversation took an hour. At this point in mind, do remember that advertising a tax rate is not the same as adopting one. There are a lot more variables that may come into play between now and April. Some other budget items that were brought up include the potential of using $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to pay back the general fund for the use of FY21 surplus money to pay COVID-related bonuses to employees. The school system is also hoping to use up to $8 million in ARPA funding toward school infrastructure above and beyond school reconfiguration. “That’s still a number which is not in any of the scenarios that I presented to you,” Hammill said. Hammill said the budget staff is anticipating a surplus in FY22 as well as in previous years. “A lot of our big revenues, they are performing better than we had originally projected as we continue to recover from COVID,” Hammill said. Shout out to the Sisters Project Peru:In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement, this Friday an art auction will be held at the Fry’s Spring Beach Club to help raise funds for a sustainable medical clinic in rural Peru. The Sisters Project Peru was created to increase access to to healthcare in order to improve quality of life and empower women in Huacahuasi, a rural village in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The art auction will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with light refreshment and live music. Covid protocol is in effect and masks are required. Learn more at SistersProjectPeru.com. Registration in advance is required. Fire Chief Smith presents 21st century vision for the Charlottesville Fire DepartmentIn the early part of the City Council meeting, Fire Chief Hezedean Smith has a long conversation with the five-elected officials. Smith has been in the position since December 2020 and he wanted to reflect on the time so far. “There’s been a lot of tragedy within our community and fortunately our firefighters, they remain committed in terms of serving the community to their fullest, in spite of COVID and in spite of all the other challenges that they face,” Smith said. Last year, a structure fire on Cherry Avenue killed two people, the first fatalities from a fire since 2010. Smith said another challenge was the fire on January 13 at the Charlottesville Towers apartment complex in North Downtown. No one was killed, but many residents were displaced and returned to smoke-damaged units. “We’re committed and we’re embracing the forces that are impacting the 21st century fire and emergency services in our community, certainly in alignment with what’s going on across the United States, “ Smith said. “Charlottesville is no stranger to multiple all-hazards type of incidents that we have to be prepared to respond to.” During his time, the Fire Department has adopted a strategic plan which is “employee-driven.” Chief Smith said the goal is to become a “21st century fire service” as defined by a white paper issued by the Center for Public Safety Excellence. (read the white paper) (EMS Agenda 2050)“And alongside that, there’s an EMS agenda for the future which kind of looks at how you should prepare yourselves now as we move forward into the future and what are the elements related to an EMS system?”  Smith asked. “Fortunately for us we are a fire-based EMS system service model which is a little bit different than it was years ago when we were just focused only on fire. We are an all-hazards department.”Before Smith arrived, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Charlottesville a nearly $3.5 million grant under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program. That allowed the fire department to hire 15 additional personnel. Last year the dispatch system was changed in order to speed up response times. “About eight minutes, ideally,” Smith said. “That’s the framework that we have established and ultimately we have demonstrated through a GIS analysis to confirm that we should be able to arrive at an incident within that period of time.” That dispatch system also matches the system used by Albemarle County in order to help regional cooperation and mutual aid. “And we are just basically trying to align our protocols and our response model to meet the needs of our community so at any one time we know where all of our units are located in the city,” Smith said. Smith said that later this month the Fire Department will release an app called PulsePoint to alert people to others who are having cardiac arrests nearby in the hopes of getting cardio-pulmonary resuscitation happening as early as possible. “We provide CPR training, we identify neighborhoods that are at risk, and education them on proper living and things of that sort,” Smith said. “It’s not just about running with lights and sirens to medical calls and car accidents and things of that nature. It’s actually becoming more engaged in our community and educating our community and hopefully they can recognize early signs and symptoms of strokes, heart attacks, and things of that sort.”Smith said data shows that the 10th and Page neighborhood in particular is first in cardiac arrests and third in diabetic emergencies.  