EMT Trainer

In response to "Are You A Part of EMS?" I am the operations manager for a large ambulance service in Orange County California. My organization is primarily an interfacility transport company and perform the types of calls that were described in this post. My personnel are deal with this question frequently from other EMTs and in some cases from personnel from local fire departments. Let me tell you about my employees. We transported over 80,000 pateints last year, mostly IFT. Out of that number, 35% are emergent cases that are being transported to an ED for treatment. We deal with psych pateints, CCT with sometimes critically ill patients and occasionally run back-up calls for a few of the local agencies. My personnel are all trained and National Registry certified Emergency Medical Technicians. I submit to you, yes, we are a part of the EMS system in our county. As a large organization, we are one of the first organizations that are called in a large incident. We have responded to several large incidents in the recent past including the wildfire operations in San Diego County this past October. We are listed with our State EMS Authority as an Ambulance Strike Team Provider. All of my strike team members have been trained in ICS and function quite well in that capacity. Again, I submit to you, regardless of what organization an EMT works for, they are a part of the EMS system. We ALL deal with emergencies big and small and take care of people when they are at their worst. This does not change with jurisdiction or what name is on the shoulder patch. We all do essentially the same type of work. If something were to happen in our state, I can guarantee you, my employees and my organization will be ready to enroute and take care of business. We are all a part of the EMS system. Not bad for an IFT company.......