Surviving natural disasters and their aftermath is possible. However, preparation and understanding community resources is essential.
To solve agency problems, EMS agencies nationwide need to focus on offering professional development opportunities to current employees.
To fix ongoing issues such as volunteer recruitment and retention, EMS agency leaders need to pay more attention to best practices.
Disasters typically involve businesses, public transportation, first responder organizations, homeowners, power companies and schools.
One new idea that EMS leaders should consider is whether paramedics should be in school systems acting as school nurses.
Is it time to embrace the concept of a national “EMS Memorial” in honor of EMS professionals who were lost during service to others?
A lot of debate has occurred about whether or not EMS should be a mandated essential service throughout the United States.
Rather than criticism about the actions of disaster victims, more compassion and resources are needed to help those people to recover.