Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:02 - News
Immediate notice:
The SREMS Program Agency received all required funding as of 11am Nov 30, 2009. This will allow the Program Agency to continue support operations to providers, hospitals, PAD organizations and the community as a whole.
The SREMS Office relocation project is again moving ahead. Until December 31, 2009 the current phone numbers and mailing address will remain operational. Reasonable notice will be given regarding the change in contact information when the new office is fully up and running.
During this Office transition please contact the office via the current mediums, for availability of all day to day provider and agency support services. As we move between location certain services may be suspended or delayed. This move will NOT directly impact provider and agency level ePCR operations.
Don't hesitate to contact SREMS Offices regarding questions or concerns.
Friday, November 13, 2009, 10:33 - News, Events
MEMORANDUM
To: All Susquehanna Regional EMS Agencies and Providers
From: Michael F. Washington, Chairperson, Susquehanna Regional Council
Date: November 12, 2009
Re: Cessation of Program Agency Services
This memorandum is to inform you that effective November 30, 2009 Susquehanna Regional Emergency
Medical Services, Inc. (SREMS) will no longer be able to continue operations. We were notified our
contract is currently pending Office of State Comptroller approval contingent upon New York State
Division of Budget (DOB) allocating funds to support it. The Department of Health does not know when DOB will make funds available and SREMS was asked to forward a continuity of operations plan related to the effects of no funding. SREMS conducted a fiscal and operational analysis which concluded that SREMS’s Program Agency funds would be exhausted as of November 30, 2009. Therefore, as of that date, operations would cease. In consequence of the foregoing, the following impact on our region’s EMS system will result from this regrettable but unavoidable shut down:
· Our Electronic Pre-Hospital Care Reporting (ePCR) system will cease to function as a cohesive region wide program. While individual agency-owned workstations will continue to function independently for a time, central server repository of the data produced by these workstations will no longer exist. Therefore there will be no mechanism for collecting and transmitting this data electronically to the DOH, nor will the data be backed-up so that, if an individual workstation fails its data will be lost. In addition, hospital based workstations will be removed from service, as they are Program Agency property, and therefore must be turned over to the DOH.
· We have been notified of the unavailability of sufficient quantities of state issued paper PCRs, creating the very real possibility of an EMS service being unable to fulfill its legal requirement to produce state mandated patient care records.
· The electronic EMS personnel management function imbedded within the ePCR system will cease to function, and provider information will no longer be able to be added or updated. This personnel management function includes: regional EMS provider photo identification cards, Continuing Medical Education tracking, state core content recertification tracking. The personnel management system also tracks medical control facility and physician credentials region wide. All services related to ePCR maintenance, updates, password resets, provider maintenance, and all related services.
· Effective immediately, no new installs of ePCR will occur region wide.
· Regional ALS credentialing will no longer be available.
· We will no longer have the ability to conduct Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement PCR reviews at the service, county, and regional levels, due to the absence of a central repository for data that can be queried and analyzed for this purpose. Agencies will continue to have the responsibility for QA/QI.
If the financial crisis does indeed force SREMS to close, there exists the potential for a genuine public
health crisis in our three-county region as a result of the loss of this administrative, technical, and Quality
Improvement support. In the midst of the current influenza pandemic, which promises to place
unprecedented strain upon our EMS system, this may well be a recipe for utter disaster.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 08:50 - News, Events, Education & CME
On October 28, Governor Patterson issued an executive order declaring a disaster emergency in the state in regard to the novel H1N1influenza pandemic. This order, among other things, temporarily waives certain sections of the State Education Law, thereby allowing certain healthcare providers, Advanced EMT-CCs and Paramedics among them, to administer influenza vaccine (both novel H1N1 and seasonal) at County Health Department-operated “points of dispensing” (immunization clinics, or “PODs”, as they have become known).
The executive order specifically requires that all of these “emergency vaccinators” must receive “training in techniques, indications, precautions, contraindications, infection control practices, and use of personal protective equipment sufficient to provide the basic level of competence for such tasks, as determined by the Commissioner of Health after consultation with the Commissioner of Education”. Per the clarification provided by the NYS EMS Bureau, this training is to be provided by county health departments, utilizing a curriculum provided via the NYS DOH.
