Pafford Medical Services in 2020

Written by AAA Staff on . Posted in Yearbook.

Pafford Medical Services
Hope, Arkansas
1,500 Staff | 98 Quarantined in 2020

Founded in 1967, Pafford Medical Services provides over 80 communities across 8 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands with the latest, most sophisticated level of pre-hospital care. As a family-owned and operated company, Pafford is staffed 24/7/365. Over 1500 members of Team Pafford can be found operating the fleet of 200 ambulances, 4 communications centers, 3 medical fixed-wing aircraft, 3 rotor-wing aircraft to provide communities with proper 911 ambulance coverage.

In addition to the day-to-day operations, the company has become known nationwide for its Special Response Taskforce which assists during national disasters. As the company evolves to cater to the citizens it serves, Pafford took notice of the needs of industries and businesses during the global pandemic and now operates OnSite Healthcare Services in order to safeguard workforces as the world resumes operation amidst COVID-19. Another pillar of the company’s mission is its promise as a contributive community partner by providing educational resources, medical equipment, and scholarships along with medical standby for special events.

With the novel Coronavirus, EMS personnel would need to be properly trained to combat the transmission of the virus. Along with obtaining PPE for their medics, Pafford Medical Services provided additional training while increasing health surveillance, screening, and tracking of employees with the activation of their Emergency Operations Center.

Pafford remained a leader in community discussions and decisions related to COVID-19. Thanks to the diligent work and daily communications with their leadership teams, all of Pafford’s systems remained fully operational.

As the world stopped turning due to COVID-19, Mother Nature did not as hurricane season came out in full force. With 8 named storms and 2 major hurricanes, Pafford’s Special Response Taskforce deployed along the Gulf Coast to provide relief to the affected communities for 75 days.

“We’ll never be able to fully express our gratitude to not only our management teams, but to our boots on the ground who have been in the trenches remaining strong and vigilant,” says CEO, Jamie Pafford-Gresham. “Our men and women have gone beyond the call of duty–– suiting up, serving others, and their communities on the frontlines of healthcare.”

Harris County Emergency Corps in 2020

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Harris County Emergency Corps
Houston, Texas
252 Staff | 72 Quarantined in 2020

As a premier mobile integrated healthcare organization, and the only Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) accredited agency with headquarters in Houston, HCEC operates as a 501c3 Non-Profit organization.

HCEC was the first EMS agency formed in the state of Texas and serves approximately 400,000 citizens within 76 square miles for Harris County Emergency Services District #1. HCEC operates 9 MICU ambulances 24/7 and 2 peak ambulances staffed 12 hours a day from 8 EMS stations strategically located throughout the territory to provide optimal response times.

HCEC also provides event medical coverage for many of Houston’s major sports teams and venues, trains clinicians with highly specialized classes, and leads Houston’s first Community Health Paramedic (CHP) Program. In addition, EMS and Fire dispatch services are provided for 11 agencies by our Communications Center recognized by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE).

HCEC is committed to Professional Service, through Progressive Medicine, in order to continue Preserving Lives every day.

Disaster Response is nothing new to HCEC. Not only has our service area endured extraordinary damage from Hurricanes Rita, Ike, Harvey, and 2 major flooding events, but Harris County and the Houston area has also seen some of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the State of Texas.

As part of our early response to the pandemic, the Communications center implemented new screening tools for identifying caller’s COVID-19 symptoms, and Part time event medics staffed dedicated PPE units. The Clinical team also created specific guidance and flowcharts for COVID-19 responses, transports, and exposures to keep our team healthy and safe.

To support our staff, the HCEC Management team hosted daily conference calls and connected with employees through virtual Town Hall meetings. Since in-person events were no longer possible for 2020, HCEC provided daily meals and contactless snack basket deliveries for our crews and showed our appreciation by posting recognition signs at their homes.

To support our community, HCEC volunteered with Gallery Furniture and Kroger to help distribute 2000+ meal kits to Seniors in and around our service area when access to stores were limited.

NorthStar EMS in 2020

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NorthStar EMS
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
410 Staff | 51 Quarantined in 2020

NorthStar EMS (NEMS) began operations on April 1, 1992 with two ambulances serving Northport, Alabama. The goal was to provide “Excellence in Prehospital Medicine” to our community.” Since that time, NEMS has grown into Alabama’s premier ambulance service operating 80 ambulances and support vehicles with over 400 field, communications and support personnel providing ALS/BLS services throughout central Alabama. Our mission statement is to “Provide personalized and professional care to our communities.” This Mission along with our Core Values center on our patients and customers, thus serving as our compass, ensuring that the business of ambulance service and related care is delivered on a human scale — one person to another, with compassion and respect. Recognized as the first EMS agency in the State of Alabama accredited by both the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) and the International Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch as an Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE), NEMS is at the forefront in helping shape the future of EMS in Alabama.

