Keynote Addresses, Awards Kick Off EMS World Expo 2016

With such a diverse range of topics covered at EMS World Expo, the opening ceremonies would not have been representative of the conference as a whole without covering an array of topics.

In the true spirit of EMS World Expo, three keynote speakers gave 20-minute TED Talk-style presentations in a three-part keynote address.

Following opening remarks from Jeffrey Elder, director of EMS and medical director for New Orleans EMS, Aaron Miller, director of homeland security and emergency preparedness for the city of New Orleans and EMS World Publisher Scott Cravens, the three presenters took turns on stage discussing a diverse array of topics with one common theme: innovation.

Brijesh P. Mehta, MD, took the stage first to discuss transformations in stroke care.

Mehta covered the last 20 to 30 years of stroke care, and described care for large-vessel occlusion strokes as ineffective, even as advances in stroke-care devices were made over the years. One thing that began to provide positive results was getting care to LVO stroke patients faster and more efficiently, Mehta says, and more closely aligning hospitals and EMS for stroke care can speed up the process.

One way EMS agencies and hospitals can speed up the treatment process is implementing updated stroke scales, which Mehta says his southern Florida workplace has done since they went live last year.

Mehta also suggests closely linking the EMS providers and the hospital’s neurointerventionalists, which Mehta did by giving all the EMS employees his direct cell phone number to call in case of a stroke, even providing them with a wallpaper for their mobile phones that had his phone number on it.

Another major key, Mehta says, is for EMS agencies to implement the available communication technologies, such as Pulsara or Twiage.

“The technology is out there, but it’s all about implementation,” Mehta says.

Mehta also touched on mobile stroke units and rapid imaging communication technology, which he says can be very useful for rural communities.

In the end, speed is key, Mehta says.

“These minutes matter,” he says. “The more we integrate with EMS, the better the outcomes.”

The second presentation came from First Net President T.J. Kennedy. Kennedy began with an emotional tale about the death of his father. Kennedy’s father was running on the treadmill when he experienced sudden cardiac arrest, and was unable to be resuscitated by the time the fire department arrived.

The experience led Kennedy to question “what if?” He thought of all the technology that could have helped in that situation: a smartwatch that could have detected an abnormal heart rhythm and alerted his father to an issue, two-way video from dispatchers that could have helped during the 9-1-1 call, an AED that could have been delivered by drone to avoid traffic.

The experience led Kennedy to re-enter the public-safety industry and try to make these technologies a reality.

In the near future, Kennedy advocated for a more open flow of information between public safety industries. Kennedy says hospitals, EMS, fire and police should be sharing technology and have a more open information-sharing system in place to help better treat patients.

At FirstNet, Kennedy is working toward creating a dedicated network for first responders to speed up the flow of information.  The network provides priority and preemption for first responders, so responders are not fighting with commercial traffic for a signal when trying to transmit information.

Kennedy believes the technology we currently have and the further development of that technology that will happen in the next few years will be able to change the landscape of EMS and change how quickly and effectively we can treat patients.

“We have the power in our pocket to change EMS,” Kennedy says. “Not in the next ten years, but in the next one or two.”

The closing presentation was given by Ed Racht, MD, chief medical officer of AMR and associate chief medical officer of Evolution Health. Racht opened by describing the problem that all EMS personnel share.

“Our problem is that we love solving other peoples’ problems,” Racht says. “The worse it is, the more we like solving it.”

Racht went on to describe how this “problem” continually leads to evolution and innovations in EMS.

With the opioid crisis, Racht says the desire to solve the problems of the patient has led into the public health sector, administering Narcan to overdose patients and helping figure out how to handle them after administering the Narcan. Racht described how EMS can also help with other first responder networks by using data to create heat maps of problem areas and help track where the epidemic is hitting the hardest.

With the recent Ebola crisis, EMS helped develop protocols of how to handle patients even though it hadn’t been done often previously.

With current terrorism incidents and active shooter situations, a necessity of public education on hemorrhage control has emerged, which has led EMS agencies to provide public outreach on the topic.

Now, Racht says, EMS is working with other industries to develop safety products. Racht gave the examples of helmets for sports that can track concussion data or motorcycle helmets and gear that have airbags and other safety measures built in.

With all of this continued development, one constant remains, Racht says: “We love solving other peoples’ problems. We all have that spot deep in our brain that says ‘Wow, that would be cool to respond to.’ We don’t wish for it to happen, but we want to respond to it.”

That problem, Racht says, is a solution for the rest of the world.

In addition to the keynote addresses, the EMS World/NAEMT National EMS Awards of Excellence were given out. The winners, commended for the outstanding achievements in the field of EMS, include:

• 2016 Dick Ferneau Paid EMS Service of the Year, sponsored by Ferno: New Hanover Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Transport Services, Wilmington, N. Carolina
• 2016 Volunteer EMS Service of the Year, sponsored by ZOLL: Valhalla Volunteer Ambulance Corps, New York City
• 2016 NAEMT/Nasco Paramedic of the Year, sponsored by Nasco: Bryn Arnold, Paramedic, Indianapolis, Indiana
• 2016 NAEMT/Braun Industries EMT of the Year, sponsored by Braun Industries: Nicole Richards, EMT, Burlington, Colorado 
• 2016 NAEMT/Jones & Bartlett Learning EMS Educator of the Year, sponsored by Jones & Bartlett Learning: Leaugeay Barnes, Paramedic, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• 2016 NAEMT/North American Rescue Military Medic of the Year, sponsored by North American Rescue: Ernest Parrish, Paramedic/SOCOM Medic, Sergeant, U.S. Army, Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), Washington