State Spotlight: U.S. Virgin Islands

Last month, during the EMSC Town Hall, grantees were treated to a guest presentation from the U.S.Virgin Islands (USVI) EMSC program manager, Jacqueline Greenidge-Payne, on the work of their program. Underscoring the vital need for disaster preparedness, Greenridge-Payne presented from her cell phone despite being without power as the result of Hurricane Ernesto.

In advance of the Atlantic hurricane season, the USVI EMSC team, partnered with other local organizations to plan and host two separate pediatric disaster expos. These events focused on disaster awareness, highlighting the pediatric disaster checklist and a presentation by the Office of Public Health Preparedness on the topics of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and flooding.

Additionally, the Office of Highway Safety presented on child safety seats and distributed pediatric passbooks with fingerprinting and photo identification. The expos also featured multiple programs for counseling and mental health services for during and after disasters.

Some other applause-worthy highlights from the USVI team include providing pediatric education, training, and skills checks for many emergency department nurses, prehospital clinicians and even school students and police. During this anniversary year, USVI provided 13 different classes ranging from basic first aid and CPR toto advanced airway management skills for hospitals.

Harnessing the 40th anniversary year of EMSC, the USVI team has also introduced and drafted legislation for a pediatric registry, a hospital recognition program, and a pediatric emergency disaster plan. Additionally, they have introduced regulatory regulations to include EMSC Performance Measures.

Learn more about EMSC USVI’s work here.