Hello

Who I am

I have 20 years experience as field EMS provider in Newark, NJ. I was first certified as an EMT-A in 1981 volunteering as an EMT on the North Ward First Aid Squad, Newark, NJ. In 1983 I then secured a position working EMS as a Basic EMT in Newark NJ. I became a paramedic in 1985. At this time I became involved in education, first as a CPR and EMT instructor, later as an ACLS, PALS, PHTLS, and AMLS instructor. I then became a faculty member at the George Washington University paramedic program.

I was a Tour Chief for Jersey City Medical Center and later on I was the EMS Director for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System. My activities in NAEMT include: Immediate Past Chairman National Paramedic Division/NAEMT – I authored the very first report to NAEMT on EMT and Paramedic Occupational Injuries in 2000 with a follow-up report in 2001, I was the NAEMT representative to CAAHEP and to CECBEMS, I also served on the NAEMT Committee for the development of the first AMLS program.

I have worked as a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization and Bahamian Ministry of Health on EMS. I was also lead consultant to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department on the Paramedic Ambulance Service Re-Design.

I am currently the EMS Coordinator for the City of Alameda Fire Department (Alameda, CA) and the Treasurer of the San Francisco Paramedic Association. I was featured in the book "Into the Breach" by Jana Abrams-Karam.

What I believe

We need to be engaged, as engaged as our brothers and sisters in the police and fire services. Only through an active membership and leadership will we accomplish great things for the EMS community.

What is NAEMT's position on the Ryan White Care Act?

In 2006, the emergency-response provisions were removed from the Ryan White Care Act by Congressional staff members. This omission places every emergency responder at risk. This wasn't a malicious act, but it is an issue of vital importance to the health and safety of EMS personnel everywhere.

NAEMT must actively engage the leadership and members on this critical issue. We need to contact every member of Congress and we need to do it yesterday. This is a vital issue and the Executive Board of NAEMT must be INVOLVED. NAEMT must put out a policy statement on this issue, so that the media and members of Congress know where we stand.

EMS Occupational Health

I wrote the first report on occupational injuries for the Association. I know how important this issue is. Look at the International Association of Firefighters and the Fraternal Order of Police, these groups have truly stepped up for their membership.

What do we need to do?

NAEMT must sponsor a national occupational injury summit during our national meeting. I would seek to bring the various stakeholders in EMS and occupational health together, to develop an agenda and work plan for reducing occupational injuries in EMS. We also need to recognize EMS organizations that are working strides in reducing occupational injuries. We must provide this information on those successful programs to all EMT’s and paramedics.

NAEMT must also approach Congress to give us the tools we need to protect EMT's and paramedics and to gather data so that we may begin to understand the scope of the occupational health problem in our profession. Only then can we begin to develop curriculum for health, safety, and well-being of EMS personnel everywhere.

We owe this to our profession.

Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS)

FICEMS represents all of the federal agencies that have their hands in EMS. What is the problem with FICEMS? It has no teeth. It controls no budgets or money, and cannot hire or fire anyone. The reports they will submit to Congress do not have to be acted upon. They cannot dictate policy. This was made evident during the release of the Institute of Medicines (IOM) report on Emergency Medical Services. The IOM stated that we need a single lead federal agency for EMS PERIOD. EMS by committee DOESN'T WORK.

We cannot ignore this fact. When the Ambulance Fee Schedule was first published, and Medicare stated that IV therapy was not an ALS skill where was FICEMS? It was as if Medicare (who controls the re-imbursement money) and NHTSA (who writes the curriculum for EMT's and paramedics) never had a conversation about what is an ALS skill and what is a BLS skill. Yet they both sit on FICEMS. When Medicare stated that EMS providers MUST obtain a verification signature for emergency patients transported to the hospital, where was FICEMS? The EMS event for most patients and their families is stressful enough, never mind what the EMS providers must deal with. Imagine this: You are on an emergency response, it is of a critical nature, with a life hanging in the balance. Now I am going to ask you for a signature for payment, and draw attention to the fact that this may or may not be covered service... This was a good idea? Since Medicare controls the money, they get to decide what hoops we must jump through to get it. Where is FICEMS in all of this? Using my previous example of the Ryan White Act, where was FICEMS?

NHTSA houses the only home for EMS in the federal government. Go to the NHTSA website ( http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ ). Where does it mention EMS?

In 2008 the federal EMS Office in NHTSA was funded for two million dollars, with a staff of 11. In Alameda County California, the County EMS Office is funded to over 25 million dollars with a staff of 35. In 2005 EMS received only 4 percent of the federal funding for first responders. In the last federal budget and trauma programs received zero dollars.

We need to do this better!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has already begun to move toward an office of Emergency Medical Services. We need to support this office, ask for federal funding and recognition, and ask that the president bring together all of the current agencies, spread through a myriad of federal departments, be consolidated into this one federal office.

Then, with the power to hire and fire, to control budgets, to provide grants and assistance, will EMS even BEGIN to have the recognition we desperately deserve.

The membership overwhelming supports a federal agency, I support a federal agency, EMTs and paramedics nationwide deserve a federal agency, funded and staffed to be equal with the police and fire services.

NAEMT has to do better!

We need to approach this issue by working collaboratively, we need to listen to the needs of the membership and we need to listen to learned bodies such as the Institute of Medicine. I want an Association that is going to take my needs and the needs of my brother and sister EMT's and paramedics seriously. An Association that is responsive to the needs of its members and that is willing to work for its members.

My name is Dan Gerard and I want a chance to do better for you and the Association. Please cast your vote for me as Director at Large.

Thank you,

Dan