Webinar Dec 3 | Patient-Centered QI and System Design

From Firstwatch, Prodigy EMS, and the Center for Patient Safety

Conversations that Matter:
Patient-Centered QI and System Design
December 3, 2020 | Noon ET | Learn More & Register►

Most EMS systems claim to put the patient first, yet they still work 24-hour shifts, drive ambulances designed so that patients face the rear, and have QI systems that are not connected to the rest of the healthcare system.

Join us for this installment of Conversations that Matter, when facilitator Mike Taigman will explore how to create a more patient- and people-centered EMS organization with Jeff Jarvis, MD, MS, EMT-P, medical director for Williamson County EMS and Marble Falls Area EMS; former paramedic and hospital executive Bill Atkinson, PhD, EMT-P; and Brian LaCroix, EMS coordinator with the Center for Patient Safety. This session is sure to expand your knowledge and may just challenge your beliefs in the process.

Register on Prodigy EMS

Host – Mike Taigman, MA

Mike Taigman uses more than four decades of experience to help EMS leaders and field personnel improve the care and service they provide to patients and their communities. Mike is the improvement guide for FirstWatch and a nationally recognized author and speaker. He was the facilitator for the national EMS Agenda 2050 project and teaches improvement science in the Master’s in Healthcare Administration and Interprofessional Leadership program at the University of California San Francisco. He will serve as host and facilitator for Conversations that Matter.

Jeff Jarvis, MD, MS, EMT-P

Jeff Jarvis, MD, MS, EMT-P, is the medical director for Williamson County EMS and Marble Falls Area EMS. He is a practicing emergency physician at Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Round Rock, Texas. His experience in EMS and the broader health care field spans over 30 years, beginning as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. He has served as a paramedic in three states, the Texas State EMS training coordinator and department chair of EMS Technology at Temple College. Dr. Jarvis served as a member of the EMS Agenda 2050 Technical Expert Panel and represents the American College of Emergency Physicians on the National EMS Quality Alliance Steering Committee.

Bill Atkinson, PhD, EMT-P

Bill Atkinson, PhD, EMT-P, is president of Guidon Healthcare Consulting in Raleigh, North Carolina. He began his career in healthcare leadership as one of the first EMTs and then paramedics in the state of North Carolina. Dr. Atkinson went on to a lengthy career in healthcare management, running hospitals in South Carolina, Texas and Colorado before returning home to serve as president and CEO of New Hanover Regional Medical Center and, from 2003 until his retirement in 2013, WakeMed Health and Hospitals.

Brian LaCroix

Brian LaCroix serves as EMS coordinator with the Center for Patient Safety. He recently retired as president and EMS chief of Allina Health EMS in St. Paul, Minnesota, where had started as a field provider in 1997. LaCroix also served as the president of the National EMS Management Association, is a fellow in the American College of Paramedic Executives and holds a paramedic degree and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. HE also consults with organizations to recruit senior EMS leaders, develop individuals and grow leadership teams and has worked on extended international EMS projects in Nicaragua, France and Croatia.

Center for Patient Safety

The Center for Patient Safety (CPS) provides expert support and resources across the healthcare continuum in our mission to reduce preventable harm.

For paramedicine providers CPS helps agencies cultivate a Culture of Patient Safety, manages a robust Patient Safety Organization for providers, offers education and support of mental and well-being of providers.

The Center is honored to be supporting the important dialogue of “Conversations that Matter!”

Webinar Dec 2 | CAD Data, AI, & Tech for EMS

Using the Power of CAD Data, Artificial Intelligence and Technology to Deliver High Performance, High Value EMS

Regular Price: $99.00
Member Price: $0.00

Wednesday, December 2, 2020 | 2:00pm Eastern
FREE for AAA Members | $99.00 for Non-Members
Sponsored by Logis

Register

Technology transformation in EMS is hard (and scary!). Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems are the backbone of effective EMS performance, data analytics, expanded services, and personnel satisfaction. Fort Worth’s MedStar revolutionized their dispatch operations to power not only more efficient and effective operations, but revolutionize their system away from being address-centric, to patient-centric. Learn how this high-performance system uses automation, machine learning and decision support technology to improve deployment, balance system efficiency with crew satisfaction, and provide enhanced services that would not be possible with ‘traditional’ CAD systems.

Joining us to provide insight into these issues from a variety of perspectives will be…

  • Elizabeth Roden has been a MedStar field provider for 6 years, and a AAA Star of Life in 2017.
  • Raylon Bryant is a dispatch supervisor in MedStar’s 9-1-1 communication center. Raylon originally joined MedStar in 2003 and was a field provider prior to joining the communications team.
  • Ken Simpson has been MedStar’s Chief Operations Officer since 2017.  Prior to joining MedStar, Ken led numerous high-performance EMS operations in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
  • Matt Zavadsky is MedStar’s Chief Strategic Integration Officer.  He has helped lead the development and implementation of MedStar’s MIH programs since 2009.

Learn insights directly from the users of the technology, communications center and field personnel, as well as agency leaders about their experiences with MedStar’s CAD transformation from today’s technology, to the technology of tomorrow!

