Congress Ends Government Shutdown & Extends Ambulance Relief
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
Senate Cloture on Shutdown Package
The Senate has made progress towards ending the government shutdown. The Senate, by a vote of 60 to 40, invoked cloture on consideration of the House-passed Continuing Resolution after an agreement was reached yesterday with eight Senate Democrats on replacement language, which the Senate will vote on next.
On our specific issues, the language would do the following:
1. Extend the temporary Medicare ambulance add-ons payments through January 30, 2026
2. Prevent PAYGO cuts to Medicare providers and suppliers from H.R. 1
3. Extend Medicare sequestration provider cuts for another month
We will keep you posted on new developments.
Senators Collins and Welch Have Introduced TIP Senate Companion Legislation
Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced the Senate version of the CARE Act (S. 3145) to establish a CMMI demonstration program for reimbursement of ambulance responses with medical care provided on-site without transport to a medical facility. Linked below is a copy of the press release from Senator Collins, as well as both the House and Senate versions of the bill.
News Release | American Ambulance Association Celebrates 147 EMS Heroes as 2025 Stars of Life
October 21, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emily Nichols
Enichols@ambulane.org
American Ambulance Association to Celebrate 147 EMS Heroes as 2025 Stars of Life
Washington, DC—The American Ambulance Association (AAA) is proud to recognize 147 outstanding emergency medical services professionals as 2025 Stars of Life. These honorees—paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, and mobile healthcare providers—represent the very best of EMS from across the United States.
The 2025 Stars of Life celebration will take place November 3–5, 2025, in Washington, DC. While some honorees will be recognized locally, many will travel to the nation’s capital to receive their awards, share their stories with policymakers, and celebrate the vital work of EMS.
In addition to the Stars, Senator Susan Collins of Maine will be recognized as the 2025 AAA Legislator of the Year. The AAA will also honor eight Senators and seventeen Representatives with Legislative Recognition Awards for their ongoing support of mobile healthcare and the EMS profession.
Together, these 147 individuals embody the spirit of service and commitment that defines EMS—saving lives, strengthening communities, and inspiring others through their dedication.
This year’s distinguished Stars of Life honorees are:
Please note that members of the media are welcome to attend the Stars of Life Banquet at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill hotel on November 4, 2025, from 7:00–9:00 pm. Interviews with Stars of Life will be available.
# # #
About The American Ambulance Association
Caring for People—First.
The American Ambulance Association safeguards the future of mobile healthcare through advocacy, thought leadership, and education. AAA advances sustainable EMS policy, empowering our members to serve their communities with high-quality on-demand healthcare. For more than 40 years, we have proudly represented those who care for people first.
AAA Nominates Mike Thomas to Serve Again on NEMSAC
American Ambulance Association President Jamie Pafford-Gresham has nominated AAA Board Member Mike Thomas of JanCare Ambulance in West Virginia to once again serve as the “private (career non-fire) EMS” representative on the National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee (NEMSAC). The Administration recently ended the terms of previous federal advisory committee members, including those on NEMSAC, and is now accepting new nominations. Mike previously served on NEMSAC, and the AAA is proud to renominate him for a full term in his role representing private EMS.
EMS Personnel and Their Rights of Speech: A Primer
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
Understanding Weighted Average Overtime: Why EMS Agencies Must Pay Attention
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
Prodigy EMS | The Ones Who Stayed: The Story of New Orleans EMS During Hurricane Katrina
The Ones Who Stayed: The Story of New Orleans EMS During Hurricane Katrina
New Documentary Premieres September 29 on Prodigy EMS YouTube Channel
Cambridge, MA – September 25, 2025 – The Ones Who Stayed: The Story of New Orleans EMS During Hurricane Katrina will premiere on Friday, September 29 at 4:00 p.m. PST / 6:00 p.m. CT / 7:00 p.m. EST on the Prodigy EMS YouTube Channel: (664) Prodigy EMS – YouTube
Produced in partnership with New Orleans EMS and Prodigy EMS, the documentary tells the gripping, first-person story of the paramedics, EMTs, and physicians who chose to remain in the city during Hurricane Katrina. Their testimony captures the storm’s fury, the collapse of infrastructure, the chaos of evacuation, and ultimately, the resilience that led to the rebuilding of New Orleans EMS.
“This was the unsafe spot I’ve ever been in, in 25 years of my EMS career,” recalls Paramedic Keely Williams-Johnson, reflecting on conditions inside the Superdome.
