Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Pallone for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6960, the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act. I am proud to lead the effort with the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, children and adolescents require unique emergency care, and Congress can ensure the best medical outcomes when we pass this reauthorization.

In Congress, I serve as the co-chair of the Children's Health Care Caucus, where we focus on the unique healthcare needs of our kids, and that includes care in times of emergency. That is why this bill is so important.

It is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would reauthorize EMSC for another 5 years at increased funding levels. It passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously earlier in the year.

It has worked for 40 years to improve care for young patients, saving lives and improving health outcomes. It really is one of the cornerstones of pediatric care across America because it gives all providers a playbook for the best ways to treat children in an emergency every day and in every State and territory.

My local providers in Florida are leading the way. In Florida, EMSC has served 4.3 million children and their families, providing resources to 320 EMS agencies and 335 emergency departments. When that monster storm, Hurricane Ian, slammed into the State in 2022, it resulted in the evacuation of 81 critically ill neonatal and pediatric patients from local hospitals. We knew then that the transport vehicles were properly equipped for children thanks to Florida EMSC Safe Transport. Using EMSC funding, the Florida EMSC Disaster Response Committee has also developed a pediatric mass-casualty triage tool. They have distributed it across the State.

Florida EMSC was able to develop and distribute more than 2,300 communications cards for children who speak Spanish or Haitian Creole, or who may be nonverbal, to help healthcare professionals communicate with them directly during an emergency.

The results speak for themselves. Nationally, pediatric injury- related death rates have decreased by more than 40 percent because of this initiative. That is why it is important to reauthorize it today.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage a ``yes'' vote.

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