Asking for your support for my candidacy for the SEMPA Board of Directors

[ohiovolffemtp]

EM PA Colleagues,

For those of you that are members of SEMPA - the Society of EM PA's - I'm asking for your vote to become a member of the SEMPA board of directors.

My primary goal is to have SEMPA:

• build a list of all of the elements of full scope EM PA practice.
• on a state by state basis identify all of the barriers in laws and regulations which prevent EM PA's from practicing at the top of their skills and experience
• work with the AAPA and the state organizations to introduce and support changes to those laws and rules.

I believe that while we can fight many public wars of words with organizations like AAEM, ABEM, ACEP, etc, those are unlikely to lead to significant changes to what we as EM PA's can actually do.  The real constraints are the state laws and regulations.  My hope is that on many of the specifics we'll have less opposition and a far greater likelihood of success.  For example, there are states where PA's can't sign mental health holds, do procedural sedation, pronounce death, or even prescribe controlled substances.  In some of those states, NP's can, making us less attractive to employers.

We still need to publicly advocate for what we do.  But gaining these specific abilities could do more in the short term to get us closer to practicing at the top of our skills and experience.  We still must get to autonomy/collaboration vs supervision, especially for experienced PA's, but even in states where I have collaboration agreements vs. supervision agreements, I still hit those barriers.  As we knock down these specific barriers, there will be much less "only a can ....".

I have significant experience that I believe prepares me to be successful in moving towards these goals:

• As a fire officer, I was instrumental in raising issues with the Ohio Division of EMS, getting the attention of state legislators, and prodding the agency to fix many of the issues that were blocking EMS providers from doing their jobs.
• I have 10+ years experience as an EM PA and have practiced in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Colorado, and Arizona and have personally experienced the impact of varying state laws and rules.  This includes about 5 years as lead PA.
• I have 40+ years experience in fire/EMS, including about half of that in supervisory positions.
• I have 30 years experience as a manager in Fortune 50 companies (P&G, HP)

May I please have your vote?

Thank you for your consideration,

Paul M. Amiott, PA-C, EMT-P

OhioVolFFEMTP

[EMEDPA]

Sounds like a great plan! You have my support, Paul!

I think your plan is a good one. It takes a page from the NP playbook, which has been very effective. Identify what full scope practice looks like, find the barriers, crush them!

I agree with you that yelling at physician EM organizations won't get a lot done and working at the state level as you propose will.

[SedRate]

I like your plan and you have great experience to back it up. I'd vote for you if I was a member. 

Edited November 29, 2023 by SedRate

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Paul, it’s obvious you have good experience, and just as important, you have first hand experience to know what the front line PA needs to do their job and make us more marketable. 100% you have my support!

[ohiovolffemtp]

Just a quick bump:

Voting ends at midnight on 12/12/2023.  So, if you're a SEMPA member and haven't voted, please consider doing so and supporting my candidacy.

Thank you,

Paul M. Amiott, PA-C, EMT-P

[ohiovolffemtp]

I want to thank everyone who voted for me.  I've been elected to a 2 year term on the SEMPA board of directors.  My term will start at the SEMPA conference in May.

I want to start on my plan I spoke of in my platform statement: creating a definition of full scope EM practice for PA's, identifying barriers in state laws and regs to PA's practicing at that level, and then working with the state PA organizations to get those removed.  To that end, could anyone here who's experience a barrier in state (or federal) laws or regulations that has prevented them from doing something that they have or could have had the training and experience to do, please send me a PM.  Please be as descriptive as you can, and include what state and if applicable what agency was the barrier.

Thanks in advance for everyone's assistance.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Congrats Paul! Just got the email. Happy for you and SEMPA!