Dateline Vegas - Outstanding! Stupendous! Excellent! Past due! Fabulous! These were just some of the words said by many of the participants at the second annual Fire Rescue Med recently in Las Vegas. Without question, Fire Rescue Med was an unqualified success. Attendance figures increased 25 percent over the first year's conference for a total of 650 registrants.

The opening ceremonies ran a little long but there was no dull moments. Opening statements came from EMS Section Chairman Jack Krakeel, IAFC President Smokey Dyer, and IAFC Executive Director Garry Briese. Also present at the ceremonies was the IAFC Board of Directors. The Board coordinated their spring meeting to be held in conjunction with Fire Rescue Med. This gesture clearly demonstrated to all in attendance that the Board of Directors is fully supportive of fire service EMS.

Also, on the agenda at the opening ceremonies was the presentation of the James O. Page Award. Appearing to help present the award was James Page, himself. Quite profoundly Jim Page in his speech wondered how the Littleton school shooting "would have turned out if the fire service had not been there and a large national ambulance service conglomerate tried to manage it while in system status management."

The recipient of the James O. Page award was Jeff Dyar, EMS Program Chair at the National Fire Academy. Among his many accomplishments in his 25 year career was the development of a core set of EMS curriculum now offered at the National Fire Academy. Upon Jeff's arrival at the Academy there was only one program dealing with EMS. Today, there are multiple courses offered on-campus and off-campus dealing directly with EMS in the fire service.

We learned on Friday before the start of the conference that Chief Rob Brown (Castle Rock, CO) had been called to his City Manager's office and threatened with potential legal action by two representatives from AMR concerning the content of his presentation at this conference. AMR was very concerned about potential statements in Chief Brown's presentation that may be disparaging about AMR. The presentation "Picking Up the Pieces" dealt with what to do when a private ambulance company shuts its doors in your community leaving your citizens without ambulance service. Chief Brown received the support of his City Manager to go ahead with the presentation and many people in attendance at the conference, including Dr. William Atkinson (the keynote speaker), offered to contribute to any defense fund.

Under a new concept, attendees were allowed to write down issues which they thought they would like to see in a critical issues forum at the end of each day. One lively forum dealt with the new pathway management program between AMR and Kaiser. Dr. Jay Goldman, the National Transportation Medical Director for Kaiser attempted to explain the new program. However, the consensus from fire attendees in the room was that Dr. Goldman did a fantastic "Lord of the Dance" around the main issues which truly impact the fire service. The main issue with this $600 million five year contract is patients who are having an emergency - where do they call. Dr. Goldman insisted they will tell their members to call 911 in an emergency. Unfortunately, the definition of an emergency differs from one layperson person to another. Other questions which went unanswered or yet to be proven include how will AMR Pathways route patients back into the 911 system when the communication center is in Wisconsin and the patient is in northern California? Another big question which went unanswered even though there was three AMR representatives in the room was - what will be the reimbursement rate be to a fire agency who transports a Kaiser patient when AMR is the one now paying the bill?

On the last day, the Section business meeting was truly enjoyed by some 550 in attendance. While they dined on many fine edibles they listened to the entertaining and informative Dr. Ed Racht speak on "Beyond Y2K: EMS of the Future."

The election results of the treasurer and chairman of the Section were announced. Re- elected to the position of treasurer was Dave Becker. The new chairman of the section is Ken Riddle, Deputy Chief with the Las Vegas Fire Department. Jack Krakeel now moves to Immediate Past Chair. Watch for the next column which will be written by Ken Riddle. Thanks goes to Phil Minnela and Mark Thorp for sitting on the Nominations Committee and counting the ballots.

In a show of appreciation for all his hard work as Chairman, Jack Krakeel was presented with a mounted chrome plated fire bell bearing the logo of the IAFC at the end of the business meeting.

Gratitude goes to our many speakers who contributed their time and effort to make the conference a resounding success. Dr. William Atkinson, Leslea Adams, Chief Rob Brown, Kevin Bersche, Scott Freitag, Brian Dale, Chief Terry Schenk, Alec Jensen, Chief Alan Brunacini, Baxter Larmon, Gary Horewitz, John Garitz, Pete Lawrence, Chief Jeff Cammack, Andrea Walter, Kevin Brame, and Dr. Ed Racht.

Our thanks to our co-sponsor Responder Magazine. Our primary sponsor, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. Our Gold sponsors, JEMS Communications, Sweet Computer, and Laerdal Medical Corporation. And our many silver sponsors. Gratitude is also in order for the members of the IAFC staff and members of the Las Vegas Fire Department who also helped to make the conference so successful.

We're going back to Las Vegas and the Orleans Hotel again next year with new, current, and timely sessions which deeply impact fire service EMS. Mark your calendars for April 17, 18, and 19, 2000. See you in the next century!