Central Shenandoah EMS Council will kick off National Emergency Medical Services Week starting May 21st.
This year’s theme is “EMS STRONG: Always in SERVICE.” The EMS Strong campaign seeks to celebrate, unify and inspire the men and women of our nation’s emergency medical services. Created by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in partnership with the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), EMS Strong brings together associations, EMS services, sponsors and national media to honor the dedication of EMS practitioners nationwide.
CSEMS is recognizing the efforts of the over 1,900 volunteer and career EMS providers in the Central Shenandoah Valley. These highly trained men and women in our region serve their communities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing prompt and effective emergency medical care. EMS agencies work closely with other emergency response agencies – including police, fire, and 9-1-1 communications – to provide rapid medical care and safe transportation to those who are ill or injured. They also play a significant role in our nation’s response to natural and man-made disasters. If you are involved in a car accident, house fire, experience a medical emergency, or are evacuated to an emergency shelter, you will likely find yourself being cared for by one of these highly-trained professionals.
For medical conditions, emergency medical technicians and paramedics can provide most of the initial and subsequent treatments that an emergency department would. For traumatic injuries, their primary responsibility is to immediately perform interventions that correct life-threatening conditions and then provide rapid transportation to the hospital for definitive care, while managing the patient’s pain.
The clinical sophistication of EMS begins during the 9-1-1 call-taking process where the determination of underlying cause(s) of the patient’s condition starts with the use of emergency medical dispatch (EMD) and is continued by the EMTs and paramedics at the patient’s side. Sometimes it is simple to identify the cause of the problem, but other times, even with all of their skill and diagnostic equipment, it can be difficult. Because many conditions are difficult to diagnose without having access to an individual’s medical history, additional information provided to EMS can enable them to perform lifesaving interventions more rapidly, which will positively impact the patient’s outcome.
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