-Virginia Improved Score on National Report Card- As a member of the Health, Welfare, and Institutions committee in the Virginia House of Delegates, Del. Christopher K. Peace (R-Mechanicsville) joins Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling in announcing that Virginia increased its ranking significantly from an overall ranking of 46 to an overall ranking of 23 on the recently released National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The state's score improved from a D+ in 2006 to a C, placing it above the country's overall score of C-.
The report card cited outstanding disaster and emergency preparedness plans as well as established injury prevention programs as two areas which impacted Virginia's upward move in the overall ranking.
During his service, Delegate Peace has actively supported a number of public health initiatives. In 2007 he supported House Bill 2161 which added provisions for additional performance improvement measures to the statewide emergency medical care system. One additional requirement is that the statewide Trauma Triage Plan is to be updated triennially. Enactment of this measure ensured operational improvements to the Emergency Medical Services system and emergency medical care delivered on scene, in transit, in hospital emergency departments and within the hospital environment.
"Increasing the quality of and access to emergency medical services improves the quality of life for residents of the Commonwealth," asserted Peace. "We have made many improvements in recent years and will continue to work with professional medical organizations, hospitals, and other public and private agencies in developing creative approaches to address areas of concern highlighted in the report."
Following the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech in 2007, Peace also supported 2008 legislation which requires the governing body of each public institution of higher education to develop, adopt, and keep current a written crisis and emergency management plan; each plan must be reviewed and revised every four years. The emergency plan creates teams to assess threats on campus and establishes emergency warning systems.
The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine was made possible, in part by funding from the Emergency Medicine Foundation, which gratefully acknowledges the support of the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.