EMS - More Information

EMS Education

The Norwich Township Fire Department is an accredited EMS Continuing Education program with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Division of Emergency Medical Services. Our Ohio Certification number is 1094 with an expiration of April 30, 2010. With this certification, our agency is able to provide continuing medical education to our EMS providers and our agency has served for many years as a regional continuing medical education location. Continuing education is an integral part of being a firefighter/Paramedic at Norwich Township. Our agency believes in life-long learning, due in part to the changing dynamics and evolution of the medical practice.

Upcoming EMS Education Events:

Monthly training:
The 4th Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm is our agencies regularly scheduled EMS training event. This course will run for 2 hours and will have a differing presenter and topic each and every month. EMS Certificates are presented upon successful completion of the training session. Click here for a registration form.

EMS Spring Challenge:
The Norwich Township Fire Department has been working in conjunction with the Ohio State University Medical Center since 2000 with continuing medical education. One of the major events is an annual EMS seminar. This seminar will be a mixture of lecture and hands on, skills stations for the pre-hospital EMS provider. More information will be available.

CPR Training:
The Norwich Township Fire Department offers monthly American Heart Association-sponsored CPR training classes.  We currently offer 3 different classes to meet the needs of the Hilliard community.

Healthcare Provider CPR Renewal Course – This 3 – 4 hour course is designed to recertify current healthcare providers prior to their certification expiration date.  This course covers one and two person CPR, obstructed airway procedures for adults, children and infants, as well as, use of AEDs and barrier devices (including bag mask) during ventilation.  Completion of a written exam and a skills test is required for certification.  This certification is valid for two years.
Dates offered:  First Wednesday of the following months – January, March, May, July, September and November
Time: 6:30PM – 10:00PM
Cost of Class: $35.00

Heartsaver CPR Certification Course – This 3 hour course is designed for those who have a duty to respond to a cardiac emergency because of job responsibilities or regulatory requirements, such as lifeguards, day care providers, etc.  This course covers CPR and relief of choking in adults, children and infants, as well as, the use of barrier devices during ventilation.  Completion of a skills test is required for certification.  This certification is valid for two years.
Dates offered: First Wednesday of the following months – February, April, June, August, October and December
Time: 6:30PM – 9:30PM
Cost of Class: $25.00

Family and Friends CPR Course – This 3 hour course is designed for family members, friends and members of the general community who want to learn CPR but do not need certification.  This course teaches how to perform CPR and relief of choking in adults, children and infants.  No written exam or skills test is required for completion.
Dates offered: Second Wednesday of every month
Time: 6:30PM – 9:30PM
Cost of Class: Free for all Hilliard City School Residents, $10.00 for all others

To register for any of these courses, please call (614) 876-7694.  For additional information, please call Jeff Woodward at (614) 876-7694 or email him at Jeff_Woodward@NorwichTownship.org.

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HIPPA Information

As an essential part of our commitment to you, the Norwich Township Fire Department maintains the privacy of certain health care information about you, known as Protected Health Information or PHI. We are required by law to protect your health care information and to provide you with the attached Notice of Privacy Practices. We strive to protect your health care information and provide you with a Notice of Privacy Practices.

This Notice outlines our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. It not only describes our privacy practices and your legal rights, but lets you know, among other things, how the Norwich Township Fire Department is permitted to use and disclose PHI about you, how you can access and copy that information, and how you may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your PHI.

The Norwich Township Fire Department is also required to abide by the terms of the version of this Notice currently in effect. In most situations, we may use this information as described in this Notice without your permission, but there are some situations where we may use it only after we obtain your written authorization, if we are required by law to do so.

We respect your privacy and we treat all health care information about our patients with care under strict policies of confidentiality that all of our staff are committed to following at all times.

If you would like a copy of your EMS report, please call (614) 876-7694. The Privacy Officer will return your call and guide you through the process.

If you are a government entity or an attorney's office, please fax your subpoena for medical records to: Privacy Officer, Norwich Township Fire Department at (614) 777-9347.

Any questions may be addressed by calling (614) 876-7694.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What does it take to maintain your EMS Certification?
A. An Ohio EMT-Paramedic needs a minimum of 92 hours of Continuing Education within their three year certification cycle. Of this, there must be at least 12 hours in pediatrics, 4 hours in geriatrics, 12 hours in emergency cardiac care, and 8 hours of trauma, of which 2 hours must be devoted to triage and transportation protocols. All requirements for recertification are available at www.ems.ohio.gov.

Q. Why does a fire truck come to my house when I call for an Ambulance?
A. All fire department personnel are cross trained as a firefighters and EMS providers. The fire engines or ladder trucks are dispatched to support the paramedic unit on Advanced Life Support calls. The fire truck will also respond if they are closer to the medical emergency than the paramedic unit; they carry advanced life support supplies on the fire engines and ladder truck.

