SBC Public HealthBy the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
The Santa Barbara County EMS is, once again, nationally recognized for its commitment to providing high-quality cardiovascular care. Advanced Life Support (ALS) agencies within the Santa Barbara County EMS System have received the American Heart Association “Get With The Guidelines and Mission: Lifeline Achievement Awards” for demonstrating commitment to following up-to-date, research- based guidelines for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer readmissions to the hospital.
According to the Stroke Awareness Foundation, every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke or heart attack, and heart disease and stroke are the No. 1 and No. 5 causes of death in the United States, respectively. Studies show patients can recover better when providers consistently follow treatment guidelines.
“The Santa Barbara County EMS System is committed to improving care by adhering to the latest treatment guidelines and streamlining processes to ensure timely and proper care for heart attacks and strokes,” Nick Clay, Santa Barbara County EMS Agency Director. “The Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs make it easier for our teams to put proven knowledge and guidelines to work on a daily basis, which helps us ensure more people in Santa Barbara County experience longer, healthier lives.”
This year, the American Heart Association modified their qualification process to recognize individual agencies rather than the system as a whole. As part of the new application process, agencies must meet certain volume requirements to qualify for the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines and Mission: Lifeline achievement awards. As a participant in both Mission: Lifeline / Get With The Guidelines programs, American Medical Response (AMR), Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District (CSFPD), and Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) qualified for the award(s) by demonstrating how their organization has been committed to improving quality care.
The Santa Barbara County EMS Agency works collaboratively with EMS/First Responders by providing ongoing clinical education, evaluation of high-risk skills and complex assessment training, in addition to ongoing system updates to the electronic documentation platform. All of these system implementations ensure not only the delivery of prompt and comprehensive patient care for EMS cardiac and stroke patients, but also the ability to capture critical information and integrate findings with local hospital centers to provide definitive patient care.
This year, Santa Barbara County EMS System received these achievement awards:
- Mission: Lifeline ® EMS Gold Award
- American Medical Response (AMR)
- Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District (CSFPD) o Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD)
- Mission: Lifeline ® Target: Heart Attack
- American Medical Response (AMR)
“We are pleased to recognize American Medical Response, Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, Santa Barbara County Fire Department for their commitment to caring for those in their community who need cardiovascular care,” said John Warner, M.D., FAHA, past president of the American Heart Association and CEO of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
About Mission: Lifeline
The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program helps hospitals and emergency medical services develop systems of care that follow proven standards and procedures for STEMI patients. The program works by mobilizing teams across the continuum of care to implement American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Foundation clinical treatment guidelines. For more information, visit heart.org.
About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 12 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.
So why is the county board of supervisors throwing a wrench in this well-performing system?
It can’t possibly be because they know EMS systems better than EMS experts. If they think they can do better that’s called hubris. If they don’t think they can do better that’s called corruption.
Congrats and thank you to our frontline EMS responders. Sorry you’re caught in a political battle. Keep up the good work!
I think someone is receiving kickbacks.
I think it’s time we look a lot closer at the finances of our “elected officials” who have steadily sold out the interests of our city and county with no accountability.
SBSTONER – I’m not sure about the “sold out” part of your comment. But, didn’t the county buy County Fire 35 ambulances? And wasn’t this done without knowing they would have a contract enabling them to be put into operation? Or, did someone in the county service know they would be used?
Doulie, as is the case with practically any government procurement contracts, there are private contractors supplying the ambulances.
Given our local political climate it’s safe to say that some people who facilitated the decision will get a cut from the contractors.
It happens all the time in both the gov and defense manufacturing industries. When someone opens up a bidding process, if you guarantee that money is spent with contractor x, and there isn’t a sensible reason for it, then it’s likely contractor x paid you to guarantee their selection, because all you’re really doing as an “elected official” is choosing who wins tax payer and grant dollars.
STONER – But, but, no matter the contractor in this case. Am I correct in understanding only the county and another business were bidding on the contract to provide ambulance service. My question is, why did the county buy the 35 ambulances (before) they had a contract that would enable them to be put into service? Is this issue about a contractor and purchase of the ambulances before a provider was decided significant enough to impanel a Grand Jury?
I can’t speak to that, but I would say it definitely shows that they made sure it was a done deal before it was voted on, realistically the cash had already been handed over. Whoever is silent downvoting this conversation is probably Fire Dept higher ups or city staff.
Edit – County staff
I guess we didn’t get the memo 🙂
In all seriousness this spending should be investigated thoroughly from approval to ambulances rolling off the manufacturing line.
Who manufactures them? Who that’s on the board of (not so) supervisors is related to the company getting the contract? Wasn’t it some absurd amount per vehicle, especially given the volume? Have these people ever heard of a bidding process? Seems like a lot of info is being clouded and I don’t know what agency would investigate the board but this sure seems fishy.
STONER – I don’t pay much attention to the voting. I figure anyone that down votes me probably expresses opposition in a comment. Not this time. Due to the money involved and the manner it appears to have been handled, I find it strange only one other person commented about this issue. Even a couple people that seemingly comment about everything stayed off their keyboard.