TAMPA, Fla. — A bit of extra training is underway for Tampa Fire Rescue’s Team 3A.
What You Need To Know
The Florida Center for Emergency Medical Services was established in 2024 and housed at the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine
It was created through a $10 million grant, distributed by the Florida Department of Health
The mission is to is to enhance patient outcomes and refine EMS methodologies by leading advancements in prehospital emergency care, improving and modernizing EMS educational curricula, developing strategies for effective disaster preparedness, optimizing function and design of EMS systems, and promoting cutting-edge EMS research
Tampa Fire Rescue is one of many EMS services that receives training, data and other guidance from the Florida Center for EMS
Lt. Natalee Allen, paramedics Carlos Perez and Robert Murphy quickly run through emergency scenarios with Dr. Penni Eggers, the director of Education at the Florida Center for Emergency Medical Services.
The Florida Center for EMS has been operating for 16 months, created through a $10 million grant distributed by the Florida Department of Health.
This team combined has close to 30 years of experience, so they run through the drills efficiently. But they admit this training is impressive.
“The facility itself, I am here for the first time being here, definitely you could tell that they pride themselves in having those resources for all these individuals and different backgrounds,” said Perez.
Training is just one part of this new agency. Executive Director Dr. Bruce Moeller describes it as a hub for advancing emergency medical services statewide.
“Focus on research, education and innovation to help guide and inform EMS practices, both clinical and operational, out in the field,” said Moeller.
He adds that an aging and growing population in the state are adding to the need for more medical care statewide.
“So that raises a question for elected officials: How do how best do we fund this? What are the needs and what is technology giving us today that we didn’t have before, that will allow us to do that job better?” said Moeller.
The Florida Center for EMS also informs state and local leaders, too, providing them insight on the latest tech resources and the latest research. That research is done through the partnership with USF.
All of this helps EMS departments, both large and small, make better financial decisions and budget requests.
“If you look at public safety, the City of Tampa, almost any general purpose government, it consumes over half the general fund budget,” said Moeller. “So if there’s increasing demands, how best can we do it and leverage the technology.”
For EMS teams like Tampa Fire Rescue, this training and information better helps them save lives.
“The technology is changing, right? There are new devices that are coming out, new medication is there. So ongoing training like this is very important,” said Allen.
The Florida Center for EMS assists every EMS department in Florida, all 344 of them.
Moeller said in the next two months, they expect to submit a publication on what Florida’s workforce needs will be through 2050. The information and research provided will be broken down in five-year increments, looking at this on a county-by-county level. The hope is that this will help departments, local and state leaders better shape budgets, laws and EMS practices.