The Jonesboro Air Evac Life Team landed at Medic One to recognize them for their excellence in emergency medical services.

Read the rest and watch the video at http://www.kait8.com/global/story.asp?s=12014409

In just over 3 years time I’m going to be driving through your jurisdiction just as you are sitting down to your first meal in 12 hours.  As your order hits the counter I will experience an odd tightness in my chest and dismiss it as gas.

When you take your first bite my wife of 35 years will watch me clutch my chest and stop the car on the side of the road.

Just as you begin to think your bad day is finally slowing down, the worst day of my life, and possibly the last, has just begun.

I’ve slumped over in the car, releasing the brake pedal and the car drifts into a signpost, discharging the airbags.

My wife is hit by the passenger side airbag as she is leaning over to help me, noticing my unconsciousness just prior to her own.

A passerby has stopped and is now describing a motor vehicle accident to your dispatcher.

Lunch is still warm in your hands when your radio alerts to the accident.

You are tired.

You are hungry.

The kids have been keeping you up late.

The rent is past due.

Big deal.  I’m about to die.  While you’re cursing me walking to your rig, my MI is moving and my wife’s head injury is complicating what is already going to be a difficult airway judging by the amount of teeth on the floorboards.

As your rig negotiates traffic, my respirations are rapid and shallow, my wife’s now non-existent.

When you pull up to the scene I need your A game.  I need you trained to the point where what you are about to do comes as naturally as breathing, because we’re having a bit of trouble in that department.

This is not about you.  It’s about me.  It’s about us.

So back to your studies, we’ll meet again before you know it.

Participation in capital punishment is inconsistent with the ethical precepts and goals of the EMS profession. NAEMT strongly opposes all forms of EMS participation in executions, by whatever means, whether under civil or military legal authority. EMTs and paramedics should refrain from participation in capital punishment and not take part in assessment, supervision or monitoring of the procedure or the prisoner; procuring, prescribing or preparing medications or solutions; inserting the intravenous catheter; injecting the lethal solution; and/or attending or witnessing the execution as an EMT or paramedic. The fact that capital punishment is currently supported in many segments of society does not override the obligation of EMTs and paramedics to uphold the ethical mandates of the profession.

NAEMT recognizes that endorsement of the death penalty remains a personal decision and that individual EMTs and paramedics may have views that differ from the official position of the profession. Regardless of the personal opinion of the EMT or paramedic on the appropriateness of capital punishment, it is a breach of the foundational precepts of emergency medical services, and a violation of the EMT Oath, to participate in taking the life of any person. Although we cannot forbid an EMT from participating in capital punishment, we voice our concern that the participation violates the medical ethic of beneficence.

“NAEMT was approached by one of our state affiliates to look at the issue of EMT involvement in capital punishment because they felt new legislation in their state may force them to participate,” says Connie Meyer, NAEMT President-Elect. “Although NAEMT believes each EMS practitioner has the right to personal views on capital punishment, we also believe that for an EMT or paramedic to participate would violate the EMT Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics states: A fundamental responsibility of the Emergency Medical Technician is to conserve life, to alleviate suffering, to promote health, to do no harm, and to encourage the quality and equal availability of emergency medical care.”

To view the full position statement, please go to the NAEMT Positions page in the Advocacy section of www.naemt.org.

About NAEMT

Formed in 1975 and today more than 30,000 members strong, NAEMT is the nation’s only association representing the professional interests of all EMS practitioners, including paramedics, emergency medical technicians, first responders and other professionals working in pre-hospital emergency medicine. NAEMT members work in all sectors of EMS, including government service agencies, fire departments, hospital-based ambulance services, private companies, industrial and special operations settings, and in the military.

The program is designed for physicians and other healthcare professionals who practice in Level I-IV trauma centers including trauma surgeons , emergency physicians, trauma nurses, and trauma coordinators. Others who will ben- efit include other surgical specialists, family practice physicians and pediatricians, advance practice and critical care nurses, surgical residents, physician assistants, emergency medical service workers, and paramedics.

The cost for EMTs and Paramedics is $100.

Download the brochure here for more information.

• CECBEMS-accredited CE has been reviewed and approved by EMS professionals, EMS physicians, and EMS educators—your peers, people who work in the EMS field, just like you.
• CECBEMS’ reviewers ensure that the CE activity and the organization providing the CE activity meet recognized standards for designing and delivering quality continuing education.
• CE providers are required to maintain a record of your course completions for a minimum of three years AND to report course completions to the CECBEMS Accreditation Management System (AMS) where records are maintained and archived permanently.
• CECBEMS-accredited CE is accepted in all states except Florida and Pennsylvania. If you move or maintain a license in multiple states, the CE credits you earned in one state will be recognized by other states (except for Florida and Pennsylvania) as long as it complies with that state’s regulations for content and date of completion.

Why Do I Have to Provide So Much Information When I Register for a CECBEMS-Accredited Activity?

