International Center for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

About Us

The International Center for Prehospital and Disaster Medicine (ICPDM), created in 2008, is a service of the Sierra Medical Services Alliance (SEMSA), a 501c3, not-for-profit corporation created in 2001 to allow for service expansion outside of the REMSA franchise. REMSA was established in 1986 in Reno, Nevada to be the exclusive provider of ground and air ambulance services under a franchise agreement with the cities of Reno and Sparks and Washoe County using a public utility model. Like any public utility, the service is provided under an exclusive franchise that is highly regulated. The system design is known as a high performance system that uses fluid deployment, meaning ambulances are placed where call demand is expected instead of a fixed location and all aspects of the system are measured for compliance with the franchise requirements. By all performance measures, REMSA, since its creation, has been considered one of the best performing ambulance services in the country. REMSA now responds to over 50,000 requests for ground ambulance service each year.

REMSA operates Care Flight, which includes four helicopter air ambulances in Northern Nevada and Northeastern California that respond to over 2,250 requests for service each year. REMSA provides a Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) team that integrates with SWAT teams from the Reno and Sparks Police Departments, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Nevada Highway Patrol, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and agencies from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

REMSA is one of only two triple accredited ambulance services in the world. The ground ambulance service has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services since 2005. The air and ground services have both been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Services since 2002. The communications center has been an Accredited Center of Excellence by the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch since 2001. Currently, the Education Center is going through the accreditation process by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

REMSA has operated an Education and Training Center since 1996. The paramedic program is one of only three state certified post-secondary education paramedic training programs in Nevada. In 2002 REMSA partnered with the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Extended Studies Program for its paramedic classes, which were included in the University’s catalog. In 2008, the REMSA paramedic program moved to the UNR School of Medicine and college credit was offered to graduates. In 2006, REMSA became an Advanced Cardiac Life Support Community Training Center for the American Heart Association. Since 2005, REMSA has been a Critical Care Emergency Medical Technician Paramedic (CCEMT-P) training center for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In 2006, REMSA established a simulator training lab using METI man advanced training simulators. In 2007 REMSA began to explore the use of video-conferencing and Internet access to offer didactic training to individuals in rural and remote areas. At the same time, REMSA partnered with the Reno Police Department, Sparks Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to provide the Tactical Operations Medical Services (TOMS) course. Two of the Medical Directors for the TOMS course were also on the faculty at the University of South Florida (USF) and aware of USF’s pioneering work of providing advanced medical education through distance learning. SEMSA, REMSA, UNR and the USF Global Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Assistance began discussions on how to combine their expertise to provide education in prehospital and disaster medicine throughout the United States.

In creating ICPDM, SEMSA and REMSA identified a lack of university-based continuing education or formalized training in a variety of prehospital and disaster medicine areas. Seeing this need ICPDM was created to provide multilevel and multidisciplinary education and training to enhance the delivery of prehospital medical care, disaster preparedness and individual continuing education. Education and training with ICPDM is conducted using blended adult learning methodologies in a variety of venues to include in-residence, mobile/traveling training teams and distance learning. ICPDM offers focused and tailored training for all types of audiences including nationally recognized/standardized programs as well as specialized non-standard programs.

ICPDM has partnered with outstanding universities from around North America to ensure its offerings are of the highest quality and academic integrity. Currently, ICPDM offers courses in partnership with the University of Nevada Reno - School of Medicine and the University of South Florida Global Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Assistance. ICPDM is also a training center for the National Disaster Life Support Foundation to teach both Basic and Advanced Disaster Life Support Courses and issue continuing education credit from the American Medical Association.

USF has also sponsored and helped design the Homeland Security Medical Executive Course offered by the Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute. At the most recent class, REMSA key staff, USF key staff and the TOMS Medical Directors, began exploring how to make prehospital and disaster medicine classes more accessible to those in need. At that meeting there was an official from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario who felt that such offerings would be valuable to Canadians. Now, SEMSA, REMSA, UNR, USF, and McMaster University are working together through ICPDM to offer this type of educational opportunities.