Q. My mother must use an ambulance to get to her appointment at the hospital, but it’s not an emergency. What should I do?
A. The Norwich Township Fire Department only handles emergency transports. Non-emergency transports are handled by private convalescent services. These services provide paramedics, as necessary, for all routine, non-emergency transports. Some also have special wheelchair services for those people that may need those services. You can find these in the yellow pages of your local phone book, through your insurance company or the receiving hospital.

Q. How do I get a copy of an EMS Report?
A. With there being so many variables to the release of Protected Health Information, feel free to contact our department Privacy Officer at (614) 876-7694 for information on how to obtain a copy of your EMS Report.

Q. What hospitals do you transport patients to?
A. Our agency transports to all hospitals that contain emergency departments in Franklin County, and will try to honor your hospital of choice. There may be times that we cannot honor your request, due to the medical condition of the patient (such as a trauma patient), hospital specialty, diversion of EMS from that hospital and other extenuating circumstances. Click here for a complete list of hospitals that we transport patients to.

Q. What is an EMS Diversion?
A. Currently, emergency departments in Columbus are treating a very large number of patients. During these times of peak illness, it is not always possible for our patients to be taken to the hospital of their choice. We will do all that we can to get you to the hospital of your choice. If the hospital is unable to accept ambulance patients because they are extremely busy, we will gladly take you to another hospital to assure that you receive the best care possible.

Q. What is the Service Response Card?
A. The Norwich Township Fire Department is an advocate for quality Emergency Medical Services and wants to hear from you on how we are doing. As part of our Quality Improvement Program, on each and every patient encounter, all patients will receive a copy of our Notice of Privacy Practices (for protected health information) as well as a Service Response Card. This card is postage paid and has a brief questionnaire about the service you received. When you complete it and return the card, it goes to our departments’ EMS Coordinator and he will forward the comments out to the responding unit.

Q. Why do the Paramedics ask me about Family Violence?
A. EMS Providers may be the first, and sometimes only, professionals that care for victims of family violence. The Norwich Township Fire Department participates in a regional screening process, whereby all patients who present to EMS for care shall receive a family violence assessment. Our providers are trained and can provide you resources if you are a victim of family violence. Click here for a copy of the EMS Family Violence Screening Protocols Safety Plan. Also, refer to our links section for additional resources.

Q. What happens when I call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency?
A. If you are a resident of Norwich Township or the City of Hilliard, your 9-1-1 call will go directly to the dispatch office at the Hilliard Police Department. If you are a resident of Brown Township, your 9-1-1 call will first go to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and be transferred to the dispatch office.

Our dispatcher will ask you a series of questions which will determine the appropriate response for our agency (advanced life support or basic life support run). The appropriate equipment will be dispatched, which will be at minimum a paramedic unit and may include a fire engine or ladder truck as well as the EMS Coordinator or Battalion Captain.

The arriving personnel will provide medical treatment, according to our agencies medical protocol. If transportation to a medical facility is necessary, we will provide transportation to one of the local hospital emergency departments, which will be based upon patient choice, medical appropriateness based upon the patient’s condition as well as availability of bed space to the EMS unit at the emergency department.

During transportation, you will be provided a copy of our agencies Notice of Privacy Practices and a cover letter that explains our agencies Quality Assurance program, which includes a Service Response Card.

If you have any questions about an EMS run, please contact our EMS Coordinator.

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Links to Other Web Sites

Central Ohio Trauma System - http://www.cma-ohio.org/cots/
Columbus Coalition for Family Violence - http://www.thecolumbuscoalition.org/
Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging - http://www.coaaa.org/

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Hospitals We Transport to

Ohio Health System - http://www.ohiohealth.com
Grant Hospital
Riverside Methodist
Doctors Hosptial West
Dublin Methodist

Mount Carmel Medical Center - http://www.mountcarmelhealth.com/index.cfm
Mount Carmel West
Mount Carmel East
Mount Carmel St. Ann’s

Ohio State University Medical Center - http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/
OSU Campus
OSU East

Nationwide Children’s Hospital - http://www.nationwidechildrens.org

NetCare - http://www.adamhfranklin.org/

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Health Information

Franklin County Board of Health - http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/board_of_health/
Columbus Health Department - http://www.publichealth.columbus.gov/
Centers for Disease Control - http://www.cdc.gov/
FDA for Med Watch - http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/

Education Website Links:
Ohio Division of EMS - http://www.ems.ohio.gov
LifeLink - http://www.grantlifelink.com/home/home.htm
Grant Paramedic Education - http://www.grantlifelink.com/emseducation/emseducation.htm
Columbus State Community College - http://www.cscc.edu/EMS/index.htm
OSU Center for EMS - http://www.centerforems.osu.edu/5958.cfm

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