NAEMT believes that the federal government should establish an Emergency Support Function (ESF) specifically for EMS within the National Response Framework, decoupling EMS from ESF #8, Public Health and Medical Services. The recent pandemic reinforced the essential services that EMS offers as a community lifeline to our nation. By establishing a stand-alone ESF for EMS and decoupling it from ESF #8, the federal government will be able to acknowledge EMS as a separate critical task within disaster response at the state, tribal and local levels during natural or man-made disasters, health crises, mass casualty incidents, acts of terrorism, and planned and unplanned public events.

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