Boston Emergency Medical Services (BEMS) is a municipal provider of emergency assistance for the citizens and visitors of Boston.Close to 30% of women transported to hospital emergency rooms in the evening/night shifts experience domestic violence. Most DV service providers do not operate outside of the traditional work hours. BEMS CSU allows services for victims of family violence other than 24-hour hotlines. The 285 BEMS uniformed personnel received 6 hours of domestic violence training. BEMS Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) staffing the Community Service Unit (CSU) received over 40 hours of training in crisis intervention, safety planning, threat assessment, and children witnessing violence. The CSU provides immediate assessments, safety planning, and placements for victims of domestic violence. The CSU responds with an ambulance to calls for domestic violence offering the option of transport to a facility or shelter that ambulances cannot. Family violence calls are time intensive responses for EMS. The CSU benefits EMS call load/systems management by allowing an ambulance to get back to city service while the CSU remains on scene. From June through December 1999 the CSU responded to 145 calls for domestic violence. All of the 145 patients received counseling and referral. Sixteen of these victims refused transport to a hospital and were not receiving any services. The CSU EMT was able to provide services to victims who would have been bypassed by the system. Data is gathered; success measured by continued contact with counseling programs, interaction with legal systems, and decreased incidents to a client's address.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to: 1. Recognize the role of EMS response to calls for family violence. 2.Evaluate the role of their local EMS provider in public health/community service missions. 3. Develop a training curriculum for EMS providers to react and respond to calls for domestic violence
Keywords: Domestic Violence, Community Response
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: City of Boston Emergency Medical Services
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.