Emergency Medical Services Named National Provider of the Year

The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) and "EMS World" have named Christian Hospital Emergency Medical Services (CH EMS) recipient of the 2014 National EMS Service Provider of the Year award. Christian Hospital’s EMS team members will be presented the award, and honored at the NAEMT General Membership Meeting and Awards Presentation on November 10, 2014, in Nashville, Tennessee, and again the following morning at EMS World Expo's opening ceremony. 

The EMS group is being recognized for its advances in EMS education and training; innovations in pre-hospital care and protocol development implemented; medical community involvement; EMS system/program upgrades implemented; worker safety and well-being programs implemented; injury-prevention and illness-prevention projects implemented; and public-education project sponsorship programs.

“It was a great surprise to win this award,” says Chris Cebollero, EMS chief. “Our goal was to be the best EMS agency in the nation. This award is great confirmation for the department that has set their sights on delivering outstanding patient care, and being leaders in our community and role models for our career field.”

Christian Hospital EMS operates the largest hospital-based ambulance service in Missouri, and the second-largest ambulance service in the St. Louis metropolitan area while providing primary 911 emergency services to north St. Louis County fire districts and communities -- serving more than 250,000 people and responding to approximately 46,000 requests for service annually. Its fleet consists of 20 advanced life support ambulances and two command/triage vehicles. The EMS staff consists of 80 full-time first responders, 25 on-call responders, and eight full-time dispatchers. 

Christian Hospital EMS has advanced hospital-based mobile integrated health care in the community as part of its Community Health Access Program, which has decreased emergency department admission of non-emergent patients by 11 percent, and helped patients find primary care physicians. 

In addition, Christian Hospital’s EMS team focuses public education efforts on teaching children about 911 and emergency situations through its "No Panic Please!" program. The EMS team also has enhanced its lifesaving care to the community with a partnership with Youth In Need by designating each Christian Hospital ambulance as a mobile “Safe Place” for those in crisis.