Education and Innovation Take Center Stage at ImageTrend Connect

The second day of the ImageTrend Connect conference, held this week at the Saint Paul (Minn.) RiverCentre, kicked off on Thursday with a two-part keynote address that educated attendees on the EMS aspects of protecting the homeland. First up was Eric Chaney, Medical First Responder Branch chief in the Office of Health Affairs (OHA), which leads biodefense, health and medical efforts at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The OHA sits at a unique intersection between law enforcement, homeland security and public health, playing a role in everything from disaster response to managing federal efforts in treating and screening emerging infectious diseases, such as Ebola. The DHS Office of Health Affairs is responsible for EMS across DHS,from the Secret Service to the Coast Guard. Chaney pointed out that the care provided by OHA’s EMS providers aren’t unique in the care they provide, just in how, when and where the care is provided. OHA’s EMS providers span across several DHS agencies, including the Secret Service, FEMA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Coast Guard, and they’re responsible for a wide range of EMS care, including force health protection and the care of dignitaries, detainees and—when responding as a mutual-aid agency such as after a hurricane or terrorist attack—the general public. The OHA also plays a key role in national first responder initiatives, such as providing active shooter response resources for EMS and managing the St...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: News Administration and Leadership Source Type: news