Bradley County EMS Representatives Go To Washington D.C.

Stan Clark, who is a veteran paramedic and in charge of public relations at Bradley County EMS, was appointed to the Tennessee Ambulance Service Association Board (TASA). TASA represents ambulance services from the entire state of Tennessee. One thing that TASA works very hard on is working with state and federal legislators on issues that specifically deal with ambulance services and EMS. Each year representatives from the TASA organization travel to Washington D.C. to meet with senators and members of congress to address needs and introduce legislation.

Paramedic Clark and three other TASA members are on Capitol Hill this week. “We are currently lobbying to get EMS workers included in the federal definition of a public safety officer. Right now the definition only includes fire and police personnel. When the federal definition was put into place EMS was overlooked. What this will do is allow local governments to provide the same retirement benefits to paramedics and EMT’s as they do to fire and police departments if they so choose”. Stan Clark, EMS spokesperson. While on the Hill they met with Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. They also met with House Representatives Chuck Fleischmann, Scott DesJarlais, Phil Roe, Diane Black, and Marcia Blackburn, all representatives from Tennessee.

Last year the Tennessee legislature passed a resolution supporting this measure. It was drafted and introduced by then Representative Eric Watson and Senator Mike Bell. It was House Joint Resolution Number 69 which encouraged congress to move forward with this legislation on a federal level.

The TASA delegation will be traveling home at the end of the week to update their respective services on the feedback and information received by the senators and representatives.