Peninsula Emergency Medical Service Council Inc

I. Regional strategic ems plan - the peninsulas ems council utilizes a regional strategic ems plan with established strategies and initiatives to provide the council and staff guidance in the continued development and improvement of the regional emergency medical services system over time. This document is not a recipe for day-to-day management or oversight activities. Rather, it represents a broad-brush approach addressing the bigger picture surrounding the provision of services and coordination interactions between stakeholders. The document focuses on five core strategies: promoting collaborative approaches, creating tools and resources, developing infrastructures, assuring quality and evaluation, and strengthening the regional council. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council completed an annual review of the regional strategic ems plan and its core strategies and strategic initiatives. The plan was approved without change by the board of directors. Ii. Mass casualty incident/mass gathering event support - the peninsulas ems council provides coordination and assistance with mass casualty incident/mass gathering event planning and training on local, regional, and state levels. In conjunction with the tidewater ems council, the peninsulas ems council provides and updates a regional mass casualty incident (mci) plan and guide for all ems agencies, ems providers, ems physicians and hospitals in the region. "in fy 25, the peninsulas ems council, the tidewater ems council and the hampton roads metropolitan medical response system completed and released a re-write of the hampton roads mass casualty incident response guide (hrmcirg) with the assistance of olson group consultants and subject matter experts and ems stakeholders. The new hrmcirg has a mass casualty incident management framework with several annexes and six incident specific response guides: active threat, complex coordinated attack, hazardous materials, mass fatality, mass gathering special events incident, and transportation incident. "in the new hrmcirg framework, the primary patient triage tool, simple triage and rapid treatment (start) method was replaced by the nationally recognized sort, assess, lifesaving interventions, and treatment/transport (salt) method. "throughout fy25, the pems council continued to coordinate or participate in regional planning and improvement of health system response to disasters including pandemics. "the pems council participated with local, regional, state and federal pandemic planning, response and evaluation efforts "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council's planning and emergency management coordinator assisted christopher newport university and the virginia department of emergency management with a full-scale active shooter mci exercise involving 55 patients/victims. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council assisted in planning of and participation in the virginia department of health, the eastern virginia healthcare coalition and the federal emergency management administration's "full moon cruise ship" tabletop exercise involving an infectious disease outbreak on a cruise ship docked in norfolk. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council conducted two basic moulage classes sponsored by the eastern virginia healthcare coalition. The council also works with the peninsulas interfacility cooperation organization (pico) and the virginia hospital and healthcare association to monitor the hospital diversion notification and closure process. Iii. Hampton roads metropolitan medical response system (hrmmrs) - in partnership with the tidewater ems council, the peninsulas ems council assists with the management and implementation of the hrmmrs, a program to improve regional medical response to any large disasters or acts of terrorism within the jurisdictions served by the hampton roads planning district commission (hrpdc), and to include surge capacity planning. Sustainment funding from the sixteen hrpdc cities and counties and various federal contracts and grants fund this program. Members of the peninsulas ems council and ems agencies staff hrmmrs committees, serve on the hrmmrs medical strike team, provide operational support to the strike team, and maintain and augment a strike team equipment and communications cache. "in fy25, the hrmmrs continued regional planning and improvement of the health system response to disasters by actively participating with local and regional groups such as virginia department of health emergency planning and response planners (vdh ep&r), the virginia department of emergency management (vdem), the hampton roads all-hazards advisory committee, regional catastrophic planning grant workgroup, regional catastrophic planning grant planning team and mass care and sheltering workgroup, secure commonwealth health and medical subpanel, the eastern virginia hospital preparedness coordinating group, the cities readiness initiative and the regional all hazards advisory committee. Iv. Eastern virginia healthcare coalition - the peninsulas ems council partners with the eastern virginia healthcare coalition to develop resiliency within the hampton roads and eastern virginia region's hospitals and healthcare facilities, ems agencies, non-government and private healthcare organizations and services and public health in times of crisis. The council's executive director serves on the coalition's executive committee. As a part of hospital readiness and preparedness, the coalition revamped how it conducts coordination efforts and exercises with its partners. There was a return to full coalition in-person meetings. The coalition continues to work alongside hospital emergency management personnel along with the ems planner from the council to develop and conduct various training sessions, exercises and drills to assist the hospital systems evaluate their readiness for various emergent situations. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems planning and emergency management coordinator continued to represent ems on the eastern virginia healthcare coalition advisory committee.

