Kansas Emergency Medical Services agencies
responded to 214,707 calls for assistance in 1996. Transporting Ambulances met the Kansas
Board of EMS (BEMS) requirements for staffing with a minimum of one First Responder and
one Emergency Medical Technician. Most services exceed the required staffing guidelines
when they respond. Their staffing depends on how their agency functions and
theirdetermination as to what is best for their communities.
There are 184 ambulance services licensed in
Kansas. Of this number 40 to 45 services primarily use full time staff, supplemented with
part time or volunteer staff. The balance of the services, 139 to 144 use a lesser number
of full time staff and rely heavily on part time and volunteer staff to serve their
communities.
There is a high level of excellence and
commitment to community service on the part of all Kansas certified EMS professionals,
regardless of their status as full time, part time or volunteer participants.
In the State of Kansas there are 10,204
certified Emergency Medical Services personnel. These individuals are certified in the
following categories:
First Responders (FR) = 1,231
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) = 6,039
EMT - Intermediate (EMT-I) = 938
EMT - Difibrillator (EMT-D) = 168
EMT - I/D = 485
EMICT/Paramedic = 1,298
The number of 10,204 personnel, includes 443
EMS educators.
Instructor/Coordinators = 185
Training Officers = 258
These individuals coordinate and instruct
both initial EMS training and EMS recertification/continuing education training for all
levels of certified personnel.
EMS Educators participate heavily in health
care training for non-EMS providers as well as public education including CPR & first
aid.
The Regional Councils serve several
purposes. They are a resource and referral agency to help answer questions or find where
to get answers. They hold regular regional meetings of service representatives and
individuals in their areas to distribute information and discuss issues concerning EMS.
They take to the BEMS meetings in Topeka, the ideas, concerns and suggestions from those
meetings. Regional representatives participate in the BEMS meetings and return to their
areas with information concerning the activities and decisions of the BEMS.
They coordinate and present high quality
training programs of interest to EMS and health care providers and those in public
service. These programs are presented at a reasonable charge to those attending.
Considering, that of the 10,204 EMS personnel, less than 40% are full time employees, the
quality programs at a reasonable charge are of particular benefit to the part time staff
and volunteers. Many of these programs are not presented by individual services because of
the cost to put them on.
The Regions serve to assist EMS
Instructor/Coordinators and Training Officers with the loan of equipment for training
programs, or the finding of equipment so that a particular program my be presented.
The Regional Councils function with limited
part time staff and many hours of donated time from individuals and services they work
with.
Licensed ambulance services and certified
technicians function under the regulatory authority of the BEMS. The Board itself, is
composed of 13 members appointed by the governor. These 13 people represent various levels
of technicians, EMS educators and all types of licensed ambulance services. Of the 13,
there are two Senators and two Representatives, county government is also represented. The
BEMS office functions with an administrator, department coordinators and several staff
members. They work to carry out the regulatory guidelines as established by the BEMS, and
serve as a resource to ambulance services and technicians across our state.
Kansas EMS has two professional
organizations which function across the state. KEMSA, the Kansas Emergency Medical
Services Association and KEMTA, the Kansas Emergency Medical Technicians Association. Bost
Associations hold major statewide training programs each year and work to promote Kansas
EMS.
