In August 2018, Ryan Greenberg, Director of the NYS DOH Bureau of EMS and Trauma Systems, had a vision of what pre-hospital pediatric care could look like in NY. Over the last four years, we have assembled a state team of key stakeholders to identify shortcomings and barriers to pre-hospital pediatric care and then create the criteria for a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC) in NYS. I am excited to share that we have recruited over 200 PECCs across NYS. 

 

Currently, we are hosting the Southwestern Region Pediatric EMS Education Series, which is open to all providers. We have hosted three of the four sessions thus far. Again, providers from all NYS have attended, and we have had great feedback on those presentations.  

 

I want to thank the Bureau for their partnership on this program over the years, SWREMS for supporting everything we have wanted to do in our region for pediatric care, and the providers and agencies for embracing the changes we have tried to make. I know that the providers are more prepared to deal with pediatric patients in NYS because of these efforts.  

I want to thank Northwell Health for hosting the 3rd annual Gun Violence Prevention Forum that I was able to attend this week.  The recent tragedy at Oxford and the number of suicides by firearms reminds us of the need for prevention and collaboration. The message from the forum was that we need to integrate firearm education within our healthcare community. Currently, Violence and Prevention are words that we have not been used together and now is the time for us to work together at the community level and take a more active role in addressing gun violence and mental health as the actual public health emergency.