In this episode, we welcome three EMS veterans to discuss the state of California's ground ambulance Medi-Cal reimbursement crisis. We also discuss the efforts of the Fund First Responders Coalition which is working hard to secure an increase in ground ambulance Medi-Cal funding to allow ambulance services across California to provide higher wages for EMS workers throughout the state.

Our gests in this episode are Rob Lawrence, Executive Director of the California Ambulance Association, Melissa Harris, President, Chief Executive Officer of AmbuServe, Inc., and Matt Perez, operations manager for Medic-1 Ambulance, and a professor at Pasadena City College.

In this episode, we feature three AmbuServe team members.  New recruits April Mercado and Desi Stewart, along with our EMS educator and training coordinator Janice Willcocks, share their experiences in EMS and their time with us at AmbuServe.  Melissa Harris, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of AmbuServe joins in the conversation with host Jim Karras leading the discussion.   

In this episode, we feature three amazing EMS care providers each that are recipients of the prestigious 2022 California Ambulance Association Star of Life Award. Also, joining us, is Rob Lawrence, the executive director of the California Ambulance Association as we do a cross-over with his national podcast - EMS1’s EMS One-Stop. You can listen to the full episode of Rob’s EMS One-Stop podcast here: https://insideems.podbean.com/.

We kick of this podcast with a brief introduction about the show and what our goals are as we publish additional episodes.