USFA Working to Meet EMS Needs
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United States Fire Administration
“It is time that fire service EMS receives the attention it deserves. There has been no national leadership in fire department emergency medical services. I believe many veteran fire department programs have given up on national support for their activities. In the future the USFA will totally turn past practices around and make fire service EMS a major priority.”
These remarks were made by Gordon Vickery of the United States Fire Administration shortly after his appointment as administrator, and were followed up with action.
A national workshop for fire service FMS needs, the Rockville Conference, was conducted in December 1979. Thirteen EMS experts from fire departments across the United States were asked to outline the major fire service EMS needs, and over a three-day period they identified and prioritized EMS needs. The result of their work is published in a 75-page report that outlines 50 priority needs of fire service EMS providers. The USFA has utilized the Rockville report as a written outline for program planning in the EMS area.
The National Fire Academy will be contributing to this EMS initiative by including in its curriculum an “EMS management for the fire service” course that begins in January 1981. The NFA also plans to develop two additional courses in fire service EMS management which will provide for adequate representation of EMS in the residency program.
New projects
The USFA Office of Planning and Education houses the EMS office which is directed by Michael F. Olsen. Olsen stated one of the major objectives of the EMS office is to “tell the fire service that we are here and we are going to address their unique needs… EMS represents up to 80 percent of the fire alarm load …fire service EMS is a force to be reckoned with.”
Under Olsen, the EMS office has introduced several projects in the last nine months:
- The EMS Resource Exchange Center is being designed as a communications link between all local fire service providers. The center hopes to obtain locally developed programs from fire departments and to share them nationally. The center will also provide
- for technical support services to individual departments experiencing problems with their EMS program management. The USFA will provide program experts to assist in the resolution of fire service EMS problems.
- The Emergency Medical Services Resource Bulletin now serves as an information link to keep the field providers informed of current developments in the EMS office. The bulletin features resource reviews, and highlights unique fire service EMS programs. The resource center is dependent on input from the nation’s fire services. The basic premise of the resource center is that most of the good programs have been developed at the local level. The center seeks to share the good ideas with other fire service EMS providers.
- A fire service EMS Program Development Guide will be released in 1981. The guide will serve as a resource for fire departments interested in playing a role in local EMS and in upgrading their systems. The guide vill also profile many of the successful programs currently operated by fire departments.
- Through an interagency agreement with the Army Surgeon General’s Office, the USFA is producing a Hazardous Materials Medical Management Handbook. The handbook will be a quick reference guide for first responders, identifying the degree of health hazard and outlining field treatment for hazardous materials incidents. The handbook will present basic life support information as well as information for advanced life support providers. It is anticipated that the handbook, which will be available in late 1981, will become standard equipment on EMS vehicles.
- The USFA/FEMA has joined with the Department of Energy to provide for the development of training materials in radiological emergency responses. Training materials will be developed by Oakridge Associated Universities and will include information on the handling of radiological emergencies for first responders and for physician providers. This is the first project, at the national level, which will define the body of knowledge necessary for pre-hospital EMS management of the radiological emergency.
All of the aforementioned programs are currently in some stage of production. They represent a direct response to the fire service’s emergency medical service needs. The USFA thinks they are only the beginning.
The USFA, through a grant to the International Association of Fire Fighters, is conducting three national fire service EMS management seminars. The seminars are designed to improve the quality of fire service EMS management. A faculty of experts has been assembled to present management techniques on a wide variety of subjects in fire service EMS. The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation is managing the series of seminars.
Study of attrition
Other noteworthy projects include a study of the causes and methods of mitigation of fire fighter/paramedic attrition. An attempt will be made to identify the actual levels of fire service involvement in EMS, through a level of service study. Future plans calls for the upgrading of the citizen medical selfhelp program released in the 1960s. This program will include cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basic emergency care techniques which can be taught as a public education program. According to Olsen, “Citizens trained in CPR have done more to affect survivability than any other aspect of pre-hospital care. We believe that we can further improve this by including other basic life support information for citizen education and action.”
If one considers that all of the USFA/EMS programs have been implemented in less than a year, the question of federal responsiveness has been answered. These program initiatives are being designed to cover an extremely broad spectrum of EMS needs and they reflect the growing recognition of the fire service as the nation’s number one responder to all types of emergencies.
The fire service is the largest single provider of emergency medical services in the United States. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is responsible for coordinating and assisting with all emergency situations and their management, recognizes this.
Joseph Moreland, deputy administrator of the USFA, in a recent speech stated that “The fire service is the nation’s first line of defense against all emergencies and they must be provided with resources and assistance to meet this massive responsibility. It is the responsibility of the local fire department to educate its constituency as to the gamut of services it is called upon to perform beyond fire suppression. It is time to stand up and be counted!”
