East Lansing, MI – The Michigan Center for Rural Health (MCRH) has been awarded $277,497 in grant funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund (Health Fund). The Special Projects and Emerging Ideas grant award will be used to develop a methodology to understand the EMS workforce shortage. This project work will provide a data-driven approach to allocate resources across the state effectively, leading to improved service delivery and potential policy changes.
Over the next 18 months, MCRH will use this Health Fund grant to leverage relationships with key stakeholders, and in-house expertise, to develop an EMS Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) methodology. A HPSA designation identifies an area, population, or facility experiencing a shortage of health care services. As it currently stands, there is no designation to identify shortages of pre-hospital care professionals for rural Michigan. Developing this HPSA designation will bring awareness and understanding to the pre-hospital provider workforce disparities in rural communities across the state of Michigan. Andrea Abbas, EMS Programs Manager, noted that "MCRH is excited to broaden our EMS project work through this data-driven research project focused on the EMS workforce shortage in the state of Michigan." “Our office is grateful to have the Health Fund recognize this need,” said MCRH Executive Director John Barnas. “This grant will provide the resources necessary to develop a quantitative approach to determining need based upon a workforce ratio for a given county/area in rural Michigan.” In addition to the new HPSA designation, MCRH has been diligent in its focus on the state’s EMS workforce shortage. In early 2023, MCRH was awarded $350,000 from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and created the EMS Workforce Grant Scholarship program. This established a workforce development program used for training people in emergency medical services to address the critical shortage of paramedics statewide and to increase accessibility to EMS education programming, specifically paramedic programs, in Michigan. To learn more about the EMS HPSA Designation Project and its impacts on rural Michigan moving forward, please contact MCRH EMS Programs Manager, Andrea Abbas ([email protected]). Click Here to Download Press Release Click Here to Learn More About MCRH EMS Programming and Resources National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) Classes
February 12, 2024 The first statewide NDLS course of 2024, Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS) will be offered virtually February 12, 2024, from 5:00-9:00 p.m. Registration will open 30-days prior to the course. Please share this information with regional HCC partners. The following BDLS class will be April 5, 2024, starting at 8:00 a.m. and running until 12:00 p.m. For registration information or questions please contact Judy Wheeler at [email protected]). EMS Biosafety Transport NETEC has a new free course available with continuing education credits. "EMS Biosafety Transport for Operators" is for EMS providers and clinical personnel at risk of exposure to serious infectious diseases like COVID-19, Mpox, Ebola Virus Disease, Smallpox, SARS, MERS, and novel influenza. There are four credits available, for EMS, nurses and physicians. (Don’t wait too long, course availability ends April 12, 2024.) Take the EMS Biosafety Transport Course Wearable Tech Mitigates First Responder Exposure to Chemical Threats Every day, all types of emergency responders across the nation are dispatched to calls for situations ranging from industrial, agricultural, and commercial accidents to 5-alarm fires. In these moments, we rely on them to render aid swiftly and efficiently, even if it means risking their personal safety. This is why the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), part of the Federal U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is leading a new effort to arm responders with state-of-the-art technology that alerts them to toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) that may be present in the field. An estimated 240 million calls are made to emergency services in the United States every year. “Our emergency responders need to have the most up-to-date technologies and tools that will enable them to safely answer these calls,” said S&T Program Manager Kimberli Jones-Holt. “We are collaborating with several partners to ensure that they have access to these resources, and also enhance existing technologies to provide more convenient and affordable safety capabilities.” Read the Full Article EMS Infectious Disease Playbook: Version 2.0 The EMS Infectious Disease Playbook was recently reviewed by subject matter experts and updated to include information on Mpox and COVID-19. The playbook synthesizes multiple sources of information in a single planning document, culminating in a concise reference resource for emergency medical services agencies developing their service policies. MITRAIN COURSES: Leaning from and Leveraging Career Missteps and Mistakes. MI TRAIN ID 1110410 We all make mistakes in our careers; it's how we handle missteps that matter. What are the most common missteps EMS professionals make during their career growth? Laurie and Andrea sit down to discuss career missteps and the value of mentorship. They will share what they've learned from their professional experiences and how they were able to learn from and leverage their own missteps. This archived webinar is worth 1 EMS credit - Preparatory and 1 IC credit - Education Administration. In order to receive credit, the learner must watch the video in its entirety, complete an evaluation, and score 80% or better on the final assessment. Watch Here First Do No Harm, Are You Sure You Want to Do That? MITRAIN ID 1106938 This session is designed for quality leaders within an EMS system interested in prioritizing patient safety within their quality improvement & assurance program. This archived webinar is worth 1 EMS credit - Operations and 1 IC credit - Measurement and Evaluation. Watch Here Managing Difficult Personalities, The 90/10 Rule MITRAIN ID 1106937 One of Andrea's golden rules is to be aware of how much time we invest in toxic personalities when leading and managing an EMS team. Many EMS leadership courses teach us to spend 80% on our top performers and 20% on toxic and/or disordered underperformers. Andrea will challenge that ratio and discuss the various disordered personality types we may find ourselves up against during our career and how best to manage and lead them without violating the 90/10 rule. This archived webinar is worth 1 EMS credit - Operations and 1 IC credit - Education Administration. Watch Here * You will be redirected to sign into MITRAIN to view the recording. You can then search for the recording ID or title listed above. |
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