EMS and Agency Leadership! All Hands On-Deck for Vaccine Points of Distribution (POD)
The Covid-19 Vaccine distribution is well underway and most front-line EMS personnel should have already received their first dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine two dose series. The State of Alaska’s COVID-19 Vaccine webpage provides guidance on who is eligible, where to receive vaccines within your community and what’s known about the roll-out timeline.
As manufacturing of vaccines increase and the allocation opens to more people within our community’s local public health nurses will be planning and building teams to facilitate Points of Distribution (PODS) to provide vaccines to large numbers. There are opportunities for EMTs and volunteers to assist with providing vaccines to their community within these PODS. We encourage department leadership to work with the local or regional public health nurse to assist with facilitating vaccine distribution within each of your communities. Providing vaccines to everyone is an all “all hands-on deck” operation and EMS and Fire departments are an integral part of these PODS. Greta Wade, Gene Wiseman and Terry Kadel have developed an online course to assist departments with offering a refresher or initial training for vaccines. All State Certified EMS Agency Administrators, Leadership, and Trainers were sent an EMS POD Training Packet in December and will be sent a follow up email later this week.
Termination of Resuscitation
It is not hot news to point out that the nation’s EMS system is critically stressed by the pandemic. While we all feel the weight and disruption of our current state of affairs, some areas are much closer to the breaking point than others. You no doubt recall the crisis in New York earlier in 2020 and you possibly remember the firestorm associated with an announcement regarding enforcing termination of resuscitation guidelines.
Several months later, it is now southern California that is reeling under the increasing prevalence of COVID which has led to essentially all of the local hospitals being at or over capacity. There are anecdotes of 8 hour offload times being encountered and having crews waiting for over an hour to unload seems commonplace. Among other measures that are being instituted as they move to “Crisis Standards of Care”, the LA County EMS Medical Director published standard, evidence-based guidelines for termination of resuscitation. We’ve included a well-balanced article on the associated controversy from a Pulitzer Prize winning physician journalist. We are all making decisions that involve alterations in usual EMS standards as we move back and forth from usual operations, to contingency and perhaps to crisis standards depending on the level of disease in our communities. The take home from the travails of our compatriots in New York and California is, to the extent possible, consider what may be the public’s view of changes that we institute and, while always doing the right thing, be ready for the push back and prepare further outreach and education.
Michael Levy M.D. FACEP, FACP, FAEMS EMS Medical Director Emergency Programs Medical Director, State of Alaska Emergency Medicine
Sources:
Einiger, Josh. "Coronavirus News: New guidelines for EMS in NYC show grim reality of COVID-19 Pandemic." ABC7 New York, WABC-TV, 3 April 2020, abc7ny.com/ems-guidelines-nyc-coronavirus-news/6069778/.
Fink, Sheri. "Los Angeles Country Urges Ambulance Crews Not to Bring to Hospitals Patients They Cannot Resuscitate." The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Jan. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/california-covid-ambulance-memo.html.
Pediatric Emergency Care Coordination
Improve pediatric emergency outcomes by being a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator. Please share the resources found in this section with fellow emergency care providers. Thank you!
The Annual EMS for Children (EMSC) Survey has launched!
All Alaska certified EMS agencies that respond to pubic 911 calls and provide on scene medical treatment should have received an invitation to participate in a data collection effort from the Alaska EMSC program (AlaskaEMSC@alaska.gov) on January 6th!
This quick survey takes an average of 6 minutes to complete and allows Alaska EMSC the ability to identify how to better support agencies in caring for children, which is particularly important amidst the current public health crisis. The survey online portal will remain open until March 19th!
All invitations were addressed to individuals that have been designated as Service Directors and/ or Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinators within the Alaska Certification and Management Licensed System. If you did not receive this invitation and you are your EMS agency's Service Director or Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator please reach out to Reneé Escamilla, the Alaska EMSC Program Coordinator at alaskaemsc@alaska.gov or 907-465-5467.
Some recent resources that may be of assistance to you are: a paper copy of the EMSC survey, the Pediatric Readiness in EMS Systems, Policy Statement (released January 2020), and a short video on the Importance of this Survey.
