 |
|
||||||||||||
| |
KAPA develops draft EMS legislative needs By BOB
GAINER ARGILLITE — The Kentucky Ambulance Providers Association Board of Directors met at Greenbo Lake State Park over the weekend of Mar. 13 - 14 to identify the issues and problems which exist in the current program of EMS in Kentucky. Meetings lasted from 10 AM until 11 PM Saturday and then resumed again from Sunday morning from 9 AM until noon. Board members and officers had, over the past months, attempted to solicit input from across the state as to the shortcomings and needs for EMS. At the close of the weekend session, President Gainer took all of the notes from the meeting -- a large roll of filled flip charts -- and has prepared a summary of the issues and possible solutions. KAPA Board members have now been mailed a copy of this summary and have been asked to again go to the providers and interested parties within their regions to update them on the results of the group discussion. Input will again be solicited. KAPA Officers and members of the KAPA Legislative Committee will be requesting meetings with the elected officers of other EMS associations across the State. Additionally, meetings are already being held with various key legislators to give them a "heads up" that an omnibus piece of legislation is expected to be pre-filed probably in September. The legislation will, of course, be commonly called EMS 2000. Gainer reports that he has coined the phrase "A breath of life for EMS in Kentucky" to describe the anticipated legislation. It is important to note that the "summary" which is being circulated is not to be misconstrued as any indication of what a final legislative document will look like. This discussion document is merely that, a document to produce further discussion. The KAPA Board plans to meet again no later than June to finalize the wishes and desires to be presented to LRC for it's formulation of an actual Legislative Bill. It is highly recommended that, as soon as possible, any input which anyone might have should be presented to a KAPA Officer or Board Member for that input to be considered. Strong support of all in EMS will be needed to make this effort become a reality. There is strength in numbers and we must all be reading from the same page to bring our legislation to fruition. Watch for more news about EMS 2000.
|
![[Kentucky EMS Connection]](../../images/logo2.gif){kind=logo}
![[Kentucky EMS Connection]](../../images/KEC_log3.gif){kind=small}