• CE providers are required to report your name, state of licensure, license number, license level, license expiration date and city of residence along with your NREMT number and recertification date if your maintain NREMT certification. Email address is optional but helpful in the event CECBEMS needs to contact you.
• All of this information is public knowledge. You will not be asked for a SS# or any other sensitive information.
• This information allows CECBEMS to assign you a unique identifier in the AMS. This identifier allows CECBEMS to access a complete record of your CECBEMS –accredited course completions if NREMT or a state EMS office requests verification.*

*If you maintain licensure in more than one state and/ or NREMT certification, give CE providers all relevant information and ask them to submit a course completion record for each license or certification number, OR allow the CE provider to report your information for a single state (state A ) and NREMT (if appropriate) and be prepared to give the EMS agency in state B your license number for state A or your NREMT number should that office want to verify your record with CECBEMS.

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.

I am asking for a favor from all of our EMS Professionals in the Great State of Arkansas. I ask that we all pull together to show our strength as equal to the Hospital Association, Nursing Association and the Physician Associations in asking for our part in funding for fiscal year 2010.

I ask that you join me in contacting both your State Representative and your State Senator in asking for the $5,000,000 that was cut in fiscal year 2009 Trauma Budget, Category B subsection 1, be funded in fiscal year 2010 under Category A.

If you are unsure who your Representative or Senator is, you can locate all of the Legislators at www.arkleg.state.ar.us.

The benefits of this funding will assist our Profession to grow with the Trauma System and not be behind all other services that are being funded.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email me at keithedmonds@marioncounty.com and thank you for your efforts in promoting the greatest Profession in the World, Arkansas EMS.

The deadline for enrollment is Feb. 3!

Click here to download a flyer for the EMT Refresher.

This year’s chairman is Donald Reed, and he is putting together another great weekend of learning. Tentative speakers include:

• Keith Edmonds, Professionalism
• Pat Malone, Diabetic Emergencies
• Debbie Brehmer, OB Complications
• Diann Bolton, AHA BLS update
• Dick Pace, Forensics
• Robert Galligher, Disaster, Start Triage
• Sedley Tomlinson, Pediatric Seat Safety
• Norajean Harrell, Transition, Licensure
• Kip Teitsort, Defense Tactics for EMS
• Jeff Estes, Domestic Violence
• Phil Sanderson, Intraosseous Options
• Curtis Davenport, Extrication Challenges

Click here to learn more and to download/print the registration form. We look forward to seeing you there!

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.

We have the ability to really move mountains in Arkansas and across the nation within the next year.  It is something that we can’t do by ourselves, yet with the person sitting next to you in that truck or the partner back at the station, we can make a difference.

I have asked several of the members of District 1 to do me a favor.  I have challenged each member of the AEMTA in this District to bring a new member to the Association this year.  If you do not reside in District 1, consider this your challenge!!  After working with both the state legislative bodies and the national legislative bodies, I have seen the power of numbers and the ability to make a difference in something we believe in.  However, with a small membership that only renews for the ability to attend conference at a discounted rate, we can’t succeed in moving forward.  We all have Senators and Representatives that were elected to represent us in Arkansas and in Washington.  Without a phone call or an email, they have no idea what we, as a group of professionals, are faced with or what our desires may be in moving our profession forward.  There will be agendas posted here in the LifeLine for immediate attention from our membership.  I will see that the topics that will need to be addressed for improving our EMS are posted and each member will have the ability to make a difference.

In return, the AEMTA will work for you.  We will continue offering the many hours of continuing education that we have all grown accustomed to.  Pending approval at the first of the year, we may see new educational opportunities arise in conjunction with the Trauma System.  These opportunities will benefit not only you, the member, yet will also benefit those that have yet to join our Association.  I ask that you continue to watch the LifeLine for opportunities for our membership as well as our AEMTA website.

It may seem that I have asked a lot of our membership, yet your board, which includes myself, Rod Barrett (Vice Pres.), Meagan McMahen (Sec.), Penny Russell (Treas.), Dwayne Aalseth (Parliamentarian), Tonia Hale, Board Member at Large, Allen Usrey (District 1), Donald Reed (District 2), Judy Taylor (District 3), Brenda Stewart (District 4), Ronnie Russell (District 5), Ben Blankenship (Past Pres.), Nora Jean Harrell (Paramedic Society), Larry New (Instructor/Coordinator Society), Delinda Duckworth (First Responder Society), Tim Green (Industrial Society) and Mark Warford (Fire/EMS Society) are here for you and to assist you in any way we possibly can.  We will work for you and will strive to make the AEMTA a strong organization progressing for your goals in 2010!

There are others that I would like to say a quick thanks to for their efforts in growing our Association.  Ben Blankenship, AEMTA Immediate Past President,  Laura Guthrie, Conference Chair, Sedley Tomlinson, AEMSF Chair, Brenda Stewart, LifeLine Editor, Denise Carson, Pres. Arkansas Ambulance Assoc., Patrick Moore, NAEMT Immediate Past President, KC Jones, NAEMT District 3 Representative,  the Division of EMS and Trauma and you, the backbone of our Association.

My name is Keith Edmonds, and I am proud to be a part of the Arkansas EMT Association and have the ability to work for you.  Should you have any questions that I can help you with, my email is keithedmonds@marioncounty.com and my cell number is (870) 754-9521.  Please use this contact information as you feel necessary.  I enjoy hearing from my family!!

May God bless each of you and keep you safe in your daily endeavors.