Thank you for helping EMS for Children with this data collection effort! - Reneé Escamilla, Alaska EMSC Program Coordinator
Pediatric Educations and Advocacy Kits
Pediatric Education and Advocacy Kits (PEAK) were created by the EMS for Children Innovation and Improvement Center (EIIC) Knowledge Management Domain Steering Committee to house best practice educational resources to empower all providers of pediatric emergency care to deliver the highest quality of care and support to all children. Educational content includes multiple delivery methods including interactive web-based learning modules, case-based question banks, audio and video podcasts, webinars, and simulation resources. Read more about PEAK here.
Status Epilepticus Available now, please click here!
Pediatric Care Resources Launching Spring 2021
Suicide Screening, Prevention & Management of the Agitated Patient Launching Summer 2021
Mental Health Safety Launching Summer 2021
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Alaska Virtual Learning EMS ECHO Series, Please join us!
Every 2nd and 4th Friday from 10:00-11:00am. Click here to register for the EMS ECHO series. Registration is only needed once.
Upcoming Session: This Friday, January 22nd!
Past Session Recordings January 8th at 10am, Downproofing December 11th at 10am, Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Exposed to COVID-19 (MIS-C) Presentation November 13th at 10am, AHA Update, Vaccine Info, and more October 23rd at 10am, Instructional, CMLS Recording; October 9th and 22nd at 10am, EMS Town Hall, Session 1 Recording & Session 2 Recording; More resources from past sessions, including recordings, will be available here.
Providing Support-for-Service to Healthcare Clinicians
Alaska's SHARP-3: New Health Care Professionals Workforce Enhancement Program
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) announces the opening of SHARP-3, our newest support-for-service opportunity for healthcare practitioners. SHARP-3 was established by the Alaska Legislature (AS 18.29) as the “Health Care Professionals Workforce Enhancement Program.” Alaska’s SHARP Program uses a support-for-service strategy of providing financial support, in addition to standard wage and benefit, to health practitioners who provide care to our population, and especially to persons who are underserved. In SHARP-3, this financial support is in the form of either education loan repayment or direct incentive. The support-for-service payments are issued quarterly, and only after the program has received (1) a specified Quarterly Work Report, and (2) the employer’s payment of billed quarterly costs.
SHARP-3 greatly expands eligibility to participate: many more occupations, practice settings and locales. This means that both PreHospital Emergency Medical Providers and Hospital Emergency Medical providers throughout Alaska can apply.
All practitioners, providers and employers interested in participating in SHARP are urged to register with the program by submitting a SHARP Inquiry Submission Form here. Registration ensures that you will be sent program updates as they occur. Also, check out how to apply by visiting the SHARP webpage here.
Questions? Attend a Technical Assistance and Q&A zoom session, Fridays 11am-12pm, January 8th - March 26th (Meeting ID: 960 1503 1197), or Submit questions via the SHARP Inquiry Submission Form.
Robert Sewell, MA, Ph.D., Program Director SHARP – Alaska’s Healthcare Workforce Incentive Program Division of Public Health, Alaska DHSS
EMS Instructor Transition Courses
The State of Alaska EMS Instructor Transition course which, at completion, will certify a current instructor to teach the new Scope of Practice (2019) courses for their level of training. You will need your current Instructor Certification number to register.
Part One: Pre-course assignments conducted by the student through the state-provided Moodle platform. **All Instructors must complete the Basic Instructor Rollout Moodle modules. Qualified Instructors that wish to certify as an Advanced Instructor must also complete the Advanced Instructor Moodle Module. Instructions on how to register for these courses will be provided in your course registration confirmation email.
Part Two: Virtual didactic training with Train the Trainers from the Implementation Task Force.
Part Three: Hands on skills sessions to understand new skills and medications, demonstration on how to teach new skills and teach backs by students. This can also be delivered via zoom if the student has access to all of the required equipment.
At this time Interior Region is hosting the Part 1 and Part 2, you can go to Interior EMS website to register or click on “Register” below:
Instructor Transition Courses Part 1, Register Here Self-Paced, Online
Instructor Transition Courses Part 2, Register Here Monday, January 25th, 2021 from 9:00am - 1:00pm, Online- Zoom
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