FICEMS Tackles Care of Native Kids, 9-8-8, COVID-19 Death Toll

Held virtually, the June 8, 2022 meeting of the Federal Interagency Committee on EMS (FICEMS) covered topics such as advances in emergency pediatric interventions, changes in how Homeland Security delivers EMS, assessing fire departments’ EMS needs, the new 9-8-8 suicide-prevention telephone number, and US first responder deaths due to COVID-19, among others.

According to the US government website ems.gov, “The Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS) was established by Congress in 2005 to ensure coordination among federal agencies supporting local, regional, state, tribal, and territorial EMS and 9-1-1 systems. FICEMS was also created to improve the delivery of emergency medical services throughout the nation.”

Better Emergency Care for Indigenous Children

According to Darrell LaRoche, director of the Indian Health Services’ Office of Clinical and Preventive Services, “Through our IHS EMS for Children program…we set up a hybrid simulation training program that developed training interventions for interdisciplinary emergency care teams.” Since launching in-person and telesimulation training for these medical professions, the participating sites have designated pediatric emergency care coordinators to champion the effort and improve the programs’ sustainability.

To improve emergency pediatric treatment at these sites, “each has been paired with an academic medical center, and during the site visits we’re doing, the academic medical center and the ED teams run simulations…on case scenarios for anaphylaxis, seizures, and newborn delivery,” LaRoche says. The payoff: “The local pediatric emergency care coordinators learn how to facilitate the drills on their own so they can carry these on and sustain them.”

Changes to DHS EMS

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) EMS branch chief Cameron Hamilton updated the FICEMS about a change in DHS’ operational structure aimed at improving its EMS responses.

“We are forming a new office under the naming convention of Office of Health Security, which will reestablish some of the authority of the chief medical officer and some of the delegation requirements of the EMS mission so that we can standardize efforts and practices across DHS,” said Hamilton. “The future of the DHS EMS system is designed in such a way so that we really provide the maximum opportunity for improvement of those medical outcomes.” He noted DHS has more than 3500 EMTs providing basic, intermediate, and advanced levels of care.

USFA EMS Needs Assessment

An EMS needs assessment is underway at the United States Fire Administration (USFA), said Rick Patrick, director of the USFA’s National Fire Programs Directorate. The reason: “It is estimated that about 40% of all EMS incidents in the United States are handled by fire department responses,” he explained. “So [fire] is a large player in the…prehospital environment.”

The goal of the USFA EMS needs assessment is “to identify topics and gaps within the emergency medical services system that need to be bridged or filled,” said Patrick.

The USFA is also studying fire and EMS responses to electrical vehicle (EV) fires now that electric cars and trucks are becoming common in the US. “This is a comprehensive study that’s being conducted to better understand EV fires and the hazards associated with them, which are pretty extensive,” Patrick said. “We (also) have a study on fire and EMS response to civil unrest that is well underway.”

9-8-8 Hotline Update

If all goes to plan, the United States will soon have an easy-to-dial 3-digit national suicide-prevention phone number, just as it does today with 9-1-1 for emergencies.

“As of July 16 consumers will be able to dial 9-8-8 and reach the lifeline from any wireless, wire-line, or Voice Over Internet Protocol phones,” said David Furth, deputy bureau chief for the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. “Nine-eight-eight calls will be sent to crisis centers in the same manner that calls to 800-273-8255 are sent now. That means calls will go to local crisis centers and be routed based on the area code of the caller.”

The only exception is that 9-8-8 calls from US military veterans will be routed to a veteran crisis line overseen by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

COVID-19-Related First Responder Deaths

The number of US first responders who have died as a result of COVID-19 is 1327. That sad tally was provided by David Bryson, EMS specialist with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services.

Using data compiled from the media and national first responder websites, NHTSA calculated that “the largest number are law enforcement community or corrections officers—916 of those folks,” said Bryson. “Firefighters are now at 286, EMS clinicians at 91. And there has been a report of 34 9-1-1 telecommunicators. The good news, if there is any, is that all the numbers coming in now over the last couple of months have been a trickle.”

For more information about FICEMS, go to www.ems.gov/ficems.html.

James Careless is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to EMS World.