Who is qualified to receive EMS provider photo ID cards? - EMS providers certified at the CFR, EMT, AEMT, EMT-CC, or Paramedic level, who are currently active with one or more EMS agency (ambulance or first response team) based in Broome County, should have current (unexpired) EMS provider photo ID cards, indicating their EMS system-authorized level of practice. For BLS providers (CFRs and EMTs), this means that they are currently state-certified, and are authorized by at least one Broome County-based EMS agency to practice at that level within the agency. ALS providers (AEMT, CC, Paramedic) must also be authorized by the Susquehanna Regional Emergency Medical Services Regional Emergency Medical Advisory Committee (SREMS-REMAC - our regional physician medical control board) to practice at their advanced level, without direct preceptor supervision, within at least one Broome County-based EMS agency that provides care at or above the individual’s certification level. If you are newly-certified as an ALS provider, you must obtain both your agency’s and the REMAC’s approval to practice “unsupervised” before you may receive ID cards at your new advanced level. This is done by completing the regional Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Request for Practice Privilege Form and ALS Provider Statement of Agreement, and submitting them to your ALS agency’s leadership for processing. The application must be endorsed/signed by the agency’s physician medical director before being submitted to the SREMS Program Agency office for review and verification. A copy of the fully-completed, signed, and verified application should be returned to and retained by the agency, as evidence that the provider is “regionally-privileged” to practice at the new level, and a copy must be presented when obtaining photo ID cards at an advanced level for the first time.
How do you schedule an appointment to be photographed and verified for EMS provider photo ID cards? - Call (607) 778-1006 to schedule a time to come to the Public Safety Facility for this purpose. If your call is answered by voicemail, clearly state your name, phone number, and the purpose of your call, and you will promptly be contacted by a member of our Fire Coordinator Staff who will schedule a mutually-convenient time for you to come in.
What documentation must you bring with you when you come to be photographed? – All providers obtaining photo ID cards for the first time, or obtaining them for a new level of certification for the first time, must bring with them a completed Credential Card Application Form, signed by a chief officer of the agency through/for which they are obtaining the ID cards (please note that a completed form for only one agency that provides care at or above the level for which you request ID cards is required). Providers must also bring two forms of ID from among those specified on the application, with at least one of them an original, government-issued photo ID. Your new state EMS certification card must also be presented, along with certificates for all of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) courses you have completed. As detailed above, first-time applicants for photo IDs at the AEMT, Critical Care, and Paramedic levels must also present a copy of their completed, signed, and verified Advanced Emergency Medical Technician Request for Practice Privilege Form and ALS Provider Statement of Agreement.
Why so many documents? – The photo identification cards for which you are applying are official evidence, on their face, that you are a trained, certified, authorized, and verified responder of the level indicated on the cards. These cards will provide you access to places that you might not otherwise be permitted to go, will officially represent your status to the public, and may be used to verify your qualifications if you are deployed outside our county or state as part of a state or national mobilization for a major emergency. All of these make it mandatory that we verify your qualifications before we issue you ID cards attesting to them.
Will these ID cards provide me with access to the hospital emergency departments? – Only EMS providers who are obtaining their photo IDs through an AMBULANCE SERVICE will receive one of the two cards in a form that will provide access to the ambulance entrance doors and EMS rooms at UHS hospitals. Lourdes hospital has issued separate access cards to transporting EMS agencies (one per vehicle), and non-transporting EMS agencies have been determined not to need this access. For this reason, if you belong to multiple EMS agencies that include at least one ambulance service, it is important that you obtain your ID card authorization from an ambulance agency.