Last year, representatives from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad (CARS) complained to Council that the new dispatch system shuts them out of service calls. Smith said he has since met with their chief and other top officials and said they will play a role in the future. “One of their goals, goal 3, looks at mobile integrated health, exploring roles of the providers with mental health,” Smith said. “CARS’ community involvement, CPR training, stop-the-bleed training, all of those things are of essence for us,” Smith said. Smith’s appearance before Council came at the same time the budget for FY23 is being put together, including the five-year capital plan. The draft budget shows an additional spending of $1.2 million for a replacement for the bypass fire station, for a total of $4.2 million in authorization for bonds that have not yet been issued. Smith hopes Council will continue to support this expenditure and consider others in the future. “It’s dilapidated, it’s sad,” Chief Smith said. “I don’t know if you’ve been in there but it’s unfortunate that our firefighters have to live there. Ultimately the Ridge Street fire station also has to be on the roadmap as well because that is just as old if not older with cracks in the wall that we’ve been monitoring for a number of years.”The Ridge Street station was built in 1959. The bypass station was built in 1950, according to the city’s property records. Senior Budget Analyst Krisy Hammill said that additional money should fully fund the project. Chief Smith also said firefighters also have to be paid more and said they are not making as much as those in Albemarle. “I am pleading with you to support our firefighters because it ties in with retention, it ties in with recruitment, it ties in with their families,” Smith said. “I can probably count on one hand how many of them live in the city of Charlottesville. They travel for hours sometime to come and serve this community.” Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Patreon-fueled shout-out is for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance. What are you doing on September 25? That's the day when RCA staff and volunteers will spend the day at the second annual Rivanna River Round-Up, a community watershed clean-up event. Last year, nearly a hundred people helped remove sixty large bags of trash from waterways that feed into the Rivanna as well as over 120 discarded tires. The Rivanna Conservation Alliance will also accept specific areas that you might want to clean as part of the Round-Up. More information as well as registration can be found at rivannariver.org.On today’s show:Charlottesville Fire Chief Hezedean Smith explains changes to the EMS dispatch system to City Council UVA’s new hotel will have a rooftop bar The area’s regional planning body will be run a familiar face The COVID-19 pandemic continues with another 3,737 cases reported today by the Virginia Department of Health. In the past seven days there have been another 239 fatalities reported in Virginia. The seven-day testing positivity has fallen to 9.8 percent from 10.5 percent a week ago. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 112 cases reported today and the percent positivity is at 7.1 percent. There have been four more fatalities reported since the last edition of this newsletter on September 16, 2021. The Blue Ridge Health District will hold a virtual town hall on the pandemic tonight at 7 p.m. If you have questions, you can send them in advance when you register to be on the Zoom call. (register)The person who has been serving as the interim director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District has been given the job on a permanent basis. Christine Jacobs has been serving in the position since February and was hired after an extensive search. Jacobs took over the position from Chip Boyles who has been serving as Charlottesville City Manager. The TJPDC is a regional planning body that covers the city and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson. When the University of Virginia’s new hotel and conference center opens on Ivy Road, there will be a rooftop bar. The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Board of Visitors will meet Thursday to approve a change to the design for the six-story structure which is part of the Emmet/Ivy Corridor. Another future building is the Institute of Democracy and the Committee will consider design guidelines for that structure as well as a renaming proposal to the Karsh Institute of Democracy. They’ll also consider a proposal to name a new McIntire School building Shumway Hall and will consider the expansion of the Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital at the  Fontaine Research Park. The latter had been originally proposed as a new structure at the North Fork Research Park, but the decision was made to expand in place. “The proposed project will renovate and update nearly 50,000 SF in the existing hospital and construct a 16,400 SF addition, allowing the hospital to convert from 50 beds in semi-private rooms to 60 beds in private rooms,” reads the staff report for the item. (meeting packet)In today's subscriber-fueled public service announcement: Lovers of used books rejoice! The Friends of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library will resume the tradition of their annual Fall Book Sale this October 2nd through October 10 at a new location! The Friends of the Library sale will take place at Albemarle Square Shopping Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. Half-price days on October 9 and October 10. Questions? Visit jmrlfriends.org for more information.Charlottesville Fire Chief Hezedean Smith has been on the job nearly ten months and he had the opportunity Monday to talk about the department as well as to explain changes to the way the fire department dispatches ambulances. Earlier this month, representatives from the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad critiqued the new “proximity dispatch” system. (Story from September 8, 2021)“I’m appreciative of the many years of contributions from CARS for over 60 years and for our Fire Department for over 165 years and agree that working together collaboratively, we’ll be able to create a model system framework in this region based on 21st century concepts and strategies,” Smith said. In this community, emergency calls are routed through the Charlottesville-UVA-Albemarle Emergency Communications Center. Smith said there are initiatives underway to make the system more efficient.