Emergency Services
 Chuck Gray & Rocky Delgadillo, Equipment Mechanic & Fire Captain; Council 36, California
Every day we put our lives on the line to protect and save the lives of others. AFSCME members provide emergency medical services, staff 911 call centers and are first on the scene when disaster strikes, making sure the public is protected.
Join your brothers and sisters in the AFSCME Emergency Services Employees Network. We’ll discuss shared concerns, learn about what’s going on around the country and exchange information and ideas.
Emergency Medical Dispatch System Puts Help at 911 Dispatchers' Fingertips Dispatchers at the Culpeper Public Safety Communications Center in Culpeper, Va., can now confidently give out life-saving information to desperate 911 callers. Before this year, those dispatchers weren't allowed to give out any information. They'd dispatch a first responder and tell the caller to call 911 again if anything changed. Most Fire and EMS Recruits are Overweight New research shows that 77 percent of candidates for firefighting and emergency medical technician positions were overweight or obese. The study, published online today in the journal "Obesity", was conducted by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard University and the Cambridge Health Alliance. "If they are beginning their careers overweight and obese unless there is an intervention, it would be worse over time," said Dr. Stefanos Kales, director of the occupational & environmental medicine residency at the Harvard School of Public Health and senior author of the study. GAO Report On Pan Flu Planning And Preparedness GAO has conducted a body of work over the past several years to help the nation better prepare for, respond to, and recover from a possible influenza pandemic, which could result from a novel strain of influenza virus for which there is little resistance and which therefore is highly transmissible among humans. GAO’s work has pointed out that while the previous administration had taken a number of actions to plan for a pandemic, including developing a national strategy and implementation plan, much more needs to be done. Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening CDC's Emergency Response CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER) has released its inaugural report on CDC activities in public health emergency preparedness. The report, "Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening CDC's Emergency Response", explains the key role CDC plays in preparing the public health infrastructure to respond effectively to all types of hazards, and provides an overview of the broad range of preparedness activities receiving Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (TPER) funding. CDC accomplishments in preparedness are described. The report also details how CDC is addressing challenges to achieve its overarching public health preparedness goal: "People prepared for emerging health threats - people in all communities will be protected from infectious, occupational, environmental, and terrorist threats." Next Wave Toolkit Learn how to start a new Next Wave chapter, host an event, get involved in the election or find more information.
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Nelson Cintron
District Council 37, New York
"We are on the front lines of homeland security and emergency response. When the unthinkable happens, we are the workers who show up. With our union, we make sure we have the funding, equipment and training to keep this country safe."
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