First Meeting Called for National EMS Advisory Council

The inaugural meeting of the National EMS Advisory Council (NEMSAC) will be held April 24 and 25 at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) headquarters in Washington, D.C. The 25 members of the newly formed Council representing a wide range of emergency medical services disciplines were appointed by Secretary Mary Peters, to provide DOT with recommendations and advice from the EMS community.

The Office of EMS (OEMS) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has always sought to facilitate a consensus-based process for developing effective Federal programs by collaborating with other Federal agencies and with EMS community representatives. NEMSAC was chartered by the DOT to provide a formal, ongoing mechanism for soliciting EMS stakeholder input, in keeping with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).

NEMSAC will be chaired by Dia Gainor, Idaho's State Emergency Medical Services Director and a long-standing member and past president of the National Association of State EMS Officials. NEMSAC meetings are open to the public.

To Attend NEMSAC Meeting

NEMSAC's first meeting will be conducted at the US DOT Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington DC, in Conference Rooms #8-10 on the Mail Floor of the West Wing. Anyone who would like to attend is asked to provide their name, affiliation, phone number, and e-mail address to Drew Dawson by e-mail at drew.dawson@dot.gov or by telephone at (202) 366-9966 no later than April 17, 2008. There will be limited seating, so persons should register early. Pre-registration is necessary to comply with security procedures. Picture I.D. must also be provided to enter the DOT Building and it is suggested that visitors arrive 30 minutes early in order to facilitate entry.

To Participate on Public Comment Period

A public comment period during the NEMSAC meeting is scheduled for April 25th from 10:45 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. In order to allow as many people as possible to speak, persons wishing to make public comments are requested to limit their remarks to three minutes. Persons wishing to make an oral presentation should submit a request and provide their name, affiliation, phone number and e-mail address to Drew Dawson by e-mail at drew.dawson@dot.gov or by telephone at (202) 366-9966 no later than April 17th, 2008.

To Submit Written Remarks to NEMSAC

Persons who are unable to attend or speak at the meeting may submit written comments. Written comments must be received by April 21, 2008. All written comments must include the docket number, NHTSA-2008-0071 and may be submitted by any one of the following methods:

• You may submit or retrieve comments online through the Docket Management System (DMS) at http://dms.dot.gov/submit. The DMS is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. Electronic submission and retrieval help guidelines are available under the help section of the Web site.
• E-mail: drew.dawson@dot.gov or
  susan.mchenry@dot.gov 
• Fax: (202) 366-7149. If faxing comments, please call (202) 366-5440 to notify OEMS that you have sent comments via fax.

For more information on NEMSAC, contact Drew Dawson at drew.dawson@dot.gov.