EMS Study Tour to Visit Four Diverse
EMS/Ambulance Services Across the Western U.S.

“EMS Diversity in America” Study Tour to Host Participants
From Around the World

Minneapolis, MN (July 29, 2008) - An EMS Study Tour will embark on a multi-city tour Oct. 7 – 14, 2008 to foster greater collaboration and learning from each other in the EMS community. The diverse tour of EMS and ambulance services will give participants first-hand experience on how departments are resolving and reacting to today’s EMS needs.

The EMS Study Tour Group will be visiting private and public EMS and ambulance services in the western part of the U.S. to learn how these services respond and provide care unique to their communities. The tour will begin with a welcome reception at the County of Los Angeles Fire Museum. The tour will continue on and visit destination cities of San Diego, Tucson, Grand Canyon and Tuba City. The travel itinerary will include additional EMS stops along the way and also take it some of the region’s more popular sightseeing locations. The tour will end in Las Vegas where tour organizers and participants will be speaking with attendees at EMS EXPO on Oct 16 regarding their learning’s and experiences on the tour.

“National and international collaboration needs to be strengthened. We all face the same issues, we should join forces to foster greater discussion and gain overall perspective regarding EMS,” Neil Kirby, tour guide and Director of Special Programs for North Central EMS Institute. Neil was the tour guide of the 2007 Rural and Remote EMS Study Tour in Australia.

“The goal of the tour is to give emergency services providers from across the world an opportunity to learn from one another and discuss how they deal with issues such as recruitment, retention, resourcing and response challenges,” said Gary Wingrove, President, North Central EMS Institute. “The tour is open to anyone who is looking to discover and learn how other countries in the world are evolving EMS to fit their ever changing needs and how diverse EMS is today,”

Tour organizers expect 15 national and 15 international participants. Based on past study tours, the real learning begins when participants start the next leg of their journey while reflecting on the most recent stop to share perspective and viewpoint during an “open mic” forum on the bus.

Participants can go on line at http://worldemstour.ncemsi.org and www.emsexpo2008.com to learn more about the tour. Space is limited, register today.

The mission of the North Central EMS Institute is to provide leadership in EMS through educating, standard setting and benchmarking.

The official sponsors of the EMS Diversity in America are