OMHC salutes employees, EMTs

May 15-21, 2016 is the 42nd annual National EMS Week. In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS Week to celebrate Emergency Medical Services practitioners and the important work they do in our nation's communities. Back then, EMS was a new profession, and EMS practitioners had only just started to be recognized as a critical component of emergency medicine and the public health safety net.

A lot has changed since then. EMS is now firmly established as an essential public function and a vital component of the medical care continuum. On any given day, EMS practitioners help save lives by responding to medical emergencies, including heart attack, difficulty breathing, a fall or accident, drowning, cardiac arrest, stroke, drug overdose or acute illness. EMS may provide both basic and advanced medical care at the scene of an emergency and en route to a hospital. EMS practitioners care for their patients' medical needs and show caring and compassion to their patients in their most difficult moments.

An important partnership

This year, the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians continues its partnership with the American College of Emergency Physicians on the EMS Strong campaign. Together, the two groups are working to ensure that the important contributions of EMS practitioners in safeguarding the health, safety and wellbeing of their communities are fully celebrated and recognized.

EMS Week brings together local communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services of medicine's "front line."

EMS Week is also an opportunity to publicize those contributions. Given the challenges facing our nation's healthcare system and the rapid pace of change, making sure the public and other stakeholders understand what EMS has to offer has never been more important.

Odessa's EMS community is a very unusual one. We do not have a traditional EMS in Odessa. We rely on every-day citizens with a strong desire to contribute to their community. Odessa EMTs are paid only when they train and when they actually go on a call, and therefore all have "regular" jobs in the community. They are on call after hours and on weekends to respond to 911 needs from all over our area.

We need YOU!

The Odessa EMS service is continually in need of additional personnel. We are always recruiting individuals with a desire to serve their friends and neighbors. OMHC will help with the cost of the class and related testing. As you can tell from above, none of the EMTs are "on call" during regular business hours, and we rely on those who are immediately available to respond to a 911 call during those times. OMHC summons transport help from another service (as close as Moses Lake and as far away as Spokane) for transfers during business hours in order to lighten the load on the EMTs and their employers in the community.

If you are interested in serving the Odessa area as an EMT, please call Mo Sheldon at 509-982-2611 for additional information regarding how OMHC can assist. For information about the "life of an EMT" in Odessa, please contact any of the several dedicated EMTs in the community (or Mo will be glad to direct you to them).

Thank you Odessa EMS!!!

Portions of this text have been excerpted with permission from the National Association of EMTs' website.