Alameda County EMS Agency

We're thrilled to announce a new partnership with Possibility Lab at UC Berkeley and the Alameda County EMS Agency to study racial and gender disparities in the EMS workforce! This first-of-its-kind study aims to understand the causes and implications of these disparities, exploring innovative solutions to enhance diversity and effectiveness in emergency medical services across California. A really exciting and important project for the field, and an inspiring partnership for us at CARESTAR. https://lnkd.in/eb_vEsJn #EMS #EmergencyResponse #healthequity #racialequity #CARESTARFoundation #workforce

This project launch is one of the things I'm most proud of since I began working at the Alameda County EMS Agency. What started as an idea with Zita Konik, MD FAEMS while I was in grad school is now an amazing partnership with the CARESTAR Foundation and the Possibility Lab. We couldn't have done this without the support of Lauri McFadden and William Mcclurg who continue to spotlight the importance of equity research in EMS. Also shout-out to the current UC Berkeley grad students who helped develop the foundational research that made this project a reality. Marie Warchol, Amartya Kumar, Arifia Sekar Seroja, Tianyi Wang

?? We're thrilled to announce a new partnership with Alameda County EMS Agency and CARESTAR Foundation on a first-of-its-kind study to explore the causes and implications of racial and gender equity in the EMS workforce—the work will help develop innovative solutions that ultimately help improve community care. https://lnkd.in/dTgfVMys

Yesterday was a key milestone in a yearslong undertaking that I've been privileged to help lead with my PWW colleagues Matthew Konya and Steve Wirth for Alameda County, California in its EMS System Redesign Project. Bids from three prospective ambulance contractors were submitted in response to the RFP we helped craft for the County - a document that sets forth a bold vision for what an EMS system of the future should be. There has been a lot of focus in recent weeks on moving beyond response times as a key EMS system measurement with the release of the Joint Statement on EMS Performance Metrics (on which my PWW colleague Matt Zavadsky played a key role). Our project team wrote the Alameda County RFP in 2022-23, before the publication of this groundbreaking joint statement, but it reflects much of the same approach, and we are proud that we've helped develop an EMS system design for a large, diverse and populous county that incorporates many important EMS performance metrics beyond response times. Some of the EMS performance metrics that have supplanted response times in the Alameda County design include: - Pediatric respiratory assessment and proper pediatric asthma management; - On-scene time for STEMI patients; - Blood glucose assessment for stroke patients; - Linkage of EMS patient care reports in a health data exchange for bidirectional data sharing I'm also personally proud of the fact that this EMS system design contains an innovative set of Clinical Equity Metrics, in which the contracted provider will be required to disaggregate its clinical performance data and look at the treatment of patients in vulnerable and historically underserved populations. Gaps in clinical equity between all populations will have to be identified and closed in areas such as STEMI and stroke treatment and prehospital pain management. You can download the Alameda County Ambulance RFP at the link below and check out these and other innovative performance measures and modalities, which include dispatch diversion, assess and refer, telehealth and more. There is still a long way to go before the new Alameda model is implemented in 2026, but yesterday was a milestone for us and the monstrously talented team of the Alameda County EMS Agency - Lauri McFadden, William Mcclurg, Carolina Snypes, and Zita Konik, MD FAEMS, former Alameda County EMS Medical Director Karl Sporer, County Attorney Scott Dickey and Special Projects Office team Maria Smith and Elif Lostuvali. It is a privilege to work on such a vital project with such an amazing team.