Escambia County Emergency Medical Services Public Education

Public Education
EMS has an aggressive Public Education Information Program that provides valuable information for various groups, to include school children, teenagers, civic organizations, churches, professionals and attendees at community events. Detailed information is conveyed about ECEMS concerning the DNRO program, proper utilization of our service, available access, and through a myriad of educational brochures specific to an ambulance operation. The basics of “when “ and “how” to call for an ambulance, with emphasis on when in doubt “call for an ambulance”, is explained to ensure the public remains informed about our service. Escambia County EMS is very active in providing educational resources and training to the public and other governmental agencies. We understand that the proverbial “ounce of prevention” is better than the “pound of treatment”. In 2004, ECEMS became an American Heart Association Training Center under the guidelines of the AHA.  This allows ECEMS to provide a wide variety of courses to the public in an effort to enhance services to the public.

Drowning Prevention
Escambia County, due to the large amount of natural waterways, number of pools and dangerous surf conditions has experienced a significant number of drowning and near drowning events. ECEMS has been active in community forums and presentations on water safety, pool safety and drowning prevention.

In 2002-2003 ECEMS worked closely with the Pensacola Beach Lifeguards to assist in their training and provided initial equipment to facilitate and enhance a safety program aimed at preventing drowning. This program has been very successful as the reported drownings have been reduced significantly over the last 3 years.  ECEMS works closely with outside agencies in efforts like this one to improve public education and access to information.

Child Passenger Safety
Escambia County was experiencing too many children who were either critically injured or killed by being improperly restrained in motor vehicles. ECEMS employees would call the Buckle Up Hotline to report unsafe vehicles, however, it did not appear to be making any difference. The Escambia County EMS Injury Prevention Team was established in March 2000. This was the first county child passenger safety program in Northwest Florida.

Since that time, seven employees have become AAA Certified Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technicians and two have become instructors.  ECEMS is fortunate to have the most instructors in the region. . In the past three years, well over 1,000 car seats have been inspected and over 850 + seats have been distributed to parents who either had no car seat or had one that was inappropriate, too old, damaged or recalled.

In 2002, this program provided the first 32 Hour AAA CPS Technician Course in Northwest Florida. As a direct result of our efforts, child passenger safety programs were established in Santa Rosa and Walton Counties. ECEMS facilitated the training of CPS Technicians in our neighboring counties, provided the car seats to initiate their programs and provided a copy of our grant application to use as a template in seeking their own funds. ECEMS has received funding from grant monies the last two out of three years from the State of Florida Department of Transportation in an effort to continue this valuable and successful program.

Schools and Educational Institutions
Our involvement with educational institutions is phenomenal. We routinely participate at elementary school safety and career day events. In 2002, we visited several elementary, middle and high schools. West Florida High School of Advanced Technology is in its fourth year of operation. In 2002, ECEMS donated an out of service ambulance to the school for use by the medical students. One of the areas of study is Emergency Medical Services where students learn basic emergency medical techniques. ECEMS was involved in the creation of this program and continues to participate by providing an introduction about EMS to the freshman classes. In 2005, ECEMS instituted a ride-a-long program with the Escambia County School Board to help facilitate students receiving “on the job” training and opportunities in the EMS field.  This opportunity correlates closely with their studies as First Responder students in this unique course.