I recently returned from a trip to the EMS Today Conference and Expo in Baltimore, Maryland. This conference is the largest gathering of Paramedics and EMTs in the country and provides great educational and networking opportunities. I was there for a couple of reasons. First, to present an award to the Baltimore Fire Department and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for their outstanding injury prevention program called the CARES Mobile Safety Center. Secondly, to speak about why injury prevention should be an integral part of emergency medical services.

RCCP Team members take care of a simulated pregnant patient in a restaurant during the JEMS Games. Not only do competitors need to provide excellent care to their patients, they have to do it while being evaluated by a cadre of judges and an audience full of Paramedics, Nurses and Physicians.

One of the cool things about this year's conference was that there was a large contingent of folks from San Diego. Many were on hand to attend the conference and compete in the JEMS Games, a very intense medical skills competition that utilizes "real life" scenarios in highly stressful situations to test the clinical skills of teams consisting of three Paramedics. Two teams from San Diego were competing; one representing the San Diego Regional Cooperative Care Program (an innovative emergency medical services functional consolidation between Bonita-Sunnyside, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, National City and San Miguel Fire Departments and American Medical Response), and another team representing San Diego Fire-Rescue and San Diego Medical Services Enterprise (SDMSE). The two groups competed against teams from around the United States, including last year's winner-FDNY.

In the end, the RCCP team took first place and the gold medal. This was impressive considering the RCCP team didn't even have a chance to practice together before the competition. The RCCP team consisted of Captain/Paramedic Jim Marugg from the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District, Firefighter/Paramedic Cory Brown from the Bonita Sunnyside Fire Protection District, and Paramedic Dannie Myers with American Medical Response. The fact that this team did so well says a lot for the way we do business in San Diego. In addition to taking home the gold medal, the RCCP team will now compete in Australia at the International Games against teams from England, Austria, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore and Australia.

Another group of San Diegans present at the conference were Captain Brad Peterson and Firefighter/Paramedic Fred Daunis from the Santee Fire Department. They were there as finalists of the Nicholas Rosecrans Award; honoring leadership in Injury Prevention by EMS personnel. Brad and Fred, or should I call them Snorkel and Trucker, are members of the LAFS Characterization Program. Santee LAFS (Life And Fire Safety) is a characterization troupe made up of professional firefighters who teach life safety awareness to kids throughout the community. This very effective and very funny local program was recognized as one of the best prevention programs in the nation.

Bottom line is that San Diego Paramedics and the agencies that support them are some of the best in the nation.