The theme of EMS Week this year is “Honoring our Past, Forging our Future”. Here is my take on what this means for EMS:
Honoring the Past
Emergency Medical Services was born out of the recognition that the inconsistency of emergency trauma care that patients received in the United States led to increased morbidity and mortality. The lessons of war time medicine had taught us about how to save lives, but it had not reached people across the United States. The National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine Report, Accidental Death and Disability, described a trauma system in disarray, with patients receiving different standards of care depending on where they were injured. The year was 1966…we have come far, but we still recognize, we have a long way to go to ensure the highest quality of medical, trauma and mental health care reaches the people when they are most in need.
American Sirens, published in 2023, highlights the Freedom House Ambulance Service in Pittsburgh, which is considered the first paramedic EMS service in the country. Driven by leaders in resuscitation science and in the community of Pittsburgh to provide high quality care to the medically-underserved African American communities in Pittsburgh, this foundational quest to offer the highest quality emergency medical care to all communities still resonates with us as we consider the challenges of providing equitable care with a diverse workforce.
Forging Our Future
When we think about preventable illness and disability, the merging of public health and healthcare on the streets and in the homes of our City, State and Country, we need to continue to push to Forge the Future!
EMS as an Essential Service: Every community should have access to timely, high quality EMS care – it should be a core responsibility of every community just like public safety and fire services!
Data-Driven High Quality EMS: Every EMS service should understand the quality of care they provide and join the ranks of leading services in tracking and improving their clinical and operational quality using evidence-based measures that focus on the patients they serve. #NEMSQA and clinical leaders ensuring this is the future of our industry
Innovation in care models: Over the last decade, EMS systems and the supporting infrastructure have developed new programs in community paramedicine and mobile integrated health that enhance our ability to meet the public health need
Equity: Whether we think about racial inequities or geographic inequities, we need to ensure that we are providing ALL of our patients with the highest level of care AND looking for ways to have a representative workforce.
Thank you to all of our incredibly dedicated frontline providers who are out there everyday taking care of our patients and families. We appreciate you and understand how valuable you are to the patients and to the system at large.
Congratulations Daniel Keene on your well-deserved Health Care Hero award! Your dedication to caring for veterans and ensuring they receive a final salute with dignity and respect is truly inspiring. Thank you for your service and commitment to making a difference.