Register

2020 AAA Board of Directors Election Results

The winners of the 2020 AAA Board of Directors election are listed below. The term for each position will begin on January 1, 2021. Please join us in thanking all candidates for their service to the American Ambulance Association.

Executive Committee

President-Elect

Randy Strozyk
Senior Vice President- Executive Operations
Global Medical Response
Tukwila, WA

 


Treasurer

Julie Rose
Chief Executive Officer
Community Care Ambulance
Ashtabula, OH

 

 


Secretary

Jamie Pafford-Gresham
President and CEO
Pafford Medical Services
Hope, AR

 

 

Region I

Director (2022)

Mike Addario
Vice President of Operations- Northeast
Global Medical Response
Syracuse, NY


 

Alternate Director

Jim O’Connor
Vice President
Empress EMS
White Plains, NY

 

Region II

 

Director (2022)

Chuck Kearns
Chief Executive Officer
Mercy Ambulance Service
Savannah, GA

 


Alternate Director

Terence Ramotar
Director of Government Affairs
Global Medical Response
Tampa, FL

 

Region III

Director (2022)

 

Kim Godden
Vice President- Legal, Government Relations, and Compliance
Superior Air-Ground Ambulance Service, Inc.
Elmhurst, IL

 

 


 

Alternate Director

*Vacant due to term limit*

 

Region IV

Director (2022)

Asbel Montes (2 years)
Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Acadian Ambulance Service, Inc.
Lafayette, LA

 

Tom Fennell (1 year)
Compliance Officer
Mayo Clinic Ambulance
Rochester, MN

 

 


 

Alternate Director

David Tetrault
Administrator/Chief Executive Officer
St. Francois County Ambulance District
Farmington, MO

 

Region V

Director (2022)


JD Fuiten
Owner & President
Metro West Ambulance Service, Inc.
Hillsboro, OR

 


Alternate Director


Paul Pedersen
Managing Partner
Arizona Ambulance Transport
Sierra Vista, AZ

 

 

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Ethics Committee

Allyn Girard (2022)
Golden Cross Ambulance
Region 1

Moises Segovia (2022)
Life Star EMS
Region 4

 

Savvik: New Programs and Deals

Savvik has awarded several new contracts recently that can assist AAA members in purchasing the supplies they need for operations. With hundreds of core vendors, Savvik Buying Group serves over 12,000 agencies in the United States and has outstanding contracts with reputable vendors. Savvik is dedicated to improving the general well-being of the public safety industry as a whole while providing Savvik members with quality products and services at the industry’s best prices. Several of these vendors are Covid-related and have products in stock, ready to ship.

New products include: 

  Prevent Active-Defense Cleaner

  • PREVNT™ cleans and prepares the surface for the application of our EPA registered disinfectant FRESCH™
  • Designed to continually clean for up to 90 days through photocatalysis.
  • Long-lasting, active cleaning without published negative repercussions of Quaternary Ammonium products.
  • Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanotechnology is an active naturally occurring oxide and is the key ingredient in PREVNT™. It has a wide range of applications, including as a paint pigment, sunscreen ingredient, and food additive.
  • Water-based formula, transparent and designed for a wide variety of everyday surfaces.

 

Savvik Deals:

The Savvik Perks merchant network offers organizations a powerful way to make an impact with their customers and members. It combines the power of over 900 world-class brands with the relevance of local merchants from every community in America.

Savvik’s collection of over 700,000 in-store locations offers unparalleled value of 10-50% in savings at the places consumers shop every day, in categories like:

  • Dining & Food
  • Apparel
  • Electronics
  • Hotel & Travel
  • Car Rental
  • Movie Tickets
  • Theme Parks
  • Sporting Events
  • Auto Care
  • And more…

View Savvik Deals

Registration Code: SavvikPerks

 

 

Interim Guidance: COVID-19 and Field Trauma Triage Principles.

The Federal Healthcare Resilience Task Force has released interim guidance on COVID-19 and Field Trauma Triage Principles. This document provides a brief overview of how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacts trauma triage for first responders, including Emergency Medical Service (EMS), fire & rescue, and law enforcement. The contents of this guidance document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This guidance document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.

Download Guidance

Webinar: EMS, Stress and Cultivating Resilience

Special EMS Focus webinar on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 3 p.m. EDT /12 p.m. PDT will address the challenges and stresses of EMS work and offer practical advice for cultivating resilience

Adversity and stress are unavoidable aspects of serving as EMS clinicians, thanks to the challenges of everyday EMS work and the added difficulties brought on by extraordinary events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. There are ways, though, to cultivate resilience, recognize and manage stress, and turn adversity into an opportunity for personal growth and becoming a better version of yourself.

In this webinar, two EMS veterans, leaders and resilience experts will engage in a conversation about self-awareness, self-care, and specific actions, practices and wisdom for living well.

