News

Former Buffalo EMS Director Susan Harper passed away just after Christmas after suffering a long illness. Susan was a vital part of EMS in northwestern Oklahoma for many years and served on a variety of EMS-related boards, as well as being employed with the state Health Department Emergency Systems. As of this release funeral arrangements had not been disclosed.

OKAMA's spring educational conference is set for April 1, 2014 and will again be held in the Oklahoma History Center. Additional information will soon be posted here and on our Facebook page. In addition the annual Stars of Life banquet and awards ceremony will be held that same day starting at 5:00pm for member agencies only. Information on membership in OKAMA is found elsewhere on this page.

To All Oklahoma Providers: It is time for the 2014 Oklahoma Ambulance Association's annual membership drive. I want to personally invite all our current members to renew their membership for 2014 today and all non members to strongly consider joining this association. We as an industry continue to face incredible reimbursement and funding issues as well as regulatory concerns at a local and statewide level. The challenges facing ambulance providers in Oklahoma are more complex than ever and only through your support can the Oklahoma Ambulance Association continue to work on your behalf. Attached you will find our President's letter and Membership application forms. If you are a current member you will be receiving an invoice in the mail, if you are not yet a member we encourage you to consider membership with OKAMA. Please return the appropriate completed form and a check by mail at: OKAMA 2504 W. Owen Garriott #302 Enid, OK 73703

Download: Membership_Mailing.pdf

April 1, 2014 will not be a joke this year as OKAMA is pleased to announce that our annual Stars of Life banquet and awards ceremony will be held in the evening of our spring educational conference. Member agencies should have received nomination materials the first week of January 2014. A special guest will appear at this years Stars event, Miss Oklahoma 2013 Kelsey Griswold who will present our National Anthem and speak during the event. Star nominations are due not later than January 31, 2014. Contact Bob Hawley for additional information.

Download: OKAMAsavetheDate2014.pdf

Download: Novitas_OKAMA.pdf

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on April 23rd and 24th in Oklahoma City. Following our Conference and Tradeshow on Tuesday the 23rd we will have our €œEMS Day at the Capitol. Everyone is encouraged to join us at the Capitol and meet your legislators. 8:30 a.m. - Set up on the fourth floor rotunda for those wishing to have a booth. Please contact Ray Simpson at 405-627-5465 or rayleesimp@aol.com if you want to have a booth. 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Legislative update and instructions and key note speaker Dr. Ed Racht, Chief Medical Officer for American Medical Response, in the Blue Room on the 2nd floor of the Capitol. 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Visit legislators and staff. After this important day at the Capitol we will be honoring Oklahoma Stars at our Stars of Life Reception and Banquet held at the Oklahoma History Center on April 24th. 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Stars Reception €“prior to the Banquet 6:00 p.m. - Stars Banquet. See you there!

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Oklahoma Emergency Response System Stabilization and Improvement Revolving Fund for fiscal year 2014 is about to begin. The Department plans on releasing the Request for Proposals during the week of April 8. 

The announcement will be made on our website: http://www.ok.gov/health/Protective_Health/Emergency_Systems/EMS_Division/index.html

The Department will be distributing: $2,307,309.30 This is a large increase from last year'€™s dispersal, thanks to an increase in collections into the fund. At this time, we are scheduling the pre-proposal conference for April 15, 2013. We will be meeting in room 806 of the Department. There is a procedural change as well as a change to the application this year. 

The procedure for application this year is this: 1.Submit RFP before Deadline 2.Procurement Review for contractual requirements 3.Emergency Systems review for proposal content 4.Panel Review. If an RFP does not contain the required information, then it will not be sent to the panel for review. The information required will be detailed in the PowerPoint on the website as well as described at the pre-proposal conference. The application has been modified to show what is expected to be received. Additionally, the benchmark section of the application has been modified. Examples of benchmarks have been included. These are examples only. 

Any questions we receive after the RFP is released will be answered on our website. Direct answers will not be able to be provided due to state contractual regulations and statutes. 

Thank you. Dale Adkerson | EMS Director OSDH-Emergency Systems | 1000 Northeast Tenth Street | Oklahoma City, OK 73117 | office: 405.271.4027 | fax: 405.271.4240 | email: dalea@health.ok.gov

The Oklahoma Ambulance Association (OKAMA) is pleased to announce our Spring Educational Conference and Tradeshow to be held on April 23rd at the History Center in Oklahoma City. Attached is our conference brochure which provides detail on our great line up of speakers. This is going to be a great day of education and networking with industry providers and vendors alike. Following our conference please plan on staying the next day for the EMS Day at the Capital and OKAMA'€™s Stars of Life banquet on the 24th.

Download: 2013SpringConference.pdf

The Oklahoma Ambulance Association (OKAMA) is proud to announce we will present our Fourth Annual Stars of Life Banquet and Awards Ceremony where we will honor the best and brightest EMS providers from across our State. This event will be held on April 24th following our Spring Education Conference held on the April 23rd. Enclosed with this announcement is an application form that you can use to submit a nominee for Star of Life recognition which will then be placed into review for a possible all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. in March to represent Oklahoma at the American Ambulance Association's Star of Life ceremony. Please note that you must be a member of OKAMA and may submit up to two nominees. If you are not currently a member, simply get a membership application on this web site and join today! Deadline for Stars nominations is 4:00 pm, Thursday, January 31, 2013.

Application: Stars_of_Life.pdf