Dr. Jullette Saussy, then Medical Director of New Orleans EMS, adds: “In this moment of complete loss of humanity, I was reminded of the beauty of humanity in the face of crisis.”
Chief of EMS Carl Flores reflects on the legacy: “People started cheering when they saw our patch. We had been called ambulance drivers all our lives. Now they said, ‘That’s our EMS.’”
The film stands as a testament to courage, camaraderie, and commitment in the face of disaster.
A teaser / Trailer is available here: https://youtu.be/JYbKpCeVst4?si=C_iGdhT44ue4XR7F
Review: The Ones Who Stayed: The Story of New Orleans EMS During Hurricane Katrina
Rob Lawrence
“Listening to mothers saying, ‘I’ve got floaties on my kids,’ and then the line would go dead. You knew they drowned.” — Dr. Jullette Saussy
On Friday August 29th New Orleans EMS released their twenty-year commemoration of the events of Hurricane Katrina. Produced and directed in partnership with Prodigy EMS, The Ones Who Stayed brings forward the voices of the EMS professionals who lived through what became one of the darkest weeks in modern American disaster response. Through raw testimony—sometimes halting, sometimes fierce, often tear-stained—the documentary reconstructs the hours, days, and months in which the men and women of New Orleans EMS chose to stay when so many had to leave.
A Catastrophe Told Through Firsthand Eyes
The film wisely avoids narration or dramatization. Instead, it lets the paramedics, EMTs, and physicians recount their own experiences. Their words carry the weight of authenticity—whether describing the moment the storm winds shredded windows “like Swiss cheese,” the horror of hearing mothers on the phone strapping floaties onto their children before the line went dead, or the surreal sight of helicopters hovering in endless lines above the Convention Center.
From the first nervous party at an EMS conference to the realization that Katrina had turned toward New Orleans, the film captures the shift from routine storm prep to existential crisis. The testimonies build a slow crescendo: from a pre-storm prayer in the ambulance bay to the sudden loss of communications, the flooding of hospitals, the desperation in the Superdome, and the perilous walk across the Crescent City Connection in pitch-black chaos.
Themes of Survival and Service
What emerges is more than disaster chronology is a study in survival, resilience, and the redefinition of what it means to be an EMS provider. The film highlights several themes:
Improvisation under collapse: With no radios, no ambulances, and no intact hospitals, EMS crews resorted to “MacGyver medicine” using broken chairs, dollies, and shopping carts to move patients.
Moments of grace amidst chaos: Viewers hear how citizens deferred their own needs “she’s sicker than I am, take her first” and how the New Orleans Fire Department ultimately rescued EMS personnel stranded on the bridge.
Pride and pain interwoven: Paramedics recall with both sorrow and pride that they participated in what may have been the largest civilian helicopter evacuation in U.S. history, airlifting 19,000 people in a single day.
The long shadow of trauma: Even two decades later, many recount nightmares, loss, and lingering doubts about whether New Orleans ever truly recovered.
Perhaps the most striking quote comes from Paramedic Perry Lew: “I’d rather go back to war than to do Katrina again.” It encapsulates the profound psychological toll that still echoes through those who stayed.
A Story of Rebuilding
The final chapters of the documentary shift from survival to rebirth. Viewers follow the crews into a nursing home chapel that became their base of operations, through years spent working out of FEMA trailers, and into the long slog of rebuilding a department and a city that would never be the same.
Dr. Jullette Saussy and Chief Carl Flores articulate the transformation from despair to determination. For them, the bond forged in disaster became the foundation of a reinvigorated New Orleans EMS, one rebuilt on passion, camaraderie, and the memory of those they could not save.
A Lasting Legacy
The Ones Who Stayed is not an easy watch. It is painful, harrowing, and at times overwhelming. Yet it is also uplifting, reminding viewers of the resilience of the human spirit and the quiet courage of first responders.
The documentary succeeds because it does not sanitize or dramatize. It gives us the mud, the fear, the gunshots in the night and it gives us the relief of rescue, the solidarity of colleagues, and the will to stay and rebuild.
In the end, the story is both local and universal. It is about New Orleans, but it is also about every EMS provider, firefighter, police officer, and healthcare worker who has ever faced disaster and had to decide whether to leave or to stay.
The ones who stayed remind us what service truly means.
Essential viewing for anyone in public safety, disaster medicine, or emergency management. It stands as both historical record and enduring tribute to the courage and sacrifice of New Orleans EMS.
