Keith Edmonds, AEMTA President

TRAUMA!! Welcome to the world of the new Arkansas Trauma System!! I hope that everyone has had an opportunity to attend one of the Arkansas EMT Association events that we have put together to ‘roll out’ the new Trauma System for Arkansas. Needless to say, we have been extremely busy making these events happen in order to get the information out to you, the Professional that will make the Trauma System work in Arkansas.

Our events that have occurred so far have been quite educational and eventful. We opened up the Trauma Educational Blitz in Pine Bluff with the first ever Trauma Symposium to be held in Arkansas. We were blessed with several great lectures as well as several great lecturers. Many different realms of Trauma were touched on in some aspect there and those that attended had the ability to learn from these lectures and return to their homes with the information to share with other employees that were working during this event. What a concept!! We want as many as we can fit into a room to attend these events, however, if your job calls you first, then you must answer that call because the families in Arkansas need you.

I am sure there are only a few EMS Professionals in Arkansas that can now say they attended class in the men’s room. While our Symposium was being held in Pine Bluff, we actually had a tornado warning issued for that area with rotation and funnel clouds being spotted. All participants were removed from the Pine Bluff Convention Center into the men’s room of the building for safety purposes. Fortunately, all was well and no damage was reported at our location.

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Keith Edmonds

As everyone is aware, the Arkansas General Assembly is in session to approve budgets for the State of Arkansas. The Session began on February 5, 2010 and the only decisions to be made this year are budgetary decisions.

The Arkansas EMS Profession was hit hard with budget cuts at the end of the 2009 fiscal year costing $5,000,000 to our Profession that was set aside at the beginning of the Trauma Funding to be dispersed among all EMS services in Arkansas for preparation of the Trauma System. This money was set aside in the budget under Category B subsection 1, which means that it is not guaranteed to be funded. All Category A budgets were funded, allowing for several grants to be made available to our EMS services and educational facilities.

We, as EMS Professionals, are very aware that all money is tight with the current economical situations that are being faced each day. EMS will see several of these situations arising in the next year even more so than we have in the past with the cuts in Medicare reimbursements.

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Keith Edmonds

Another year has come and gone bringing several events throughout 2009.  We have all laughed a little and cried a little, yet we have all been there for each other.  What a great family I am a part of!

2009 has seen several firsts for Arkansas EMS.  We have successfully placed a red letter license in over 50 percent of our professionals with the remaining 50 percent to be issued by the end of March.   Great strides have been made in beginning our Trauma System in Arkansas which has been worked on for many years by many dedicated medical professionals.  We have seen new equipment, rules and regulations and several newly licensed EMT’s and Paramedics in the back of our trucks and on the streets of our great state.  My congratulations and thanks to all of those that have worked so hard to progress our profession to the point it is today.

We have been saddened by the loss of several loved ones and partners in EMS in 2009.  Familiar faces that we are so used to seeing as they work and play in EMS will no longer be there smiling and laughing with us.  We lost a great educator in our state with Jon McMahan – we will all miss his quirks and smiles at conference each year.  We also lost a tremendous leader within our state EMS system with the passing of David Taylor, Sr.  Anyone in the state of Arkansas carries a part of David with them.  Take a look at your license or certification and see what name has signed it.  (“Thanks Buddy!”)  David loved the professionals in our business like brothers and sisters.  He also had a passion for success in our trauma system, licensure and our new rules and regulations.  It was his desire to move Arkansas to the top in the nation with all the improvements we have made.  David will be missed along with each of those we have lost in 2009, yet they will never be forgotten!  It is our duty to see their legacy and passion for our business is carried on and never forgotten.  We need to gather the belts and purse strings, put our big boy/girl britches on and get to work!!  We should refuse to let those things that our friends, partners, leaders and family members have worked so hard on fall behind.

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Ben Blankenship

Thanks, yes thanks to every one of you.  Thanks for allowing me to be your president for another year.  We had some great successes and we left some things to be accomplished in the near future.  I am most pleased with the legislation creating our trauma system.  I do believe that this one major step in our future will make the most significant difference in our ability to care for our patients that has occurred in quite some time in the history of emergency medical services in our state.

We also obtained licensure for our profession, no small feat.  Lots of work into the effort for this accomplishment and a tremendous amount of time and effort were committed just assembling the bill, in the end it was over 16 pages and the areas of other state law that we impacted were unbelievable.  While some still question the importance of obtaining licensure for our profession the majority of us know that we have made another step in elevating our profession.

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Ben Blankenship

What does it take to be a professional in our business?

The fact that a person may be paid to complete a task does not equate to professionalism.  Volunteers function at a professional level daily.  The term “Professional” has to many people equated career or paid.  To me, “Professional” has always meant someone who holds themselves accountable for their level of skill and actions.  Volunteers provide the vast majority of emergency medical services in our country.  In most of the rural and less populated areas in our country, emergency medical services would not exist without the dedication and commitment of volunteers.  Thanks to every one of you who give of yourselves and of your time away from family to take care of your neighbors, you do make a difference.
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Ben Blankenship

I’ve had the privilege to be involved in EMS for more than thirty years, and it just keeps getting better. You all are what makes it better.

You, the seasoned veterans who have pretty well seen everything you can imagine. You, the new EMT, with the deer in the headlights look, not knowing what will happen on the next run but praying your training will kick in when needed and you, the experienced rock solid field provider who at times wonders what in the world am I doing in this field. Why don’t I go somewhere and make some real money instead of fighting to make it from paycheck to paycheck. Continued