NEMS began 2020 preparing for CAAS re-accreditation when the year quickly devolved into an unprecedented national disaster, not witnessed in modern EMS system design. As COVID began to take root in the US, we were trying to understand how this virus might impact our Team and our ability to serve our communities. As acquiring Personal Protective Equipment became an issue, as suppliers were overwhelmed with orders, so too did incidents of exposure resulting in having to quarantine our providers. Our EMS model shifted from monitoring response-time standards to a more basic model of having units available for the request for service that seemed to grow exponentially. Not unlike disasters of previous years, our providers stepped up to the plate. Working with limited staffing, facing the daily risk of acquiring the virus, one-by-one patients were transported longer distances under more acute circumstances. Paramedics/EMT’s watched as their partners were stricken with Covid-19, some spending time in ICU, others experiencing lengthy hospital stays. Through all of this they continued to meet the needs of their community, responding to and transporting Covid positive patients daily.

EmergyCare in 2020

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EmergyCare
Erie, Pennsylvania
280 Staff | 16 Quarantined in 2020

EmergyCare is one of the largest non-profit ambulance services in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, covering more than 2,100 square miles and protecting approximately 300,000 lives The service lines that EmergyCare provides include Emergency and Non-Emergency medical transportation at the Basic / Advanced / Critical Care Life Support levels, inter-agency paramedic intercept response, paratransit (wheelchair) / medical taxi transport solutions, tactical paramedic / SWAT Team integration, and community outreach which includes educational safety programs. The operations team consists of approximately 230 wheelchair transporters, EMTs, PHRNs and Paramedics, and a fleet of 70 vehicles including 33 ambulances stationed in Corry, Erie, Titusville, Warren, and Kane, PA. Organization-wide, EmergyCare runs approximately 65,000 transports annually. EmergyCare’s Critical Care Transport Team brings the hospital ICU to the bedside of the patient. EmergyCare’s Tactical Medic Team integrates with local law enforcement agencies to provide critical medical coverage in high-risk law enforcement situations.

Quickly after COVID-19 became an issue in Western PA, EmergyCare was identified as a hospital surge resource, was identified and authorized to be Novel Disease Transport Team utilizing PAPR respirators, and received authorization from the PADOH to use novel disease transport equipment for long-distance COVID patients. Our organization stepped up our efforts to mitigate the impact on our staff and patients. Through grants, we secured funding to purchase ozone foggers to decontaminate our vehicles for each of our stations. We were able to work with local organizations to secure additional PPE. Our Administrative and Clinical staff were segregated to mitigate the potential spread of the virus and we instituted remote work where possible. As the provider of EMS education, our EMT and Paramedic classes were quickly transferred to remote virtual learning.

As Pennsylvania was considered one of the Presidential Election key swing states, EmergyCare EMS and Tactical Medical Team was called upon several times over the course of the campaign to provide services for both presidential campaigns by the Secret Service.

Monroe Ambulance In 2020

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Monroe Ambulance
Rochester, New York

Founded in 1975 by Eileen Coyle, Monroe Ambulance has entered its 45th year of dedicated service to the greater Rochester community. The family-owned and operated organization with headquarters in the City of Rochester, from which they provide all levels of ambulance service to Monroe, Wyoming, and Orleans Counties. Their providers, along with their clinical leadership and utilization of advanced medical technology has resulted in Monroe Ambulance becoming one of New York’s most admired and trusted pre-hospital care providers.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside our brothers and sisters in the New York EMS community at the epicenter of the crisis, Monroe Ambulance supported the needs of Rochester and surrounding communities ensuring each call for service was answered. Responding to the continued trend of diminishing numbers of new EMS providers into the system (despite an increase in the need for EMS), Monroe leveraged its agility to develop and deliver virtual EMT classes in an effort to ensure our communities will be served regardless of the challenge posed with another wave of the pandemic. As the current Chair of UNYAN and Monroe Ambulance’s CEO and President, Thomas Coyle maintained his involvement with UNYAN despite the increased pressure and demand for his time preparing and responding to local effects of the crisis. He led the organization in a push for legislation to recognize and address the needs of EMS for the entire state, and the voice was heard.

Visit our website: https://www.monroeambulance.com.

