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Changes in a federal act extend benefits
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Recently passed legislation, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), will remedy coverage gaps and provide a crucial safety net for the families of first responders who are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty was signed into law by President Obama.
The legislation closes gaps in the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act (PSOB) that had left some first responders without benefits when they are injured or killed in the line of duty.
The PSOB program was launched more than three decades ago to provide assistance to the surviving families of police, firefighters and medics who died or became disabled in the line of duty who were employed by federal, state and local government entities. The new legislation extends the PSOB program to cover private, nonprofit emergency medical services volunteers and personnel.
"Since the tragic line of duty death of Cheryl Kiefer in 2008, we have been advocating for this type of reform to the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Act," stated Dale Berry, president and CEO. Because Cheryl was employed by Jackson Community Ambulance, a private, nonprofit ambulance service, her family was not entitled to survivor benefits. "This new legislation changes that and extends benefits to all first responders who are injured or killed in the line of duty."
Several public safety organizations helped build support for Leahy's bill, including the American Ambulance Association. "First responders are flesh-and-blood lifelines to all of us," Leahy said. "When tragedy strikes, they lay their lives on the line with a sense of duty, with skill and with selflessness. All first responders should be treated as professionals, whether paid, volunteer, municipal or private nonprofits. We count on them, and they need to be able to count on us. This is their law."
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Emergent Health Partners
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 For the past two years, the Huron Valley Ambulance Board of Trustees and the Trustees of its sister ambulance services, including Monroe Community Ambulance, have been studying changes and trends in national healthcare policy. The data indicates that the role of successful ambulance services will be changing over time with a need to build closer relationships with hospitals and new, physician-directed accountable care organizations. In the thirty years since the formation of Huron Valley Ambulance, the organization has grown from a small, single county ambulance service to a highly successful 8-county regional organization that includes Monroe Community Ambulance. To remain strong for the next 30 years, the Trustees changed the organizational structure to create a new nonprofit parent organization known as Emergent Health Partners. "The creation of Emergent Health Partners enables us to grow more effectively in the future", said Dale Berry, President and CEO of Emergent. "It also positions us to more efficiently integrate into health care changes that will be coming in the future". Berry will continue to serve in a dual role as President and CEO of Emergent, as well as President of Monroe Community Ambulance and Emergent's other member ambulance services. In addition to owning all or part of six ambulance services, Emergent provides administrative and operational management, human resources and staffing, financial services, call-center services, fleet and facilities management, and educational program resources to our member units. "MCA and our other ambulance services will remain the primary focus in the communities we serve", said Berry. "Behind the scenes, Emergent will provide many functions that are common to all of our community ambulance services. Our ambulance services will remain local, but they will benefit by the consolidation of our support functions". Jackie Liebowitz, Chair of the Emergent Health Partners Board of Trustees explained that, in the early stages, the Emergent and MCA boards will remain the same. According to Liebowitz, "the Emergent board will focus regionally while the MCA board will focus locally." |
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The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) has reaccredited MCA for an additional three year period.
CAAS is an independent Commission that established a comprehensive series of standards for the ambulance service industry by encouraging and promoting quality patient care in America's medical transportation system.
CAAS accreditation signifies that MCA is fully compliant with standards established by the ambulance industry to be essential in a modern emergency medical services provider. The CAAS standards are designed to increase operational efficiency and clinical quality while decreasing risk and liability to the organization.
The reaccreditation process includes a comprehensive self-assessment and an independent external review of the EMS organization. Currently, there are more than 150 CAAS-accredited agencies in 37 U.S. states, Canada and the West Indies.
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Nominate a Hero
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A hero is defined as a person of distinguished courage who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities demonstrated by the performance of a heroic act. Monroe Community Ambulance wants to recognize the heroes in our community who have performed a courageous act in an attempt to save someone's life and organizations that have created a heart safe work environment.
MCA is accepting nominations for their Life Saving and Heart Safe Awards. The awards will be presented at a recognition dinner on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Ann Arbor. The awards are presented annually during National EMS Week, a time for local communities and EMS personnel to publicize safety and honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services of medicine's "front line."
Complete criteria and nomination forms are available at mca-ems.org. For additional information, call MCA Community Relations at 734-477-6285 or send an email to communityrelations@
emergenthealth.org. The deadline for award nominations is Friday, April 19, 2013 at 5 p.m.
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