About Us
The Federal EMS for Children Program is designed to ensure that all children and adolescents, no matter where they live, attend school, or travel, receive appropriate care in a health emergency. Since its establishment in 1985, the EMSC Program has provided grant funding to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.
Today, most Federal EMSC funding is administered through either a State Partnership or Targeted Issue grant. Pennsylvania’s EMSC program is just one of more than fifty State Partnership grants currently awarded. More information on each of these programs can be found at the Federal MCHB HRSA website: http://mchb.hrsa.gov
EMSC Program Leadership
EMSC Project Director – Jay Taylor
EMSC Physician Advisor – Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH
EMSC Program Manager – Duane Spencer
Family Advisory Network Representative – Josh Stuart
Advisory Committee
The EMSC Advisory Committee has been established to serve as a forum for issues that have potential impact on the emergency care and transport of all pediatric patients in the Commonwealth. The committee formulates recommendations to the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council (PEHSC) which reflect the interest and opinion of pediatric emergency care and injury prevention professionals. Through the work of this committee, education and resources are provided to EMS providers, emergency department clinicians, other healthcare practitioners, and the general public in regard to provision of pediatric emergency care and disaster response.
Committee Purpose
To serve as a forum for issues that have potential impact on the emergency care and transport of all pediatric patients in the Commonwealth; to educate prehospital providers, other health practitioners and the general public in regard to provision of services available through the emergency medical services for children program; to formulate recommendations to the Board of Directors of PEHSC which reflect the interest and opinion of pediatric emergency care and injury prevention professionals.
Committee Composition
Membership in the EMS for Children Advisory Committee has no stipulation. Physicians, nurses, healthcare professionals, prehospital providers, injury prevention advocates and, most importantly, PARENTS may make up the general body of this committee.
The Committee Chairperson is responsible to the PEHSC Board of Directors to present activities and recommendations of the EMSC Advisory Committee and participate in deliberation(s) and discussion(s) with other committees and/or taskforces to ensure that the needs of the pediatric population are met at the statewide level. The committee composition and reporting requirements to the PEHSC Board of Directors are guided by the Federal EMS for Children State Partnership Grant.
In addition to the designation of a committee chairperson(s), a family representative (as defined by the Federal EMSC Program), and a committee medical director (EMSC Physician Advisor) shall be identified. The EMSC Physician Advisor shall provide physician input in committee discussions and serve as a liaison between the EMSC Committee and the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC).
Committee Representation Roles
Core committee representative roles include: Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)/Paramedic, Emergency Physician, EMS state agency representative, EMSC Grant Manager, EMSC Principal Investigator, Family representative, Nurse with emergency pediatric experience, and Physician with pediatric training.
Supplemental representative roles include: Child death review representative, Children's Hospital EMS Liaison, Disaster preparedness representative, Educator, EMS Advisory Board leadership, EMS Training Manager, Highway representative, Hospital Association Representative, Pediatric ED Nurse, Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator, Pediatric Trauma Coordinator, Recipient of Maternal Child Health block grant for CSHCN, Regional EMS Council representative, and State Trauma Manager.
Appointment Process
- Committee appointments will be made to provide representation of all Core and Supplemental roles. More than one person or organization may represent a particular role.
- Representatives will maintain their appointment until they submit a letter of resignation or fail to attend 25% of the annual EMSC Advisory Committee meetings.
- Written requests for membership shall be submitted online via the EMSC website for consideration at the next regular meeting.
- Resigned positions will not automatically be replaced unless a vacancy in a Core role is created.
- Appointment letters will be mailed to the committee nominee asking that they indicate their willingness to serve on the committee.
- Task forces and subcommittees will be appointed at the discretion of the chairperson in order to accomplish the objectives of the annual work program and other designated projects. Non-committee members may be appointed to such subcommittees but will not then be considered members of the EMSC Advisory Committee.
- Visitors are welcome to attend any regular meeting, but may not vote.
Committee Responsibilities
The Committee, relying on the expertise of its members, considers issues and develops recommendations for consideration by the Board of Directors. A recommendation approved by a simple majority committee vote is transmitted to the Board as a Vote to Recommend (VTR). A clarifying statement or rationale developed by staff and the chairs should be written for each VTR and provided to the Board. VTRs approved by the Board are forwarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Health as official PEHSC positions on EMS issues.
All Committee recommendations maintain a “draft” status and cannot be represented as the official position of PEHSC until approved by the Board of Directors.
