* THIS IS A LIVE WORKING DRAFT *

WHO IS CITY PARK EMS?

City Park EMS (CPEMS) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and soon to be accredited Basic Life Support (BLS) Emergency Medical Services agency, providing no-fee emergency medical care and first-aid treatment for City Park and the surrounding neighborhood. CPEMS will transport to all New Orleans area hospitals depending on the nature of the call for service and the status of the patient upon arrival. We are striving to be fully operational by the Spring of 2024.

City Park EMS is a separate, independent organization from that of City Park itself. However, CPEMS shares the vision of a safe enviroment within City Park in cooperation with the City Park Improvement Association (CPIA), a state agency that ensures performance management for the park, as well as the City Park Conservancy (CPC), the 501(c)(3) that operates the day-to-day programming, fundraising and membership management of the 1,300 acre park.

These two entities function under a common purpose: the betterment of City Park, in accord with a document entitled the Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) which outlines oversight standards and management responsibilities between CPIA and CPC.

City Park EMS is drafting a proposed addendum to the CEA for their approval to include: 1) the obligations and responsibilities of CPEMS within the CEA framework; and 2) release of liability for these entities relating to CPEMS in the performance of its duties as an Emergency Medical Service provider. 

SO WHY DOES CITY PARK NEED ITS OWN EMS?

City Park's 1,300 acres makes it one of the largest urban parks in the United States with a plethora of activities to engage all ages. The park's spacious grounds is home to the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden; New Orleans Botanical Gardens; an 18 hole golf course and driving range; Storyland, a children's amusement park; 10 sports fields with 2 practice tracks, the 26K seat Tad Gormely Stadium, 3 festival grounds sites and miles of trails and waterways thta host 16 million visitors to the park each year.

The parks vast acreage and visitor count support the idea of a EMS service dedicated to the park similar to the Audubon Institute's dedicated EMS agency serving Audubon Zoo, Aquarium of the Americas and Woldenberg Park.  Our model however draws its inspiration from another park centric volunteer EMS agency, the renowned Central Park Medical Unit in New York City that has been providing medical care free of charge since 1975 to a park that is half  the size of City Park - yes, that's correct - City Park in New Orleans is twice as large as New York's Central Park!

ARE VOLUNTEER EMS THE SAME AS REGULAR EMS SERVICES?

Yes. All volunteers affiliated with City Park EMS are Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics licensed through the Louisiana Department of Health, Bureau of EMS.

Like all EMS agencies, City Park EMS is overseen by a Medical Director with an Emergency Medicine specialty and, as an EMS agency located in Orleans Parish, CPEMS will be fully compliant with the Region 1 Protocols for EMS agencies operating in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes. These medical protocols will be reviewed and updated annually to remain compliant with Region 1 evidence based best practices for EMS providers.

Additionally, as a Basic Life Support service, CPEMS may activate New Orleans EMS (NOEMS) for certain severe emergencies which will provide Paramedic led Advanced Life Support (ALS) services. This is the standard utilized by other Basic Life Support agenices such as Tulane University EMS and Audubon Institute EMS. In this way, patients receive the best combination of medical care possible — prompt, first response by City Park EMS who can call upon the advanced level of care provided by New Orleans EMS when necessary.

CAN ANYONE CALL?

Our proposed service area is the 1,300 acres of park grounds, ancillary recreation sites and the Lakeview subdistrict, also known as City Park, whose boundaries defined by the New Orleans City Planning Commission are: Allen Toussaint Boulevard to the North, Bayou St. John to the East, Orleans Avenue, North Carrollton Avenue and Toulouse Street to the South and City Park Avenue and Orleans Avenue to the West.

CPEMS will respond to calls for aid during City Park’s normal hours of operations and can be availabe to coincide with activities and functions held on City Park grounds that request our presence outside of normal hours of operation.

We are also coordinating with the City of New Orleans Communications District to dispatch our unit(s) as first responder BLS medical 911 calls within our defined service area freeing NOEMS to focus its resources on other parts of the city.

A COMMUNITY PARTNER

CPEMS is grateful to have allligned with an array of governmental agencies, non proft organizations, education partners and first responder agencies who support our idea and vision of a EMS agency dedicated to City Park and would like to thank: City Park Improvement Association, City Park Conservancy, City Park's Police Department, Acadian Ambulace Service, the National EMS Academy, Delgado Community College's Emergency Medical Service Program, Orleans Parish Levee District Police, University of New Orleans Public Safety, Southern University of New Orleans Polce Department, the New Orleans EMS, Fire and Police Departments, LSU Medical, Health & Science Department, Ochsner Health System and Louisiana Childrens Medical Center (LCMC).

BECOME A CPEMS PARTNER

Provider
Are you a Louisiana licensed Emergency Medical Technician looking to volunteer with CPEMS?  Email us at recruitment@cpems.org

Patron
For other ways you can support City Park EMS contact us at info@cpems.org or 504.345.9826.

We hope to ( never ) see you soon!

*If you are experiencing a medical emergency dial 911