Mike Washington, MSW, is a 27-year firefighter/EMT with the Seattle Fire Department, a mental health therapist and a multiple combat tour Marine veteran with a powerful story about his own journey to wellbeing. He’ll be joined by organizational psychologist John Becknell, PhD, a former paramedic who studies and works with EMS, fire and law enforcement in areas of living well, peer support, organizational culture and leadership development. Kate Elkins, MPH, an EMS specialist with the NHTSA Office of EMS and paramedic with more than two decades of EMS experience, will moderate.

Register Now

7/30 | JEMS Paramedicine Strategic Planning Webinar

From JEMS, Sponsored by Zoll

Paramedicine Strategic Planning

  • DATE: July 30, 2020 at 1:00 PM EDT / 12:00 PM CDT / 10:00 AM PDT / 5:00 PM GMT
  • DURATION: 1 Hour.
  • CEU: A certificate of attendance will be offered.
  • PRESENTED BY: Brian J. Maguire, Dr.PH, MSA, EMT-P

The flaws in the current emergency medical system design are coming to light in the wake of COVID-19. The EMS system in the U.S. has fallen behind other countries on many quality indicators. Paramedicine clinicians remain very poorly paid, and the U.S. paramedicine system remains isolated and underfunded.

Operating with insufficient funding means agencies cannot afford to pay a professional wage. The median pay for EMTs and paramedics is $34,320. The median U.S. salary is $48,672. The low pay contributes to high personnel turnover.

There is no single U.S. federal agency solely charged with supporting paramedicine operations. No legislative mandate exists to engage in paramedicine operational research. There is no paramedicine-specific financial support to advance core initiatives at the federal level. This is in stark contrast to those programs legislated to support law enforcement, firefighting and public health. EMS also needs support at the state and local levels.

Dr. Maguire, and others, are proposing a new paramedicine system in the U.S., and urges all EMS professionals to call on federal, state and local representatives to immediately invest in the EMS system in order to care for current COVID-19 victims, to prepare for the next wave of this pandemic and to create the 21st century paramedicine system in the U.S.

Register Now

8/13–8/14 | Savvik Partnership Palooza Expo

This unique online event is the culmination of partnerships and working together for the good of all. On August 13 and 14, Savvik Buying Group along with its partners will be hosting a two-day virtual event that will provide EMS continuing education hours, a virtual trade show, networking opportunities, and prizes! The education will be presented in partnership with CareerCert, Savvik Group Buying partners will participate in the tradeshow, and association partners will invite EMS professionals to attend the event in order to support a revenue share back to their associations.

FREE CONTINUING EDUCATION 12 hours to help fulfill re-certification requirements for any state or for NR re-certification provided by CareerCert

EXPLORE OUR VIRTUAL EXHIBIT HALL to learn more about the latest products and services.

PRIZES! Visiting booths = more chances to win awesome prizes.

NETWORKING with attendees and vendors live through chat rooms and meet other EMS professionals from around the country.

HELP SUPPORT YOUR EMS ASSOCIATION participating associations gets a revenue share by you attending the event and visiting vendors.

Register Now for Free

July 22 | EMS Advocacy Facebook Livestream


July 22, 2020 | 14:00 ET | Register Now for a Reminder!

Join AAA advocacy experts for a fast-paced informal dialogue on Facebook Live! Learn first-hand about EMS advocacy initiatives in the face of COVID-19.

Register to receive a reminder email one hour in advance of the live broadcast on the American Ambulance Association Facebook page!

Panelists

  • Randy Strozyk, Secretary, AAA
  • Jamie Pafford-Gresham, Chair, AAA Government Affairs Committee
  • Asbel Montes, Chair, AAA Payment Reform Committee
  • Rob Lawrence, Chair, AAA Communications Committee
  • Maria Bianchi, AAA Executive Director
  • Tristan North, AAA SVP of Government Affairs
  • Mercury Group Public Affairs

Register Now

Webinar June 12 | Internal Size-Up: Mental Health for EMS Webinar


Free Webinar | Recorded June 12, 2020 at 14:00 ET 

This presentation involves a careful examination of behavioral health awareness for EMS with an emphasis on understanding emotional and physical stressors. We will cover communication skills, addiction, depression, PTSD/PTSI, suicide statistics, retirement, and creating a behavioral health program. The program will:

  • Introduce attendees to emotional and behavioral awareness.
  • Introduce attendees to the various emotional stressors that affect EMS providers, including stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, suicide, and other behaviors.
  • Discuss Cultural Brainwashing
  • Discuss suicide rates within the EMS and fire services.

About Jeff Dill

Jeff holds a master’s degree and is a licensed counselor. He is a retired Captain from Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in Inverness, Illinois and is a member of the American Counseling Association and National Board of Certified Counselors.

About Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA)

FBHA’s goal is to provide behavioral health workshops to fire departments and EMS organizations across the globe, focusing on behavioral health awareness with a strong drive towards suicide prevention and promoting resources available to first responders and their families. FBHA’s goal is to promote good mental health for the men and women who serve their communities through EMS and fire protection. FBHA is also focused on training for EAP organizations, Professional Clinicians, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Doctors, Social Workers, Marriage Counselors, Chaplains, and those dedicated to helping EMS and firefighters. FBHA is the only organization in the U.S. which tracks and validates all FF and EMS suicides.