When indicated, the Committee develops position statements on various issues to provide guidance to the Board of Directors and EMS community. Position statements are generally drafted following each meeting by staff, based on VTRs and discussion points generated by the Committee members. Position statements are usually developed for proposed legislative issues, although they may be required for other situations as indicated by the Committee chair.
Chair Responsibilities
The chair is expected to run each meeting in an effective and efficient manner. Chairs should have an understanding of parliamentary procedure and Robert’s Rules of Order and be able to apply proper procedure when necessary.
The chair should strive to keep each meeting focused on the agenda items, with a bias toward action and completion of the tasks to be accomplished. Chairs should not hesitate to refer a matter to a subcommittee, task force, or other PEHSC committees, but should recognize the point when enough productive thought and discussion has occurred and the time has arrived to make a decision and put the matter to a vote.
Chairs should attend the meetings of the Board of Directors and provide updates of Committee activities. When the Committee has developed VTRs, the chairs should be prepared to present them and explain their underlying rationale.
Chairs should maintain liaisons with the Council President and staff regarding Committee projects and progress. Chairs should be available to consult with staff on issues such as agenda planning, Committee document preparation, and other issues.
Member Responsibilities
Committee members are expected to attend the meetings and participate in all discussions and deliberations, demonstrating a high degree of interest, commitment, and genuine concern for the improvement of EMS and emergency pediatric care.
In order to maintain active status on the Committee, members may not miss more than three scheduled meetings in the EMSC fiscal year (March-February). Members with more than three unexcused absences will be subject to dismissal. There is a great amount of work to be accomplished by the Committee, and membership appointments must be made to achieve maximum productivity.
Members receive meeting notices and agendas approximately 30 days prior to each scheduled meeting. Members who must change their plans regarding meeting attendance should notify the Program Manager no later than 4 p.m. on the day before the meeting.
Generally, members will receive copies of documents and materials via e-mail or website link for discussion at each meeting. Members should bring all materials to the subsequent meeting to reference during discussion.
Members must advise the EMSC Program Manager of any change of address, phone number, e-mail address, or organizational affiliation. Organizations should advise Council of any changes to their individual representative appointment.
Virtual meetings will be held whenever possible, and live meetings that were cancelled due to inclement weather will be held via a distance-method at the discretion of the committee chairperson and PEHSC staff. In case of inclement weather on face-to-face meeting day(s), members should contact the Council office to determine whether the meeting will be held as scheduled. Meeting Cancellations will be communicated via email and other virtual methods. PEHSC cancels any meeting in which travel conditions may pose a hazard to members.
Committee members are responsible to sign the attendance roster at in-person meetings. Failure to do so will result in being classified as absent. Virtual meeting attendance will be taken from the virtual log. Individuals attending via telephone only should notify the EMSC Program Manager during or immediately after the meeting with the phone number used to account for attendance.
The Committee has a multitude of decisions to make in limited meeting time. Therefore, members should avoid lengthy, rambling, or repetitive statements, and concisely state their positions. Members should strive to keep the focus of the debate constructive, rather than argumentative.
2025 EMSC Advisory Committee Meeting Dates
- February 25, 2025 – Virtual
- May 27, 2025 – Virtual
- September 9, 2025 – In-person
- November 25, 2025 – Virtual
All meetings begin at 10:00 am.
For information on participating on the EMSC Committee, please visit our Get Involved page.
Our Partners
This website is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an annual award totaling $190,650 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
The EMSC Innovation & Improvement Center (EIIC)
The EIIC, established in 2016, focuses on accelerating improvements in quality of care and outcomes for children who are in need of urgent or emergency care through an infrastructure that ensures routine, integrated coordination of quality improvement activities between key stakeholder organizations and their champions.
The National EMSC Data Center (EDC)
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – established the EDC to coordinate the collection and analysis of prehospital and emergency department clinical data to guide improvements in pediatric care by providing evidence-based best practices
The Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN)
PECARN is the first federally-funded pediatric emergency medicine research network in the United States. PECARN conducts high-priority, multi-institutional research on the prevention and management of acute illnesses and injuries in children and youth of all ages.
Pennsylvania’s EMSC State Partnership grant is awarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council (PEHSC), as a part of their contractual partnership with the Department of Health, manages most aspects of the EMSC grant by employing a project manager and operating an EMSC advisory committee. Pennsylvania has held an EMSC State Partnership grant almost continuously since the Federal program was established in 1985.
Get Involved
EMS for Children in Pennsylvania provides programs and support in the pre-hospital and emergency department settings for the emergent care of children and other associated activities. Development, implementation and support of these programs comes from a representative group of advisory committee members and statewide pediatric champions who are dedicated to the delivery of prompt, safe, and competent care for our children.
