FLINTSTONE, Md. — The multi-disciplinary Miltenberger Emergency Services Seminar held in Western Maryland will be celebrating 20 years of bringing continuing education to clinicians, firefighters, registered nurses and communication specialists in March 2025.
Dwayne Kitis, Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems Director of Mission Support said that as part of this year’s seminar, they will be recognizing the Miltenberger family and bringing back past speakers and presenters.
Named after the late Dr. F. W. Miltenberger, the seminar planning was initiated in 2002 with funds that were contributed to a memorial after his sudden death on August 3, 1999. Miltenberger was described as a man of education, perseverance, compassion and action whose contribution to EMS greatly benefited the people of Western Maryland and the state of Maryland. His leadership helped to build, maintain and explain the life-saving services that affect everyone in Western Maryland.
Dr. Miltenberger was a thoracic surgeon in Cumberland and a founding member of the MIEMSS Region I EMS Advisory County. He was actively involved in the development and expansion of EMS in Allegany and Garrett counties, and in the state of Maryland. He served as one of the council’s first presidents and the region’s medical director for over 20 years. During that time, he helped initiate the first 911 services in Allegany County and lead the efforts to establish prehospital advanced life support care. He became instrumental in bringing the trauma designation to the former Cumberland Memorial Hospital. The hospital was later demolished after a new facility was constructed. The new facility, UPMC-Western Maryland, maintains its trauma designation today.
“Dr. Miltenberger worked tirelessly for the care of the sick and injured in Western Maryland. All of this was done on a volunteer basis. He was a remarkable man who combined his skills as a surgeon with a desire to make prehospital care better for the victims of serious illness and injury. His respect for the fire and EMS personnel was without question. He recognized the talent and dedication they bring to their lifesaving profession — whether paid or volunteer,” former MIEMSS Region I EMS Medical Director, Dr. William May, wrote in the seminar’s first brochure.
The first seminar was held on May 31, 2003, at the Allegany College of Maryland (Cumberland), according to Kitis. Like Dr. Miltenberger’s legacy, the program’s purpose has been to provide a high-quality lecture and hands-on training program for emergency services providers.
“Ensure all first responders, including EMTs, paramedics, firefighters, nurses, doctors and dispatchers have the most up-to-date information on various topics,” Kitis said. “This training keeps their skills at a higher level to serve the constituents and visitors of Region I and the surrounding areas.”
The seminar is designed to meet the continuing education requirement needs of emergency services clinicians in Western Maryland and the surrounding area. The committee believes that a strong cooperative relationship between public safety and healthcare clinicians is key to the successful outcome of any incident.
The seminar is sponsored by the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, The MIEMSS Region 1 EMS Education Council, UPMC-Western Maryland, WVU Medicine-Garrett Regional Medical Center, Stryker, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Allegany Garrett Counties Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, Maryland Emergency Number Systems Board, Maryland EMS for Children at MIEMSS, Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute.
Importance of regional conferences
Regional conferences and seminars allow clinicians to receive continuing education and hear the latest trends or changes that will affect how they provide patient care. The added benefit is that the clinician doesn’t have to travel far to receive the training.
“The regional conferences allow clinicians to hear from a broad array of speakers from the EMS services and hospitals/specialty centers,” Maryland’s EMS Medical Director Timothy Chizmar said. “Clinicians have the opportunity to learn from expert speakers on diverse topics, such as trauma, cardiac arrest and emerging topics in the medical literature.”
Chizmar added clinicians have the opportunity to network with colleagues from within their region(s) and beyond. The relationships developed at the conferences facilitate broader collaboration among EMS services.
City of Cumberland Fire Department Capt. Doug Beitzel, program coordinator for the Paramedic Program at Garrett College, added, “It’s great to be able to offer a conference, where folks and get together to network and earn CEUs towards their (certification) at the same time. Many folks come back every year to see others from across the state.”
Regional seminars in Maryland
Chizmar said at the current time Maryland has two regional conferences but hopes a third will return in the Fall of 2025.
“Maryland has two regional conferences: Winterfest on the Eastern Shore in February and Miltenberger, which is held in Western Maryland during the month of March. A third offering, the EMS Care Conference in Ocean City, will hopefully return in the Fall of 2025,” Chizmar said. “Winterfest offers a 2-day conference with EMS and hospital speakers and a 1-day pre-conference with a focus on practicing hands-on skills. Miltenberger is a one-day conference held in Flintstone, Maryland, which also has a pre-conference day that focuses on honing EMS clinician skills.”
Over the last 20 years
Chizmar spoke about the importance of regional conferences bringing new topics and changes to the clinicians. The regional conferences are used to bring hands-on training and practical use of these changing skills. Chizmar highlighted some of the topics over the past two decades:
- Introduction and widespread use of CPAP has prevented the need for frequent intubations.
- When intubation is needed, video laryngoscopy facilitates “first-pass” success when seconds count.
- Capnography (end-tidal CO2 measurement) enables us to confirm advanced airway placement and gain insight into the patient’s illness.
- Increasingly, EMS jurisdictions in the state are deploying intravenous infusion pumps and ventilators to meet the needs of critically ill patients.
- The Whole Blood Pilot Protocol brings this lifesaving intervention out of the hospitals and trauma centers, and into the field, where it has already saved many lives. Currently, the Maryland State Police Aviation Command and two ground EMS jurisdictions (Howard and Montgomery counties) are carrying low-titer O positive whole blood
- High-Performance CPR and field termination of resuscitation protocols emphasize a “resuscitate-in-place” mindset which contributes to lives saved from cardiac arrest. We evaluate our cardiac arrest data systematically to identify areas for improvement. All Maryland EMS jurisdictions and receiving hospitals participate in the CARES registry.
- We rose to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to caring for patients with COVID, we were able to provide vaccines to thousands of Marylanders.
- Maryland launched Mobile Integrated Health programs which have expanded to nearly half of our EMS jurisdictions. These programs have transformed EMS care into the proactive domain, with a focus on keeping our patients healthy and decreasing the need to call 911.
- Maryland developed a statewide electronic health record to replace the “bubble forms.” This enables EMS services to capture their data in close to real time and transmit it to hospitals and the statewide health information exchange. Physicians, nurses and allied health professionals now have access to EMS reports and data with the click of buttons.
- We are utilizing telemedicine and alternate destinations to help secure the right care for the patient in the most appropriate setting.
Beitzel echoed Chizmar’s comments relating to changes in EMS over the last 20 years, adding that his program likes to be involved to prepare for the future.
“Garrett College likes to be involved due to the educational value of the latest topics in EMS, and “what’s coming down the road”. Our paramedic students are pushed to include research with upcoming medical trends as part of their education and testing,” Beitzel said. “Medicine is always changing, and we need to stay up on the best standard of care with evidence-based medicine.”
Registration for the seminar will begin later this year. Clinicians interested in attending should follow social media or the MIEMSS website for updates.
