(NEW) EMSAC Region News
Welcome to EMSAC's region news. Each month we will bring you a report from one of EMSAC's 11 regions, from the region's representative on the EMSAC's board of directors. The region boundaries conform to those of the eleven state Regional Trauma and EMS Advisory Councils (RETACs).
Region 2
Hello everyone, my name is Paul Johnson, and I am the Region 2 Director for EMSAC. Region 2 is an incredibly diverse area that covers Boulder, Jefferson, Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Grand Counties. I might be biased, but I think it is one of the best places to serve in the whole State. Region two is a very distinct area that covers an astonishing array of EMS challenges.
On the Front Range we have big-city and big-agency challenges that involve every kind of EMS agency, from private ambulance companies to hospital-based EMS to fire-based EMS. As the region goes up into the mountains, via the famed (infamous) I-70 corridor, the EMS agencies are county based, smaller, and face lots of different challenges and call types.
Having started out my EMS career in Grand County and eventually working my way down to Boulder I have lived all the challenges faced by our diverse agency types and can safely say I have loved all my jobs and I wouldn’t change where I’ve worked for anything. What an amazing place to be able to serve! Currently, I am the Division Chief of EMS for Mountain View Fire on the eastern edge of Boulder County.
One of the other things that I do is serve on the board of the Foothills Regional Emergency Medical and Trauma Advisory Council (RETAC), which covers the same counties as Region 2 of EMSAC. In general, the RETAC exists to create, enhance, and promote a systematic approach to the care of the ill or injured through quality improvement, injury prevention, disaster planning, and coordination of partners in the healthcare continuum.
As chair of the Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Committee I/we have been focusing our efforts on planning and training. Our efforts have been building up and we are planning on offering full-scale MCI exercises this summer in mid-July (dates are being finalized). It will be exciting to tie years of buildup, planning, and effort into an exercise that will test plans and capabilities. Another project we are participating in with the Healthcare Coalition (HCC), is the development of the Hospital Resource Officer (HRO) position for Incident Command (IC) and large-scale incidents. The job of an HRO is to go to the hospitals that are being affected by an incident and provide coordination, assistance, decompression etc. This position came from the MCI realm and was successfully utilized to evacuate hospitals during the recent Marshall Fire. The RETAC and the HCC are working with hospitals and response agencies to build out and formalize the position and processes.
Another large, notable, training close to our area is the National EMS Safety Summit that takes place in early April every year in Denver. The Safety Summit is a national conference with great speakers solely focused on EMS topics. This year, it will take place April 5th– 7th. Lastly, region 2 is a huge supporter of the EMSAC conference every November in Keystone. We always see a strong contingent of folks from R2 in attendance.
Finally, 2023 is looking to be a strong year for EMS. We are closely watching the development and work of the EMS sustainability task force and licensing task force through the State. Care Forward is an amazing piece of legislation that helps pay for EMT and other schools and we are grateful to our legislators and CDPHE for working to help keep EMS a stable career field.
Please reach out if you have any ideas, trainings, plans, wants, needs, questions, etc. we’d love to hear from you!
Thank you.
Paul Johnson
Region Two Representative, EMSAC
EMS Chief, Mountain View Fire
[email protected]