“This medical priority dispatch system will replace an almost 25 or 30 year old system that’s being currently used to triage calls that are sometimes not necessarily 100 percent accurate because it requires on information from the 9-1-1 caller,” Smith said.Smith said EMS services across the nation are working to implement something called EMS Agenda 2050 which seeks to position public safety calls as people-centered. “It talks about how EMS personnel must have immediate access to resources that they need for patients including health care providers, social services, and other community resources,” Smith said. In his tenure, Smith said he has realigned the command structure of the Fire Department to better meet those goals and others. One of those is the Neighborhood Risk Reduction program which seeks to inform residents about the specific hazards that face specific demographics and geographic areas.  A StoryMap on this program is available online:“So for example if you want to look at 10th and Page, what’s going on in 10th and Page, you can see what the community profile looks like and this is a compilation of various data sources that are out there,” Smith said. “This neighborhood is first in cardiac arrests. Third for structure fires, diabetic emergencies, cardiac emergencies, falls.” Smith said knowing that information can help with preparations and community outreach. As it relates to the dispatch system, Smith said everyone wants a system that works but there are disagreements about whether the recent change to the proximity dispatch system has been beneficial. Chief Smith said he is in frequent conversations with Albemarle Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston. “Chief Eggleston and I have the same vision for this system delivery in this region so we have conversations about what the future should look like in this system,” Smith said. Smith said while he intends to collaborate with CARS but if they cannot meet a desired level of service, the city will provide the service instead with professional crews whose salaries are covered by tax dollars. At issue is how to get service calls to get to the scene more quickly with a travel time target of four minutes. Also at issue is the difference between Advanced Life Support (ALS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). Here’s Deputy Chief Mike Rogers with an explanation. “The basic life support level is emergency medical technician basic,” Rogers said. “That’s a requisite for the jobs that the firefighters here at the Charlottesville Fire Department have and that’s the basic level. Bleeding wound care, CPR to the basic life support level, basic anatomy and physiology of being able to take care of the patient.” Advanced Life Support requires more training to allow care at a trauma level. “And essentially that allows the EMT to begin to place IV’s, give some limited amounts of medication,” Rogers said. Chief Smith said the system that has been in place is due for a replacement to increase the chances of a patients’ survival by ensuring all calls have the chance of receiving ALS. “The triage protocols that are in place are greater than 20 years old so the move to a 21st century protocol and electronic framework is underway currently,” Smith said. “Oftentimes the basic life support if all you have is an EMT who cannot execute any advanced skills, that patient does not have getting anything done pre-hospital unless there’s a call for the Fire Department to come and provide ALC which oftentimes delays care even more.”The proximity dispatch system uses algorithms to dispatch calls using automatic vehicle localities and the global positioning system. Chief Smith acknowledges that that the system has caused concerns, but also notes that Albemarle County initiated proximity dispatch in recent years. He also presented evidence that shows how the system is working to increase response times in some neighborhoods. In all, he gave an hour-long lecture that is a must-view for anyone interested in this topic. (watch on BoxCast)During his hour-long presentation, Chief Smith said that “what can be measured can be improved.” “Seventy-one percent of the time in FY21, the first arriving CARS unit on the scene met the performance benchmark for turnout and time,” Smith said. “Not bad. Actually decent! But there’s opportunities for improvement.”However, CARS’ performance on more advanced calls were much lower. Chief Smith said CARS met these calls on time ten percent in FY21. But here’s where the need for better metrics comes in.“The system is designed in a way that the numbers for ALS versus BLS are not necessarily clearly defined because the protocols vary in how the system was set up but essentially there are opportunities for improvement,” Smith said. Smith said the Charlottesville Fire Department’s results on more advanced calls could also use improvement. “Here we have a 58 percent metric that we’re not doing well,” Smith said. “There’s opportunities for improvement here for CFD as well,” Smith said. During the public comment period, UVA trauma surgeon Forest Calland took the opportunity to ask Smith a series of questions and to question the idea of sending ALS units to as many calls as possible. “There’s just simply no evidence pointing to the benefit of having response teams under four minutes for BLS calls and there’s no evidence that sending paramedics to BLS calls is of any benefit,” Dr. Calland said. Last year, Charlottesville a federal grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to hire additional firefighters. Dr. Calland said he is concerned by prioritizing ALScalls, the city will lose the financial benefit of volunteer labor. “Your system is going to cost $2.5 million additional per year once your grant runs out,” Calland said. “Is