Quote Wall
Facing the Storm
“He told us that it was going to get really bad… and that we would probably lose communications at a certain point and have to act on our own without any direction from our leadership. Then he did something really strange. He asked us to all hold hands and he said a prayer.” Paramedic Cedric Palamasano
“That was the last time we would ever be in that bay, at those headquarters together.” — EMT Liz Belcher
“We’re facing something catastrophic.” — Dr. Jullette Saussy
Chaos and Collapse
“Listening to mothers saying, ‘I’ve got floaties on my kids,’ and then the line would go dead. You knew they drowned.” — Dr. Jullette Saussy
“The unsafe spot I’ve ever been in, in 25 years of my EMS career, was inside that Superdome. It was chaos. Complete chaos.” — Paramedic Keely Williams-Johnson
“Completely pitch black. You could hear screams. You could hear gunshots. I remember texting my friend: ‘Tell my family I love them,’ because I didn’t think I was going to get off that bridge.” — EMT Liz Belcher
Moments of Rescue
“NOFD actually rescued New Orleans EMS that night. Saved us.” — Paramedic Keely Williams-Johnson
“We cleared out 19,000 people in about 18 hours. The military threw everything at that LZ… it became known as LZ Superman.” — Paramedic Cedric Palamasano
“We were told we airlifted out more people in that day than the last day of Vietnam.” — Paramedic Perry Lew
Personal Toll
“I’d rather go back to war than to do Katrina again. It was that bad.” — Paramedic Perry Lew
“I could tell the difference between the smell of a dead body and a refrigerator closed for weeks. That’s how bad it was.” — Paramedic Charlie Brown
“I just remember climbing under a table, pulling the chairs around me, and thinking—nobody can get me if I’m under here.” — EMT Liz Belcher
Rebuilding and Legacy
“Knowing that we’ve been through the worst disaster, there was this sense of camaraderie, of renewed honor and drive… we made it out together and alive.” — Paramedic Cedric Palamasano
“People started cheering when they saw our patch. We had been called ambulance drivers all our lives. Now they said, ‘That’s our EMS.’” — Chief Carl Flores
“In this moment of complete loss of humanity, I was reminded of the beauty of humanity in the face of crisis.” — Dr. Jullette Saussy
News outlets that wish to visit New Orleans EMS contact PIO Lt Lexi Paquette via atpaquette@nola.gov
Please credit ‘Prodigy EMS’ for clips used as news footage.
EMS1 | Grand theft ambulance: The crime we’re letting happen
Grand theft ambulance: The crime we’re letting happen
An ambulance is stolen in the U.S. once every 2 weeks … and we are to blame!
In December 2023, I wrote the article, “Respond in 8 minutes — Gone in 60 seconds,” a headline born of frustration, based on a rising number of ambulance thefts that, at the time, seemed both absurd and increasingly common. I had hoped that naming the problem might nudge the system toward solving it. After all, how could something so costly, dangerous and preventable not trigger action?
OSHA Announces Expanded Penalty Reduction Guidelines Benefiting Small Businesses
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
CMS Proposed Pro Forma Rule Implementing the Ground Ambulance Add-ons as part of the CY 2026 Ambulance Fee Schedule Proposed Rule
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
EMS 1 | “Just one of the guys” no more
“Just one of the guys” no more
Eight hundred words can’t capture every gasp and head-nod, but they can transmit the shockwave Danielle Thomas (COO, Lifeline Ambulance, California) and Carly Strong (COO, Riggs Ambulance, California) unleashed at the 2025 American Ambulance Association Annual Conference.
EMS1 | Radical responsibility: Lead yourself first
Radical responsibility: Lead yourself first
At the 2025 American Ambulance Association Annual Conference, Royal Ambulance founder Steve Grau delivered a powerful reminder that leadership doesn’t start in a boardroom or budget meeting; it starts in the mirror.
EMS1 | From the ED to the edge: How Dr. Darria Long found her rhythm — and how EMS can find theirs
From the ED to the edge: How Dr. Darria Long found her rhythm — and how EMS can find theirs
For many of us in EMS, the term “crazy busy” is often thrown around like a rite of passage. It’s shorthand for a culture of overdrive: another shift, another code, another unfunded mandate, another denied claim. But what if “crazy busy” isn’t just a schedule problem — it’s a warning sign?
EMS1 | Gen Z, AI and the loneliness epidemic: The 5-M blueprint to future-proof your EMS crew
EMS1 | Gen Z, AI and the loneliness epidemic: The 5-M blueprint to future-proof your EMS crew
Named one of Forbes’ Top Futurists, Heather E. McGowan has advised Fortune 500 boards, high-growth start-ups, universities and governments on how to adapt “at the speed of possibility.” A two-time bestselling author (“The adaptation advantage” and “The empathy advantage”), she specializes in translating big, fast-moving trends (e.g., technological disruption, demographic shifts, AI augmentation) into practical strategies leaders can act on today.
