Dear Colleague,

Please join the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other federal agency staff for a webinar focusing on EMS Ebola preparedness. Please share this invite widely.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

3:00 to 4:00 pm EDT

ASPR and CDC staff will discuss the previously developed and distributed Detailed Emergency Medical Services Checklist for Ebola Preparedness, which highlights activities that EMS agencies and systems should consider to prepare for managing patients with Ebola and other infectious diseases. This checklist is intended to enhance collective preparedness and response by highlighting key areas for EMS agencies to review in preparation for a person under investigation (PUI) for Ebola. The checklist provides practical and specific suggestions to ensure agencies are able to detect possible Ebola cases, protect employees, and respond appropriately.

Additionally, CDC collaborated with staff and representatives from the Federal Interagency Committee on EMS (FICEMS) to develop Interim Guidance for Emergency Medical Services Systems and 911 PSAPs. FICEMS staff will discuss this guidance, intended for use by managers to understand and explain to staff how to respond and stay safe and by individual providers to respond to suspected Ebola patients and to stay safe.

The purpose of this webinar is to further explain these documents and address any questions that you may have.  Staff from several FICEMS member agencies will field questions. FICEMS includes representatives from ASPR, CDC, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs, the U.S. Fire Administration, an appointed State EMS Director and other agencies.

Please note that we will ONLY be taking live questions via the webinar Q&A feature during this event. Due to the expected high volume of questions, we will not be able to address all questions during the call.

You can access this webinar via the following call-in and URL information:

Dial in numbers:

Country   Toll Numbers Freephone/
Toll Free Number
       
USA 888-325-0345
Restrictions   may exist when accessing freephone/toll free numbers using a mobile   telephone.

For Participants:
URL: https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join/
Conference number: PW9051596
Audience passcode: 1552858

Participants can join the event directly at:
https://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?i=PW9051596&p=1552858&t=c

**The Department of Health and Human Services is making every attempt to ensure that an adequate number of conference lines are available.  Additional information on accessing this webinar may be forthcoming at http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ebola/Pages/ems-call.aspx.

Please note: A recording and transcript will be made available and placed on http://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/responders/ebola/Pages/ems-call.aspx.

**In an effort to maximize availability of call-in lines, please consider joining this webinar with multiple colleagues on one computer.

Sincerely,

Division of Health   System Policy

HHS / ASPR / OPP

Thomas P. O’Neill Federal   Building

200 C Street SW, Washington,   DC 20024

eccc@hhs.gov