The Southwest Virginia EMS Council (SWEMS) announced its 2023 Regional EMS Awards recipients on October 14, 2023. An awards banquet was held at Green Valley Baptist Church in Lebanon, Virginia. Read the winner bios in the full article.

The regional EMS awards banquet is an annual program recognizing the extraordinary efforts of individuals and agencies to enhance the provision of EMS delivery in Virginia.

"We are honored to recognize the efforts of our region's heroes," SWEMS Board President J.C. Bolling stated. "We believe we have the best EMS providers and agencies in the Commonwealth."

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On Friday, the Virginia Office of EMS provided guidance regarding Governor Northam's limited executive Order and its applicability to EMS agencies/providers. Please see the official guidance provided below:

pdf OEMS Executive Order 84 Guidance-1/14/22 (134 KB)

OEMS recently announced that in conjunction with Virginia’s EMS System, the Western Virginia EMS Council recently partnered with ESO to build a comprehensive, statewide network to better collect and track healthcare and public safety data from EMS agencies, fire departments and hospitals.

This will allow the system to really lean into data across the entire patient journey – from 911 call to hospital disposition – to help improve patient care and patient outcomes at a statewide level. Additionally, we’ll have greater insight into first responder well-being so we can provide ongoing support to this critical workforce. Bottom line, we’ll be able to leverage analytics to see data-driven trends that will help us make the most informed decisions when it comes to keeping Virginians healthy and safe.

For more information, click below:

https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/emergency-medical-services/2021/03/11/eso-to-provide-software-and-services-to-virginia-ems-agencies-fire-departments-and-hospitals/

For the past two years, the Commonwealth of Virginia and ESO have partnered to pursue our mission to help Virginia become the healthiest state in the nation.

As we continue to work with ESO, we encourage you to consider attending Wave 2023 featuring ESO Training Academy. ESO hosts this annual conference, bringing together ESO product trainers, national EMS, fire and hospital thought leaders and data experts, and ESO product users for a unique experience.

For more information, please click this link.

The Board of Directors of the Southwest Virginia EMS Council approved revisions to the regional EMS Performance Improvement Plan at their regular meeting.  These documents are available in the Plans and Protocols section of this site.

The Southwest Virginia EMS Council, under direction of the Office of Emergency Medical Services, coordinates a regional Performance Improvement Program.  Data is submitted quarterly to review performance related to specific indicators determined by regional performance improvement committees.  Participation in this program ensures that all agencies are compliant with EMS Rules and Regulations requirements to undertake periodic PI review.

The PI Template is provided to help EMS agencies and OMDs design their own PI programs to meet organizational needs.

EMS Partners,

As we move into the second half of our Kingsport market transition I wanted to provide you with some points for your review and distribution to your personnel:

·         Effective at midnight tonight/tomorrow morning (4/22), all OB/GYN services will transition from HV to IPCH.  This change will be permanent.

·         As I shared last week, the pause on medical and surgical admissions at IPCH remains temporary as we continue working through the pandemic event. 

·         All OB/GYN patients in the Kingsport market should be routed to IPCH, with the exception of your OB trauma patients, which will continue to have their destination determination according to your respective state trauma destination guidelines, and your departmental SOP’s.

·         The ED at IPCH remains open with no changes.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me for any questions you have.  Rebecca Beck is the administrative sponsor for this transition and she, too, will be glad to assist you.

Sincerely,

Anita Perry

The Southwest Virginia EMS Council is hiring for a number of part-time positions. Please click read more to view the position descriptions and submit an application.

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The current Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put stress on healthcare providers all over the world. In addition, patients are crowding (and often overcrowding) healthcare facilities and especially Emergency Departments (ED) located in those facilities.

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