I. Regional information and referral - the peninsulas ems council aided local jurisdictions, ems agencies, ems providers, ems physicians, hospitals, other health care providers, public safety officials, and the public with ems information and referrals; served as a clearinghouse for regional and state ems pamphlets, posters, displays and other ems public relation and recruitment materials; maintained and updated an informational website. All course offerings were posted, to include courses offered by the peninsulas ems council as well as other ems-related courses. On-line registration for courses was also included on the website. Through the council website, staff also provided contact information, including telephone numbers and e-mail addresses so that agencies, providers, and members of the community could contact any staff member with a minimum of delay. All council business involving hipaa/phi communications takes place using secure email and fax systems. The council sponsors facebook and twitter accounts and distributes information throughout the region on a regular and ongoing basis. Ii.ems education and training - the peninsulas ems council provides, facilitates, and supports education and training programs, including continuing education required topics, throughout the region by coordinating instructor networking which facilitates and aids in the provision of quality education to support ems agencies within the region. The council partnered with hospitals in the region to provide an annual trauma symposium and a stroke symposium for pre-hospital and hospital emergency medical care providers, maintained cdc, vdh and other health-related information on the council website, partnered with education and training centers including rappahannock community college ems programs (emt-basic, emt-intermediate and emt- paramedic) oversight committee, and virginia peninsula community college (emt-basic, emt-intermediate and emt-paramedic) oversight committee. In fy25, the peninsulas ems council's executive director served as the chair of both the rappahannock community college ems programs advisory committee and the virginia peninsula community college ems/fire programs advisory committee. Iii. Critical incident stress management (cism) team - the peninsulas ems council supports and manages one of the sixteen critical incident stress management (cism) teams recognized by the commonwealth of virginia. The pems cism team provides critical support to the entire peninsulas ems council emergency services community including police, fire, emergency medical services, emergency communications, and hospital emergency departments who experience psychologically traumatic events or suffer from the effects of cumulative events. The pems cism team also provides services to members of the community involved in similar events. Team members provide pre-incident education, post-incident defusing, demobilization, and debriefing. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council's cism team responded to requests for cism team interventions and education requests from both agencies and individuals in the region. Hosted and provided staff support at semi-annual meetings of the cism team. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council continued its liaisons with ems, fire, and law enforcement agency peer support teams in the region, providing coordinating education and assisting them with state accreditation. Iv. Ems education and training - the peninsulas ems council provides, facilitates, and supports education and training programs, including continuing education required topics, throughout the region. "in fy25 the peninsulas ems council's ems field coordinator - education programs was a resource to the region's ems agencies to help ensure ems providers developed and maintained the knowledge, skills and abilities required to remain relevant in the rapidly changing prehospital emergency medical care environment. "in fy25 the peninsulas ems council coordinated instructor networking to facilitate and aid in the provision of quality education to support ems agencies within the region. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council's ems field coordinator - clinical programs, ems field coordinator-educational programs and the region's stroke coordinators developed and conducted race and befast instructor trainer courses for ems agencies in the region. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council began providing virtual instructor led training vilt) educational programs which provided attendees oems approved ems continuing education credit. Initial topics included sepsis and 15 lead ekgs. V. Consolidated ems testing - on may 5, 2022, the state ems advisory board approved a motion by the medical direction committee to eliminate consolidated testing at the bls level and replace it with the new bls psychomotor competency verification guidance document based on two years of data and evidence gained during the covid-19 pandemic. