In partnership with the City of Olean Fire Department, I am happy to announce the "Community Narcan Program" through our STOPP program, which is a New York State Department of Health (NYS-DOH), Opioid Overdose Prevention Program (OOPP) that provides Narcan and training to Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties.  
  
This program allows participating agencies and EMS personnel to leave behind an NYS-DOH-approved Narcan kit to patients, families, or friends who have overdosed on an opiate and were treated with Narcan. After encountering and managing a patient who is suspected of suffering from an opioid overdose and the overdose has been reversed with Narcan, a provider will be able to conduct a brief training with the family or friends and leave behind a Narcan kit with loved ones.  
  
We are happy to be working with Fire Chief Tim Richardson and the City of Olean Fire Department on this program that will be a great asset to our community! If your community is interested in this program, please contact Alicia at stems@sthcs.org.   ​

Currently, NYSARH is working with Emily Hazen, a research fellow working in conjunction with the Upstate Institute, to see how we can make rural EMS more sustainable. She will be interviewing several of us who work with rural EMS to develop a white paper on policies that the New York State legislature should adopt.   

I met with her on Zoom this week and discussed the NYS EMS training requirements. We also had a conversation about the roadblocks in recruitment and retention. I was also able to share my ideas for insurance reform, including Medicaid, to make rural EMS more sustainable.  

I want to thank NYSARH for getting me in touch with Emily Hazen, and I look forward to reading her report.

Funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation has allowed us to work with ALSTAR to host the Southern Tier EMT-B Academy. Over the past few months, we have been recruiting individuals to participate in this program that will start in July. We will train new EMS personnel to help bolster the EMS system in our catchment through this program. The Academy will be provided at no cost to students. The students will also receive a stipend during their training that will allow them to concentrate on their training program without working full-time.
 
We are thrilled by this opportunity to improve the health and wellness of our rural New York Community and are excited for the course to start!