5641052 Public Hearing on State of Emergency Medical Services in the District of Columbia and B21-0290, Office of Unified Communications Training, CPR, and Modernization Amendment Act of 2015

Council of the District of Columbia

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

Notice of Public Hearing

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004  

 

 

Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, Chairperson

Committee on the Judiciary

 

Announces a Public Hearing on

 

the State of Emergency Medical Services in the District of Columbia

 

and

 

Bill 21-0290, the “Office of Unified Communications Training, CPR, and Modernization Amendment Act of 2015”

 

 

Thursday, October 1, 2015, 3:30 p.m.

Room 412, John A. Wilson Building

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

 Washington, D.C. 20004

 

 

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary, will hold a public hearing on the State of Emergency Medical Services in the District of Columbia and Bill 21-0290, the “Office of Unified Communications Training, CPR, and Modernization Amendment Act of 2015”. The hearing will be held in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., at 3:30 p.m., or immediately following the joint Judiciary and Education Committees hearing on Bill 21-0243, the “Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Automated External Defibrillator Requirements Amendment Act of 2015”.

The hearing will include a robust discussion on the state of emergency medical services in the District of Columbia. The Committee will also examine implemented and unimplemented recommendations outlined in the District of Columbia Auditor’s June 2015 report entitled “Review of District of Columbia’s Compliance with the Recommendations of the Task Force on Emergency Medical Services (The Rosenbaum Task Force)”.

The stated purpose of Bill 21-0290 is to require Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers and Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS) firefighters and emergency medical service providers to complete joint training classes with Office of Unified Communications (OUC) public safety telecommunicators; to require OUC to provide continuing education classes, training, and certification on an annual basis in accordance with national recommendations; to require OUC to implement a smartphone application that can alert and summon residents trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to begin resuscitation efforts while medical services providers are en route to an emergency event; and to require OUC and FEMS to conduct a District-wide CPR training program for District students, employees, and residents.  

The Committee invites the public to testify or to submit written testimony. Anyone wishing to testify at the hearing should contact Kate Mitchell, Committee Director, at [phone], or via e-mail at [e-mail], and provide their name, telephone number, organizational affiliation, and title (if any) by close of business, September 28, 2015. Representatives of organizations will be allowed a maximum of five minutes for oral testimony, and individuals will be allowed a maximum of three minutes. Witnesses should bring fifteen copies of their written testimony and, if possible, also submit a copy of their testimony electronically to [e-mail].

 

For witnesses who are unable to testify at the hearing, written statements will be made part of the official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted either to the Committee or to Nyasha Smith, Secretary to the Council, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 5, Washington, D.C. 20004.  The record will close at the end of the business day on October 15, 2015.