House Subcommittee`s Funds May Save Rural AED Program

     The Rural and Community Access to Emergency Devices grant program, which faced extinction under President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal 2007, may have gotten a new lease on life in June when a key House subcommittee targeted funding for it over the administration's wishes.

     Bush's FY07 budget contained nothing for the program because "much of the demand for rural AED placement has [already] been met," according to a statement from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which administers the program. But on June 7, the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies nonetheless pegged $1.5 million for the program in the coming 12 months.

     That's not as much as some healthcare advocates wanted, but it sure beats nothing. "We're glad the subcommittee isn't taking the president up on his request to zero out the program," says Jennifer Friedman, vice president of government affairs and policy for the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). "It's an important program, and ideally, we'd like to see it restored to the funding levels of fiscal 2005 [when it got nearly $9 million]. We're happy it's not terminated, but we'd like to get it back to where it used to be."

     Since its inception for FY2002, the program has received less money in each subsequent budget cycle. It got $12.5 million that first year; by FY2006, that was down to less than $1.5 million, despite what appears to be an ongoing need.

     "Between 2002–04, less than half of the grant dollars requested by states for this program were awarded," noted American Heart Association President Robert Eckel, MD, in a statement following the vote. "Rural areas and communities find value in a program that could potentially save the lives of individuals who suffer sudden cardiac arrest."

     The AHA leads the Ad Hoc Coalition to Save Lives Through Public Access to Defibrillation, a group that includes a number of top EMS organizations, as well as the NRHA. Coalition members worked to keep the heat on Congress to save the program, urging their constituents to express support for it to their elected representatives.

     That's probably still a good idea, as the relevant Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill has multiple Congressional hurdles yet to clear. Those interested in doing so can find their Congresspersons' contact information via a link on the National Association of EMS Educators' website, www.naemse.org.

Thom Dick has been involved in EMS for 35 years, 23 of them as a full-time EMT and paramedic in San Diego County. He is currently the quality care coordinator for Platte Valley Ambulance Service, a community-owned, hospital-based 9-1-1 provider in Brighton, CO. Contact him at boxcar414@aol.com.