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Bill would add EMS and Alzheimer’s representation to state public-health and EMS advisory committees
Summary
Senate Bill 202 would add an EMS representative to the DHHS Alzheimer's subcommittee and add an Alzheimer's Association seat to the EMS and trauma services coordinating board to improve cross-disciplinary planning and protocols for patients with Alzheimer's and related dementias.
Senator Sue Prentiss introduced Senate Bill 202, which would add an emergency medical services (EMS) representative to the Department of Health and Human Services Alzheimer's subcommittee and add an Alzheimer's Association representative to the EMS and trauma services coordinating board. Prentiss said the intent is awareness and operational alignment, not a training mandate, and to ensure EMS and Alzheimer's stakeholders participate in protocol development.
Jenny Horgan, senior public policy manager for the Alzheimer's Association in New Hampshire, told the committee the organization meets regularly with the Alzheimer's subcommittee and that approximately 26,500 people in the state live with Alzheimer's or dementia. Horgan said interactions between EMS personnel and people with dementia can become stressed and that shared tools and strategies can improve outcomes for patients and responders.
Prentiss told the committee the commission and EMS medical protocol bodies already have mechanisms to develop operational protocols and that the Alzheimer's Association has agreed to work with the EMS medical-control protocol process. She said the requirement is intended to add representation and maintain lines of communication.
No committee vote was recorded; the hearing concluded after sponsor and association testimony.
