FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2021
CONTACT INFO. :
Office of the Mayor
Patricia Resende
(401) 529-3207
East Providence Fire receives $834K FEMA award
EAST PROVIDENCE, RI – The East Providence Fire Department was recently named as a recipient of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG). East Providence Fire received $834,363 from the AFG program, a highly competitive grant program open to all fire and emergency medical service departments nationwide.
The East Providence Fire Dept. will use the grant funding to train, certify, and provide licensing for 25 members of the East Providence Fire Dept. Specifically, personnel who are currently licensed as Advanced Emergency Medical Technician – Cardiacs, will be trained and licensed as Nationally Registered Paramedics.
“FEMA’s AFG award will help expand and improve the Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services division and increase the level of pre-hospital care to not only our East Providence residents, but also residents of the surrounding communities in which we serve,” said East Providence Fire Chief Glenn Quick.
“We are thrilled to have been selected as a FEMA-AFG awardee,” Mayor Bob DaSilva said. “My administration is thankful to U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed and U.S. Representatives David N. Cicilline and Jim Langevin for their continued support as well as all of those involved in our grant-writing process.”
In addition, this award will also allow East Providence Fire personnel to be trained and certified to the level of Mobile Integrated Health – Community Paramedicine, (MIH-CP) and will enable the East Providence Fire Dept. EMS division to develop, implement, and sustain a MIH-CP program as part of its division.
The MIH-CP program will improve the health and wellness of our community’s underserved populations, especially those with chronic conditions who use the Emergency Room as their primary source of healthcare. The City’s elderly population (to include shut-ins identified through EMS responses and our local senior services program) will also benefit from the EPFD’s MIH-CP program by providing home healthcare interventions. This will help to reduce readmissions to local hospitals.
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For questions or more information, please contact Michael Carey, Deputy Director of Emergency Management and Chief of Operations at 401.435.7679