the City Council prepared to take this money out of the taxpayers’ pockets when CARS has been providing this service for free for the last 50 years?”Chief Smith said his presentation was to prepare for the future, and not debate the past. In addressing the questions, he said the SAFER grant was to ensure firefighting capacity and he acknowledged a need to address capacity issues. “I will not be satisfied having insufficient firefighters on the fireground and potentially risking losing a firefighter,” Smith said. “Ultimately the staffing limits will have to be addressed.”Chief Smith said he would be willing to meet with CARS officials when the time is appropriate. “But the idea is to have a conversation because what we have done for the last 60 years or what we’ve done for the last 165, if we continue to do that I don’t think we will move forward with meeting the needs of this community,” Smith said. Charlottesville’s arrangement with CARS is in a memorandum of understanding that has both an operational and a budgetary component. City Attorney Lisa Robertson had suggested that Chief Smith not meet with CARS management while disputes were ironed out.“I think the two issues were conflating and they need to be separate,” Robertson said. “The financial relates to the other but they’re two separate issues. In both issues, both the city manager and the fire chief will have to sit down with CARS and work through both sets of issues. It has absolutely not ever been by intention to tell anyone that you can’t sit down and talk to each other because of legal issues. These are almost purely operational and financial issues.”If you want to know about how emergency services operates in the area do take a look or listen to the whole discussion. (watch on BoxCast)Thanks for listening! Please forward this on to others, and please ask questions in the comment section below! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The EMS Handoff crew goes it solo discussing the EMS Agenda 2050. Show Highlights  Retro EMS in 2021 Adaptive EMS Mindset Adequate Staffing the Clinician of the Future Virtual Hospital Telehealth, Community Paramedicine, and Home Health Auto-ambulances...Roll Out!

JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman talks with EMS visionary, researcher and educator extraordinaire Mike Taigman about living with stress and stress management in EMS, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Mike and his wife Sascha recently released their insightful book “Super-Charge Your Stress Management in the Age of COVID-19.” Mike Taigman is the leading expert in improvement science, resilience, and stress management at First Watch based out of Carlsbad, California. Mike’s broad experience helps him turn data into actionable information, helps teams build their resilience using our neuroscience-based ResilientFirst system, and teaches stress management techniques that can be used by anyone anywhere.Mike facilitated the development of EMS Agenda 2050 a vision for EMS in America 30 years in the future. Inspired by the “people centered” aspect of Agenda 2050, Mike works with some of the world leading physicians and researchers to bring evidenced-based leadership, education and practices to the EMS industry. These practices help create organizations where employees are resilient, joyful, thriving, and providing compassionate care during long careers.As a young street paramedic in Denver, Mike honed his clinical skills caring for patients and helping new paramedics learn to provide solid clinical care with kindness and compassion.As a popular conference educator, author of more than 600 articles in professional journals, an associate professor in the graduate program in emergency health services management at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and an associate adjunct professor in the master’s program in healthcare administration and interprofessional leadership at the University of California San Francisco, Mike has focused on helping professionals save more lives, reduce suffering, and be more effective leaders.As a consultant, Mike has worked with EMS, fire, and public health in 48 of the 50 states, most of the Canadian provinces, Israel, Palestine, Australia and throughout Europe. His expertise includes EMS street survival, patient centered leadership, effective quality/performance improvement, and resiliency. He holds a master’s degree in organizational systems and is frequently part of the faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.Mike’s wife Sascha Liebowitz is an accomplished writer and author of “Living Every Minute of It,” a blog about living each day with patience, tolerance, kindness and love towards oneself and others. A former New York lawyer, Sascha now lives in California focusing on family, writing, and being of service to others. She holds a BA from Columbia College and a JD from New York University School of Law.This episode of the EMS Today Show, and Mike and Sascha’s book “Super-Charge Your Stress Management in the Age of COVID-19,” will give you important tools to develop and maintain resiliency and get through this difficult time in your EMS career.In a testimonial about the book, Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement said it best, “Managing … stress is a continual task for the healing professions—more challenging perhaps in the era of COVID-19, but, frankly, always with us.”Dr. Berwick goes on to say that the book “draws on a wide library of science, teachings, and experience and distills it all into a readable and useful collection of practical, attractive techniques. Each one seems not only promising, but frankly, fun.”His concluding remark really sums up why a book by Mike Taigman will be so helpful to emergency service personnel: “This book brings optimism and oxygen at a time when we badly need both.”

