EMS Grant Applications Available

The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Division of Emergency Medical Services is reminding all EMS agencies seeking funding for the 2015 ‐2016 award year that all applications are now available.

Applications for funding priorities 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 must be completed utilizing the hard copy applications. Training and equipment grant applicants (funding priority 1) may apply online or use the hard copy application. The Electronic Application requires all applicants to use a username and password. Users who already have a password must use their driver license as the username.

First priority is for training of personnel and the purchase of equipment. Only eligible EMS agencies may apply for Priority 1 grants. Eligibility requirements can be found under the Grant section on the Web at http://ems.ohio.gov/ems_grants.stm

The Emergency Medical, Fire & Transportation Services Board (EMFTS) has made changes to the Priority 1 Training & Equipment Grant beginning with the 2015-2016 grant cycle. The following will take effect July 1, 2015:
· Disposable equipment may not be purchased. Only durable non-disposable equipment may be procured with grant monies.
· Paid invoices must be submitted within 60 days of the issuance date of the invoice to be eligible for reimbursement.
· Late submission of invoices will be subject to a 5% withholding of payment.

Second priority is for research, testing, and the evaluation of medical procedures and systems related to adult and pediatric trauma care.

Third priority is for entities that research the causes, nature, and the effects of traumatic injuries, educate the public about injury prevention and implement, test, and evaluate injury prevention strategies.

Fourth priority shall be given to entities that research, test, and evaluate procedures that promote the rehabilitation, retraining, and reemployment of adult or pediatric trauma victims and social service support mechanisms for adult or pediatric trauma victims and their families.

Fifth Priority shall be given to entities that conduct research on, test, or evaluate one or more of the following:
(a) Procedures governing the performance of emergency medical services in this state;
(b) The training of emergency medical service personnel;
(c) The staffing of emergency medical service organizations.
Sixth Priority is for entities that operate paramedic training programs and are seeking national accreditation of these programs.

Ohio EMS Grant applications are due by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Applications are available at http://www.ems.ohio.gov/ems.grants.stm .

Press Office
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Press Release
Feb. 3, 2015
Contact: DHS Press Office, (202) 282-8010

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY JEH C. JOHNSON ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT-MAKING WITHOUT A DHS APPRORPIATIONS BILL

In recent days I have repeatedly stressed the need for a DHS appropriations bill for FY 2015, unburdened by politically charged amendments that attempt to defund our executive actions on immigration reform. The President has made plain that he will veto a bill that includes such language.

As long as this Department — which interfaces with the public more than any other — is funded by a continuing resolution, there are a whole series of activities vital to homeland security and public safety that cannot be undertaken.

One of the many consequences of operating on a continuing resolution is our inability to fund new non-disaster grants to state, local and tribal governments, law enforcement, emergency response officials and fire departments. Every governor, mayor, police chief, county sheriff, emergency manager and fire chief should care about this. These officials know that the grants we provide help them protect their communities. For example, last week when I visited the multi-agency coordinating center in Phoenix responsible for the security of the Super Bowl, officials pointed out to me that almost all the surveillance and communications equipment there was funded by the Department of Homeland Security.

Here are some other examples of the types of state, local and tribal government activities vital to homeland security and public safety that are funded by grants from this Department:

· salaries for state and local emergency managers in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia;

· new communications equipment for over 80 public safety agencies in the Los Angeles area to replace aging and incompatible radio systems;

· surveillance cameras and environmental sensors used by the New York City Police Department to detect in real time potential terrorist activity;

· increased security for the MTA, PATH trains and tunnels in the New York City area;

· improved campus security at K-12 public schools, colleges and universities in the state of Florida;

· K-9 units to detect explosive ordinance in the state of Massachusetts;

· upgraded oxygen masks and tanks for over 30 firefighter and law enforcement agencies in the Denver metropolitan area;

· the Arizona Counterterrorism Fusion Center, which provides intelligence and information from this Department to state and local law enforcement there;

· fifteen mobile command centers for possible catastrophic incidents in the state of Kentucky;

· 150 firefighter jobs in the city of Detroit; and

· bomb squads in the state of Idaho.

On behalf of the men and women of this Department who work every day to keep the homeland safe, I urge that Congress pass an appropriations bill for this Department, free of politically charged amendments to defund our executive actions. Time is running short.

For more information, visit http://www.dhs.gov.

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