Around the Country, State Emergency Medical Services offices are looking for ways to help returning Veterans with medical experience find employment in the EMS industry. We’ll be making it a priority in 2014 to engage more Veterans with EMS experience to use their skills in Arizona’s progressive EMS and Trauma System.
We have a couple big things working in our favor for this initiative. The Armed Forces began to require enlisted personnel providing medical care to the troops to take Emergency Medical Care Technician courses (the same ones used in the non-military world) and then to pass the certification exam provided by the National Registry of EMT’s. That’s great because it means that the Armed Forces requirements align with our state requirements for certification.
In AZ, a coalition of stakeholders including the Arizona Fire Districts Association, the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona and the Arizona Ambulance Association worked to pass legislation allowing individuals that are currently certified by a national organization (like the National Registry of EMT’s) to obtain Arizona certification. Together, these two things are helping to ensure that our returning Veterans have an additional career opportunity and that our EMS team here in Arizona is benefitting from their strong training and extensive experience.
