Reauthorize the EMSC Program

The care of the injured and sick child is often overlooked despite injury being the leading cause of death among minors in the United States. Further, injured children often end up at emergency departments and hospitals that are not equipped to care for severely ill and injured children. Since 1984, Congress has authorized the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program to improve the quality of pediatric medical care for the severely ill and injured child. Specifically, EMSC provides funding to expand resources and improve EMS for children in all states, regardless of where the child lives.

Congress has failed to authorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program Reauthorization Act of 2024. We need your help contacting your members of Congress in Florida to urge them to support the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program Reauthorization Act of 2024. Click here (link to the ACS letter) for more information about the EMSC from the American College of Surgeons.

Contacting your members of Congress is easy and can be accomplished by following the steps below:

  1. Use the “Find my Members of Congress” link: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
  2. Click “contact” for each of your legislators. This will bring you to the contact form on each Member’s website.
  3. Complete the contact form. Sample content for your message is below.

Suggested Message

The care of the injured and sick child is often overlooked despite injury being the leading cause of death among minors in the United States.  Since 1984, Congress has authorized the Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) Program, which provides funding to improve the quality of pediatric medical care for the severely ill and injured child. To date, Congress has not authorized the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program Reauthorization Act of 2024. I am writing to urge you to authorize this essential program to ensure the optimal care of the sick and injured child. It is estimated improving emergency care for children will prevent 1,400 children’s deaths.  It is imperative our nation continue to support the work of EMSC.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Brian Yorkgitis (brian.yorkgitis2@jax.ufl.edu), who is one of the representatives of the ACS Committee on Trauma to EMSC.