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council continued to maintain its ability to conduct bls psychomotor competency to allow qualifying candidates to receive recognition of their ems certification under the approved out of state, re-entry, or challenge state certification options. Vi. Regional awards program - each year, the peninsulas ems council conducts a regional awards program. These awards recognize the unique and essential role ems plays in the community and honor the individuals and agencies that have made a significant contribution to ems in the peninsulas ems council region. The regional award winners are nominated for the governors ems awards. The council also works with the hospital emergency departments and emergency physician groups to provide a regional award program to honor the nominees and recipients of the annual regional ems awards. "in fy25, the peninsulas ems council celebrated its 11th anniversary ems celebration and recognize excellence award presentation ceremony with a buffet luncheon in the black forest picnic area at busch gardens williamsburg. Vii. The 2025 peninsulas ems council regional award recipients: excellence in ems (michael b. Player award) - mitchell l. Paulette, richmond county department of emergency services - outstanding ems agency - lifecare medical transport - outstanding prehospital provider (joseph b. Howard award) - jasen m. Plocharczyk, james city county fire department - innovation excellence in ems - york county department of fire and life safety, riverside regional medical center and dr. Cara marie jackson - stroke program - outstanding ems leadership (russell lowry, jr. Award) - mary e. "betsy" sink, james city county fire department - outstanding contribution to ems by a physician (gaylord w. Ray, m.d. Award) - amir k. Louka, m.d., pems regional medical director - outstanding contribution to ems by a nurse (melissa holloway, r.n. Award) - nicole duck, rn, riverside regional medical center - outstanding prehospital educator - willard b. Hicks, iv, vcu health critical care transport network - outstanding contribution to ems for children - joseph khoury, md, children's hospital of richmond - outstanding contribution to ems health and safety - james e. "bud" richardson, york county department of fire and life safety - outstanding ems telecommunications dispatcher - brien lee, peninsula regional emergency communication center - outstanding contribution to ems preparedness and response - stephen c. Pincus, peninsulas ems council - outstanding contribution to ems by a student (1,000 scholarship) - addison m. Boughan, gloucester county volunteer fire and rescue squad, abingdon volunteer fire and rescue, gloucester high school - outstanding ems call - james city county fire department - cardiac arrest with dual sequential defibrillation special recognition awards: - virginia regional ems medication kit transition workgroup - virginia regional ems council directors group, virginia department of health office of ems, state ems advisory board - next steps workgroup, state ems advisory board - medical direction committee, virginia board of pharmacy, us drug enforcement. Agency - washington district, virginia hospital and healthcare association, virginia society of health system pharmacists, virginia ambulance association, virginia association of volunteer rescue squads, virginia fire chiefs association, virginia association of governmental ems administrators, virginia association of counties, virginia municipal league. - aha training center - bon secours rappahannock general hospital american heart association training center - coordination of the pems regional ems medication kit transition - travis veach - ems communications system - peninsula regional communications center - financial support - pems regional ems medication kit transition - children's hospital of the king's daughters, dominion energy charitable foundation, riverside health, and sentara healthcare - mobile integrated healthcare workgroup - amy ashe - regional trauma program - cas

I. The peninsulas ems council interacts with the virginia office of emergency medical services committees to provide avenues for two-way information sharing and statewide system improvements and enhancements. State committees for which the peninsulas ems council has committed staff, volunteers, and resources include: - governor's secure and resilient commonwealth panel-health and human resources subpanel - state emergency medical services advisory board - state emergency medical services advisory board next steps working group - state emergency management committee - state emergency medical services awards committee - state financial assistance review committee - state legislation and planning committee - state medical direction committee - state provider health and safety committee - state trauma performance improvement committee - state workforce development committee - office of ems/board of pharmacy/drug enforcement agency task force - virginia regional ems medication kit transition workgroup - virginia regional directors group - virginia stroke care quality improvement advisory group