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Recently the National Rural Health Association (NRHA), in partnership with
the National Association of State EMS Directors (NASEMSD) and the National
Organization of State Offices of Rural Health announced the start of a
project to develop a major consensus document to serve as a guide for
national policy and funding of rural and frontier emergency medical
services (EMS) across the country. Called the national “Rural/Frontier
EMS Agenda for the Future”, the guide will be patterned after the EMS
Agenda for the Future, published by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) in 1996, which has served as a visionary tool for
EMS system planners across the nation.
"Rural/Frontier EMS" or "R/FEMS" is a term intended to
cover EMS provided in the wilderness of woods, hills, mountains, plains
and desert outside of urban/suburban centers.
Nationwide Input and Consensus Sought Through Website
The writing project will have three phases. The first phase is an
information collection period from now through November 30, 2003. This is
your opportunity (anyone involved in any capacity in the rural/frontier
EMS or health care communities) to bring to a national level of attention
your issues, barriers, best practices (actually implemented or currently
contemplated), or ideas/priorities that you feel should be considered in
the writing of this guide concerning the provision of EMS in
rural/frontier America.
To facilitate this process, a website has been created at:
http://www.nrharural.org/EMSagenda/
The website contains a description of the project and instructions on how
to quickly and easily submit information to the writing team. The website
will also be used for public review of drafts and submission of comments
on those drafts.
The Virginia Office of EMS encourages all interested parties to fully
participate.
For more information, contact Eli Briggs, Policy and State Affairs Manager
at NRHA at briggs@nrharural.org
or Kevin K. McGinnis, Program Advisor, NASEMSD at mcginnis@nasemsd.org.
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