Friday, April 26, 2024
4/26/2024
The Building EMS Capacity in Alaska’s Copper Basin project seeks to increase the number of locally-based, nationally-registered, and state-licensed paramedics from one to three, Advanced Emergency Service Technicians (AEMTs) from zero to six, and National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) instructors from one to five. Additionally, the project will address the problem of skills deterioration due to low call volumes by forming ride-along partnerships with higher-call volume EMS departments in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna region, providing 18 local EMS members with the experience of responding to a variety of EMS scenarios. The project goals and objectives will also focus on training active EMS personnel in nationally accredited NAEMT courses in Psychological Trauma, Advanced Medical Life Support, Geriatric Education, Pediatric Emergency Care, Naloxone training, as well as completing state-approved EMT-1, EMT-II, and EMT-III recertification courses for 75 percent of the region’s active EMS responders. This project will provide critical training materials for 15 training workshops, varying from eight to 80 hours (with the paramedic program training exceeding 1500 hours) as well as 20 tablets for EMS training, testing, record-keeping, and village clinical support. By the end of the project period, the unduplicated number of people trained will be 35. Copper Basin EMS personnel serve an area of 20,000+ square miles with a full-time population of around 2,600 residents and nearly 100,000 visitors in the summer due to tourism and fishing. The resident population's racial demographics are 23% Alaska Native, 69% Caucasian, and 8% other. The majority of residents are between 18 and 64 years of age (65%), with only 24% under 18 years of age and 11% 65 years or older. Major health care needs include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, various cancers, poor nutrition, edentulism, substance abuse (e.g., alcoholism, methamphetamines, and a growing OUD challenge, including prescription drug abuse and heroin), STIs, and orthopedics. Barriers to health care access include extremely low incomes, lack of convenient access to hospitals and specialty care, very rural frontier Alaska location, and extreme weather conditions. On average, local EMS services respond to 150 to 200 calls annually. This project will provide essential training for providers who will serve 100,000 people annually in the Copper River Basin. Our region's active EMS personnel are currently comprised of 20-22 volunteers, and one or two paid FT responders.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
