http://www.iemsa.net/site/pdfs/EMSFedSupportPosition.pdf

IOWA - IEMSA Position Paper - Emergency Medical Services Responders Need Federal Support


The Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association (IEMSA) represents EMTs and Paramedics from the private and public sectors including ambulance services as well as fire departments and law enforcement. As an organization, we believe that there
should be a U.S.Emergency Medical Services Administration (USEMSA) established within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The USEMSA would allow for data collection and analysis for trending of injuries and illness in order to predict future needs of Emergency Medical Services. The federal office would also allow for national education standards to be established and improved upon, along with operational guidelines and equipment improvement for continuous quality
improvement standards.


The EMTs and Paramedics of our Emergency Medical Services Systems serve our communities with the utmost integrity and professionalism and are bound to a "duty to respond" to emergency medical needs of those communities. Since the inception of the federal funding for terrorism preparedness after 9/11, Emergency Medical Services has been mistakenly lumped in to
Law Enforcement and Firefighters categories and not recognized as a third arm of the emergency preparedness of our communities. Firefighters and Law enforcement officers were recognized as first responders in the 9/11 tributes without any mention of EMTs or Paramedics specifically in those tributes.


Historically, Emergency Medical Services has fallen under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation. DOT's interest in the beginning was to reduce mortality and morbidity from transportation related trauma. Since then, the scope of the mission of Emergency Medical Services has grown to include all areas of care for the injured as well as the ill
patient. The scope of our mission, as part of the emergency response team that the nation depends on, demands a greater
federal focus on what and who we are.


Under the Department of Transportation, Emergency Medical Services has gone underfunded and unrecognized by the Federal Government, yet we continue to respond to emergencies and train in emergency preparedness on a "make-do" basis. In the last round of Homeland Security grants, a majority of the grant money was given to fire departments as they are recognized at the federal level as "first responders."


Emergency Medical Services includes first response as well as emergency transport and care of the sick and injured in almost every situation that our brothers and sisters in the fire and law enforcement services respond to. Funding for Emergency Medical Services within the federal system has continued to dwindle, further dampening the ability of individual services to deliver effective and efficient emergency medical care that our communities demand. In fact, Emergency Medical Services received only 4% of the federal Homeland Security funds designated for America's first responders.


It is important to recognize and maintain the links that go beyond one department of the federal government and Emergency Medical Services. While it is critical that we not be distanced from the Department of Health and Human Services and others who provide medical oversight, The Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association would like to add its voice to the legion of EMS providers in the Nation requesting your consideration of an established federal office of Emergency Medical Services within the Department of Homeland Security. As an organization representing over 2000 Emergency Medical Services personnel in the State of Iowa, we fully support the reassignment of Emergency Medical Services to the Department of Homeland Security in order to improve our service to the public and improve the much needed recognition of Emergency Medical Services to equate our brothers and sisters of fire and law enforcement services

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IOWA-EMSFedSupportPosition.pdf (22 Kb, 1 downloads) IEMSA Position Paper - Emergency Medical Services Responders Need Federal Support