Ambuglances ::: Region I's Official Newsletter

Who Will Receive Region 1 Awards?

All the nomination forms have been mailed and are available from the Region 1 Office for the 2004 Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Awards. The awards and criteria remain unchanged from last year. The process of judging will be different this year following the decision from the awards committee last year. The awards committee from another region will judge our awards nominations and the Region 1 awards committee will reciprocate by judging their awards nominations. The awards are EMT of the Year, Medic of the Year, EMS Director of the Year, EMS Educator of the Year, Dr. James H. Creel EMS Pioneer Award, Dr. A.Richard Gray Trauma Call of the Year, Dr. Virginia Hamilton Special Achievement Award and EMS Service of the Year.

EMS Awards Banquet to Be Held in Calhoun

The 2004 Northwest Georgia EMS Awards Banquet will be held at the Trinity Baptist Church in Calhoun on March 18, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. Those attending will be charged $12.50 per person. The meal will be catered by B.J. Restaurant of Calhoun. Dress is semiformal (Uniforms or what you wear to church). The invitations were mailed earlier this week and may be obtained at the Region 1 EMS office. We will see you there.

EMS Day at the Capitol

The weather didn't cooperate and the legislative session ran long but despite these obstacles, EMS Day at the Capitol had good attendance. The annual event was again held at the Georgia Freight Depot near the Capitol in Atlanta. We were well represented by Murray County EMS and Greg Lord of Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services. Please see the pictures in our photo album.

HRSA 2 Grant Meetings Begin

The next round of the HRSA grants have began with meetings of District 1.1 (Rome) and 1.2 (Dalton) terrorism preparedness, hospital and EMS personnel. One of the focus areas of this grant is surge capacity of hospitals. District 1.1 has $354,457 of funding available for EMS and hospitals. Meetings will be held at Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital in Rome on the following dates: March 15, March 25, April 9, April 23. All meetings will be held in Building 103 in the 3rd floor training room from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Questions should be directed to Joe Adams at the District Health Office in Rome.

Facilities Committee Meets

The Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS Council Facilities committee has met to consider a change in the Trauma Triage Protocol used by the Region 1 EMS Services. The present policy uses all three of the American College of Surgeons criteria: Anatomic, Physiologic and Mechanism of Injury. The policy determines which patients should be taken directly to the nearest trauma center. The only exception is patients who may expire enroute due to a problem which could be corrected at a 24-hour emergency department including airway obstruction, uncontrolled bleeding and cardiac arrest. The committee decided to retain the policy but to reexamine the criteria.

New Stroke Course to be Held in Dallas

The American Heart Association, Georgia Chapter sponsored five individuals from Region 1 to a Train-The-Trainer MEND Stroke Course in Miami earlier this year. We are planning to have the roll-out of this course in Dallas on March 13. We will be using the people trained in this course to assist us in provided the course to each local ambulance service. Our goal is to train one-third of the paramedics in the region by the end of the recert period on June 30, 2004. We encourage each service to sponsor one person to this course. Eight hours of recert credit is available. Application deadline is

Recert Deadline is Just Around the Corner

The end of the recert period is June 30, 2004. This is the deadline for meeting all recert requirements and submitting a recert form to the Region 1 EMS Office. EMTs are required to attend 24 hours of approved continuing education within the recert period (July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2004) and present a copy of a current BCLS card. Cardiac Technicians and Paramedics are required to attend 40 hours of approved continuing education within the recert period (July 1, 2002 - June 30, 2004), present a copy of a current ACLS card and pay a recert fee. Recert forms are available at each service and from the Region 1 EMS Office. Don't wait any longer. Do it now.

Whitfield EMS Opens New Station

John Hitchens, Director of Whitfield County EMS, has announced the opening of a third station located on the eastern side of the county beside Walnut Square Mall on Airport Road. The station will be staffed during the evening hours only due to low call volume but will be continuously staffed as call volume increases. This station and the one located in Tunnell Hill have been opened in the last year in an effort to better serve the Whitfield County residents.

National EMS Week Website Opened

The American College of Emergency Physicians has announced the opening of a website for acquiring merchandise related to National EMS week in May. The site is located at http://www.JimColemanLtd.com/acep

Chicago Fire Department Fair Poorly on Exam

For the past two years, nearly 99 percent of Chicago firefighters passed the EMT test, but a Unit 5 investigation raised concerns that firefighters were cheating because they had access to old exams. The state used a new emergency medical technician test three weeks ago and almost 40 percent of the Chicago firefighters who took the EMT exam three weeks ago failed. I agree with Chicago alderman Issac Carothers that the important thing is that the people rendering care to the citizens of Region 1 know what they are doing and test security is critical.

Do you have a news story you would like published in Ambuglances? If so, let David Loftin know about it. He can be reached via telephone at (706) 295-6154 or via email at cdloftin@gdph.state.ga.us. Let's inform the region about your news!