By Laura French
WASHINGTON — The Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) and Masimo will honor the San Antonio (Texas) Fire Department and Chesterfield County (Va.) Fire and Emergency Medical Services with the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award.
The award presentations will take place on April 30 at the 32nd Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner in Washington, D.C.
First presented in 2011, the Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award recognizes fire departments from across the nation for developing and enhancing the delivery of emergency medical services to address the growing challenges in delivering emergency medical care. By showcasing these practices, the award program seeks to provide fire departments across the nation with ideas for enhancing their own fire service-based EMS systems.
The San Antonio Fire Department (SAFD) is being honored for developing a program that administers whole blood transfusions to patients suffering hemorrhagic shock while en route to the hospital. It is said to be the first EMS system in the country to offer this treatment to all patients in a metropolitan city. This includes patients at mass casualty incidents. With the SAFD helicopter and medical special operations paramedics, the department can deliver multiple units of whole blood directly to the scene of a mass casualty incident anywhere in south Texas.
Chesterfield County Fire and Emergency Medical Services is being recognized for its Mobile Integrated Health Care Program. While many fire departments across the nation have developed paramedicine programs, the department is being recognized for developing a program that brought together a broad network of partners, including health care providers, social services programs, local businesses, private physicians, area hospitals and government agencies. The program has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of patient transports to local emergency rooms.
“Changing demographics are placing greater demands on our fire departments, requiring them to enhance their EMS capabilities to reduce the burdens being placed on emergency rooms,” said CFSI President Bill Jenaway. “The two departments we are honoring with our 2020 award – San Antonio Fire Department and Chesterfield County Fire and Emergency Medical Services – exemplify the commitment of our nation’s fire service to provide the best level of emergency medical services to their citizens. We look forward to honoring these departments for their commitment and contributions to emergency medical services.”
“We want to recognize all of the departments who submitted applications to CFSI for consideration. Congratulations to the organizations that developed and implemented innovative programs, in collaboration with community and local institutional leadership,” said Andrew Jones, senior vice president of U.S. alternate care sales at Masimo. “We applaud your efforts to innovate to improve outcomes in the delivery of emergency medical services.”