EMS Today offers attendees interactive exhibits and access to new technology in the exhibit hall.

Communications serves as the backbone of public safety, penetrating and affecting every discipline. And education important to communications and your career can be found at EMS Today, the JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medical Services) Conference & Exposition. For more than 25 years, EMS Today has provided EMS professionals with access to cutting-edge education, training, networking and products and technology. And APCO International has partnered to with the conference, bringing communications into the fold.

APCO Attendees
This year, APCO members who want to attend EMS Today are eligible for free exhibit passes and a $50 discount on two- and three-day conference registrations. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, act and connect. Register for EMS Today at www.emstoday.com/APCO and use the discount priority code APCO. (Note: Early registration discounts end Feb. 4, so act now.)

Take this opportunity to meet and network with professionals at all levels in EMS -- from communicaitons and in-field personel to industry innovators.

On the afternoon of March 3, Richard C. Hunt, MD, FACEP, director of the CDC’s Division of Injury Response, and APCO Technical Service Manager Kathy McMahon will conduct a session on advanced automatic crash notification (AACN). Designed to update attendees on the current state of AACN, the session will review the effect of AACN on the emergency response system. It also discusses data — how 9-1-1 centers can use AACN data to optimize emergency dispatch to motor vehicle crashes and how EMS personnel can use this data in the field to assist in the triage and treatment of patients. The presenters will also discuss how AACN information can be integrated into the medical center destination decision, as well as recent studies analyzing the effect of AACN on prehospital care and victim transport. About the presenters:

Richard C. Hunt, MD, FACEP, has 20 years of experience in emergency medicine and acute injury. He has been the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Injury Response (DIR), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center), since 2004. In his position, Hunt has helped enhance the CDC’s emergency preparedness activities related to disaster and terrorism response, as well as fostered partnerships with the acute injury care community. He also guides research, surveillance and educational activities on traumatic brain injury, alcohol screening and brief intervention, as well as programmatic activities conducted at more than 30 state health department injury programs.

Prior to joining the CDC, Hunt served as professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the State University of New York, Upstate Medical University at Syracuse from 1998–2004. He served as president of the National Association of EMS Physicians from 2001–2002 and was the founding president of Advocates for EMS from 2003–2004.

Kathy McMahon has more than 30 years of experience in the emergency service and communications industry. She began her emergency communications career at the Syracuse Police Department and assisted in the consolidation of police, fire and EMS communications for the Onondaga County (N.Y.) 9-1-1 Center. After many years in calltaking, dispatch and 9-1-1 supervision, she became the technical services administrator, focusing on the implementation of the county’s CAD, telephony and radio console systems. McMahon also spent many years as a volunteer firefighter and critical care technician.

After leaving public service, she was employed by PlantCML as a project manager for the New York City 9-1-1 implementation. She’s currently the technical services manager for APCO International and coordinates the association’s efforts to advocate for the effective evolution and implementation of Next Generation 9-1-1 systems.

Why You Should Attend
According to former EMS operations director and JEMS Editor-in-Chief A.J. Heightman, EMS Today is the conference for the EMS community. It’s an opportunity for public safety communications professionals and emergency medical dispatchers to be exposed to advancements in the EMS field and further their professional development. Heightman’s top reasons to attend:

• Attend Great preconference workshops, including Pediatric Vascular Access, Ultrasound in the Field, PHTLS Instructor Update and the EMS Instructor Course.
• Learn about the newly released 2010 AHA CPR and Emergency Cardiac Care Guidelines and EMS State of the Science trends from the “Eagles,” who are major metropolitan medical directors.
• Get some great recipes for your station house and comm center by watching the EMS Today cooking contest on March 4 in the exhibit hall. (For the list of the contest’s ingredients, see EMSToday.com.)
• Walk away with new knowledge about approaches to tactical EMS and the EMS role at active shooter incidents, and actual projects underway to reduce call volumes through the use of alternative care and transportation.
• Attend the JEMS Games “Excellence in EMS” Clinical Competition on March 4, and see how care is handled in the field.
• Cruise the EMS Today exhibit hall, and see new products and technologies that may be coming to your agency.

Register for EMS Today at www.emstoday.com/APCO. Discount priority code: APCO