Louisiana Ambulance Alliance In 2020

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Louisiana Ambulance Alliance
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Louisiana Ambulance Alliance (LAA) is a diverse group of EMS providers who promote emergency medical transport as a distinct concern in Louisiana; serve as a forum for a unified voice for healthcare providers, public officials, healthcare workers, educators and consumers working to improve emergency medical transport in Louisiana; provide a forum for the exchange and distribution of ideas and information related to the improvement of emergency medical transport; serve as an advocate for emergency medical transport, promoting improved health status and improvements to the health system for residents of Louisiana; and encourage the development of appropriate health resources for Louisiana.

During 2020, while struggling with the pandemic like the rest of the world, Lake Charles, LA was hit with one of the strongest hurricanes of the past 150 years. It left thousands devastated without electricity, clean water, or even a roof over their heads. Louisiana Ambulance Alliance deployed over 40 ambulances to the Lake Charles area before the hurricane to help evacuate the city and also in the following weeks to help with the ongoing relief effort. We are proud to have helped our home state during a time of need.

To learn more about LAA, visit www.LouisianaAmbulanceAlliance.org. For up-to-date information, news and updates, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Cape County Private Ambulance Service in 2020

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Cape County Private Ambulance Service
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
61 Staff | 14 Quarantined in 2020

Cape County Private Ambulance was founded in 1968, responding to 911 emergencies and non-emergencies, transporting patients, and helping the community of 79,000 in 425 sq. miles of Cape Girardeau County Missouri. CCPA has 60 + full time and part time employees. We operate both ALS and BLS ambulances and crews. We provide emergency medical dispatch services taking calls from 3 separate 911 PSAPs.

To say 2020 has been an interesting and challenging year is really an understatement. We did not see a significant decrease or increase in call volume however the type of calls did take on a new look. We became quite proficient in donning and doffing our required PPE. Staffing and safety compliance began to take up more time and energy! We all learned to adapt to new ways of simply living and working in the COVID-19 environment. We volunteered to help with testing at several locations, and took PPE to facilities running short on the ever-important protective equipment. We had employees help with contact tracing through our local County Health Department. Overall, we felt the new normal never actually settled and each day brought different situations. Through all of this, we maintained our professional attitude and led by example in our profession. As difficult as this pandemic has been, we feel that our best was showcased in the health care arena. We hope to see an end to COVID-19 and will be ready to assist our community with whatever needs to be done to return to a virus free environment.

UT Health East Texas EMS | AIR 1 in 2020

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UT Health East Texas EMS | AIR 1
Tyler, Texas
350 Staff | 129 Quarantined in 2020

Representing the very best in healthcare, UT Health East Texas EMS delivers an extensive network of emergency response resources covering 3.5 counties, over 4,800 sq. miles. With a fleet of over 55 ambulances, 4 EC-135 helicopters and 350+ caregivers and staff, our team handles over 80,000 EMS calls and over 57,000 emergency transports each year.

Licensed by the State of Texas for EMS transports since 1968; we support over 60 first responder agencies throughout East Texas with continuing education, training, medical control and medical supplies.

UT Health EMS is the only EMS service in East Texas to hold CAAS Accreditation (Commission on Accreditation Ambulance Standards). UT Health East Texas EMS earned CAAS accreditation in 2019 for the fourth time – most recently with a perfect score.
UT Health EMS was the first EMS service in East Texas to hold ACE Accreditation (Accredited Center of Excellence) from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch while the UT Health East Texas AIR 1 program was the first in Texas to be CAMTS accredited.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UT Health EMS has experienced record 911 call volumes; with an increase of 10% 911 calls year over year.
UT Health EMS has been on the frontline for information; not only for the citizens we serve, but the multi-county first responder community. From the beginning, UT Health EMS has provided on-going medical updates and education to both city and county agencies through online webinars and teleconferences under the direction of our Medical Director, Yagnesh Desai, MD.
UT Health EMS trained, and later deployed, multiple COVID-19 Testing Strike Teams to address nursing home outbreaks at several hotspots throughout the region.

From the start, UT Health EMS was a main point of maintaining a supply chain and the distribution network of PPE resources to first responders, both in and out of our service areas. This included a distribution of over 970 gallons of sanitizer and hundreds of high-end respirators.
In addition, UT Health EMS sent ambulances and crews to assist with Tropical Storms Laura and Marco affecting the Texas/Louisiana Gulf Coast.

AMERICAN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION
PO Box 96503 #72319
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202.802.9020
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