Prehospital Emergency Care Podcast Small-batch Episode! This month's small-batch features the manuscript: Executive Summary of Educational Content from EMS Agenda 2050 with the authors: William Leggio EdD, NRP & Marianne Gausche-Hill MD, FACEP, FAAP, FAEMS @mgauschehill We hope you enjoy this episode and... Click here to download now! As always THANK YOU for listening! Hawnwan Philip Moy MD (@pecpodcast) Scott Goldberg MD, MPH (@EMS_Boston) Jeremiah Escajeda MD, MPH (@jerescajeda) Joelle Donofrio-Odmann DO (@PEMems)

Episode 165: Mike Taigman joins me again to discuss the EMS Agenda of 2050. Some 20 years ago EMS as an industry introduced the EMS Agenda for the Future. DId EMS as an industry accomplish the agenda items spelled out 20 years ago? Mike revisits and provides insight to a few of these items. Mike talks how he became involved with 2050, the process to develop 2050, and laying the framework the future of EMS in 2050.

Mike and Ritu are back at it! This month the boys dive in to the recently released PART Trail Abstract, (which has some people losing their mind) EMS Agenda 2050, Ebola, sports and more! As usual, they have a unique perspective and want to share it with you! We don’t want to sound desperate, but we would love for you to subscribe and rate the SecondShift on iTunes! We can’t tell you how much we appreciate you listening and joining in on the discussion!

Isabel talks with Mike Taigman, Improvement Guide for FirstWatch. They discuss how data can be used to reduce human suffering, the benefits of listening to people who are resistant to change, and EMS Agenda 2050.   For Your Information: FirstWatch: https://www.firstwatch.net/ W. Edwards Deming: -The 14 Points of Management https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsF-8u-V4j4 -The System of Profound Knowledge https://deming.org/explore/so-pk EMS Agenda 2050: http://emsagenda2050.org/ Want to get involved in a study? Have a question? Email us at dispatchindepth @ emergencydispatch (dot) org

Isabel talks with Mike Taigman, Improvement Guide for FirstWatch. They discuss how data can be used to reduce human suffering, the benefits of listening to people who are resistant to change, and EMS Agenda 2050. For Your Information: FirstWatch: https://www.firstwatch.net/ Edwards Deming: -The 14 Points of Management https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsF-8u-V4j4 -The System of Profound Knowledge https://deming.org/explore/so-pk EMS Agenda 2050: http://emsagenda2050.org/ Want to get involved in a study? Have a question? Email us at dispatchindepth @ emergencydispatch (dot) org

Happy 2018 PEC Podcast Listeners!!! For this very special episode, we highlight the development of this very pivotal and crucial document, EMS Agenda For The Future: 2050 (@EMSAgenda2050).  Click here to download now! Special guests of this podcast include: Guest Host: Jon R. Krohmer, M.D., F.A.C.E.P. Director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) Office of EMS in the Department of Transportation. Technical Expert Panel (TEP) of EMS Agenda 2050 Dr. Marianne Gausche-Hill @mgauschehill  Dr. Alexander Isakov Dr. Kevin Munjal And President of the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) Dr. Brent Myers @bmyersmd We hope you enjoy this podcast and THANK YOU For listening! Happy New Years and we look forward to seeing you in San Diego!! Hawnwan Philip Moy MD (@pecpodcast) Scott Goldberg MD, MPH (@EMS_Boston) Jeremiah Escajeda MD, MPH (@jerescajeda) Joelle Donofrio DO (@PEMems)

This episode is sponsored by my friends at the PulsePoint Foundation.Episode 125: Greg Mears, MD serves as the Medical Director for ZOLL, providing clinical guidance to ZOLL’s Data and Resuscitation Divisions. Greg has been an Emergency Medical Services Physician, educator, and specialist in performance improvement for more than 25 years. Prior to joining ZOLL, Dr. Mears was a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina State EMS Medical Director. EMS Agenda 2050, being a State EMS Medical Director, his responsibilities at ZOLL and his love of data and information are some of the topics we discuss. We also touch on the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS), which Greg was a key player. Episode 125: Greg Mears, MD serves as the Medical Director for ZOLL, providing clinical guidance to ZOLL’s Data and Resuscitation Divisions. Greg has been an Emergency Medical Services Physician, educator, and specialist in performance improvement for more than 25 years. His passion is building integrated systems of care and for using real-time data to drive EMS operational and clinical decisions. Greg is the recipient of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services as a Top Innovator in EMS. Prior to joining ZOLL, Dr. Mears was a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina State EMS Medical Director. EMS Agenda 2050, being a State EMS Medical Director, his responsibilities at ZOLL and his love of data and information are some of the topics we discuss. We also touch on the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS), which Greg was a key player.