While this curriculum has yet to arrive, it is expected this week, and we want to provide the training as soon as possible thereafter so that AEMTs can be used to supplement other healthcare providers at what will be an escalating number of PODs throughout the County (as increasing supplies of H1N1 vaccine arrive over the coming weeks). Therefore, we have scheduled the training as follows:
Wednesday November 18
6:00 until 8:00 PM
Broome County Health Department
225 Front Street, Binghamton
A light dinner will be provided for participants
CME Credit approval from SREMS REMAC is pending
We will also be providing a short overview and training on the SureVent® disposable automatic transport ventilator, which is currently carried on the Broome County Emergency Medical Support (MCI) Trailer.
Please note that attendance at this training does not obligate AEMTs to provide service as vaccinators, but information will provided as to how those who wish to can proceed.
Those who wish to attend this program are requested to pre-register by calling 607-778-2865 and leaving a message for Linda, or by e-mailing FLU@co.broome.ny.us.
Monday, November 2, 2009, 16:12 - News, Events, Education & CME
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time: 5:45 PM
Location: Wilson Medical Center Picciano Building
4th Floor Vasile Conference Center Johnson City, NY
Intended Audience:
Our faculty will address the educational needs of those providing emergency medical care, including
EMT’s, AEMT’s, paramedics, first responders, fire fighters, emergency and critical care nurses, E.D.
staff, Allied Health Professionals, physicians, and surgeons involved in pre-hospital, emergency,
neuro and trauma care.
RSVP:
RSVP to Brandi Phelan at 607.763.6311 or via email at brandi_phelan@uhs.org before November 13, 2009.
Monday, November 2, 2009, 16:10 - News, Events, Education & CME
Monday November 16, 2009
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Refreshments will be served
Patterson Auditorium
1 Guthrie Square
Sare PA, 18840
For further information please contact David P. Romig, 570-882-4930 or by email: dromig@airmethods.com
To RSVP: call 570-882-4050
Thursday, August 20, 2009, 12:10 - News
Sunday night, Aug. 9, was a night that the residents in Silver Creek will remember forever, and the Silver Creek Fire Department, which rushed to the aid of those 3,000 people, now needs your help.
The small village in northern Chautauqua County on the shores of Lake Erie was devastated by strong storms Sunday night and Monday morning. Dozens of mobile homes were swept away. Trees were uprooted and pushed downstream. Rushing water lifted cars and slammed them into homes. The governor and at least one U.S. congressman are reviewing the damage. Villagers are on a boil-water order.
As the volunteers at the Silver Creek Fire Department were pulling residents from flooded homes, their own fire house suffered devastation as eight feet of water rushed in. The flood destroyed their gear, equipment and tools. The building that houses the ambulances and ice rescue gear was also flooded. One ambulance is a total loss.
Your brother firefighters are in need of assistance. They are looking for donations to replace their lost equipment to continue service to their community. Silver Creek is looking for the following items:
* 30 sets of turnout gear (anything to make up a set would be appreciated)
* air packs
* portable pumps
* generators
* ambulance
* first aid supplies
* mechanical tools
o wrenches
o socket wrenches
o screwdrivers
o any other tools you can spare
* trailer-to-house ice rescue gear including
o ice rescue equipment
o wet suits
o donuts
o grappling hooks
o rope
Silver Creek is my hometown, I currently live in the Rochester area and feel this is the best and most constructive way for me to help the town rebuild. I am working closely with the fire department so that while they are working hard to clean up the town, they don’t have to worry about searching out gear and equipment. The fire department is close to my heart as my grandfather was a member long ago and my mother was actually rescued from a fall through the ice on Lake Erie when she was 9.
We appreciate your generosity.
Contact info: cnadeau231@yahoo.com Chris Nadeau 585 880 4975
Rich Bartlett Silver Creek Assistant Fire Chief 716 818 3623
Back Next