Life-Assist partners with Taylor Healthcare to offer the Titan Rapid Cooling Bag, a revolutionary prehospital emergency response to heat-related illness
As heat rises during summer months, so does the risk of heatstroke. Taylor Titan Rapid Cooling Bags provide a critical tool for First Responders to combat dangerous body temperatures. These fluid-impervious bags, filled with ice and cold water, provide fast, crucial cooling, saving lives during emergency transport.
Developed by Taylor Healthcare in partnership with Phoenix Fire Department, the Titan Rapid Cooling Bag delivers groundbreaking advancements for rapidly reducing elevated body temperatures over 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit. With 15-20 minutes in the bag, filled with ice and cold water, body temperatures drop 3 degrees, lowering 8x faster than traditional methods.
“In emergency medicine, seconds matter—and the Titan Rapid Cooling Bag is a game-changer. Designed for speed, portability, and performance, it empowers First Responders to deliver fast, effective treatment for heat-related illness in the most demanding environments. At Life-Assist, we’re proud to offer solutions that help save lives and support our partners on the front lines of care,” said Andy Selby, Vice President of Sales “We are proud to be the exclusive distributor of Titan Rapid Cooling Bags, ensuring that emergency personnel have access to this innovative tool that will allow better response to victims of extreme heat.”
Taylor Titan Rapid Cooling Bag Benefits:
- Fluid Impervious with Dual-Welded Seams, Ultra Strong PVC, and Reinforced Zippers
- Strong Lift Weight for Transport with Added Ice (575 lbs)
- 6-Handle Design Provides Enhanced Stability during Lifting and Transfer
First Responders, including Paramedic, EMT, EMS, and Fire Departments now have seamless access to this essential product through Life-Assist.
For more information about the Taylor Titan Rapid Cooling Bag, please visit www.life-assist.com/taylorCoolingBag or contact marketing@life-assist.com
Register Now: FICEMS Meeting on June 11
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
Life-Assist Partners With PSTrax to Enhance Inventory Management Operation for EMS Agencies
Through an exclusive partnership, Life-Assist delivers PSTrax’s cutting-edge inventory management system to EMS agencies, helping them gain real-time visibility, control costs, and ensure critical supply readiness. This alliance marks a significant advancement in emergency services procurement, allowing agencies to maximize efficiency while maintaining full control over their inventory.
By integrating their systems, agencies can seamlessly connect Life-Assist’s extensive product catalog with the PSTrax Procurement feature within its Supplies Module, eliminating inefficiencies in purchasing and supply chain management. With direct purchase order (PO) generation, automated inventory updates, and enhanced financial oversight, agencies can maintain operational readiness with improved efficiency and accuracy.
“First Responders should never face challenges with procurement or risk supply shortages,” said Scott Bergeron, CEO of PSTrax. “This collaboration brings together two industry leaders with a shared vision—helping agencies run more effectively by making sure their teams have the right resources, exactly when needed. By integrating Life-Assist’s comprehensive catalog into PSTrax, we’re offering a seamless, automated solution that improves accountability and enhances readiness and response.”
Bryan Holliday, CEO of Life-Assist, added, “Our partnership with PSTrax helps our EMS customers maintain ideal supply levels, streamline ordering, and enhance operational efficiency. Together, we are simplifying procurement for First Responders. Allowing them more time to focus on what they do best, providing care and support for our communities.”
Procurement benefits at a glance:
- Product Catalog Integration ─ Easily link new products to your existing inventory in the Supplies module for a fully synced system.
- Flagged Item Alerts ─ Quickly add critical or low-stock items to your shopping cart directly from supply levels.
- Enhanced Purchase Order Management ─ Gain complete control over ship-to contacts, shipping details, and order quantities while generating electronic POs effortlessly.
- Centralized Oversight ─ Manage purchase orders across multiple vendors on a single dashboard with bulk editing and item-specific status updates.
- Streamlined Restocking ─ Efficiently match delivered supplies with POs for easy receiving and restocking in the Supplies module.
- Real-Time Transparency: Access live updates to monitor purchases and ensure optimal financial oversight.
The American Ambulance Association Partners with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!
The American Ambulance Association Joins the Modern Medicaid Alliance
This content is for AAA members only.
Please either or Join!