According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Emergency care for life-threatening pediatric illness and injury for children age 6 and under requires specialized resources including equipment, drugs, trained personnel, and facilities." Yet in Westchester, many first responders and staff of area hospital Emergency Rooms are not adequately trained to provide this specialized care. What's more, ambulances and ERs may not have the equipment they need--such as appropriately sized breathing tubes--to stabilize a young child in a medical emergency.

For several years, WCA included a call for better pediatric emergency care in our annual issues agenda. Eventually, WCA's advocacy resulted in the Committee on Children and Families of the Westchester County Board of Legislators convening a working group on the issue, with representatives from WCA, leaders of American Academy of Pediatrics, Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, and directors of Emergency Departments (EDs) of several hospitals in Westchester.

This group was created in order to assess the status of children's emergency services and make recommendations for improvement where needed.

• Westchester County has created a program to train pre-hospital emergency workers—such as ambulance volunteers and Emergency Medical Technicians--in Pediatric Advanced Life Support and other techniques used in caring for children who are seriously ill or injured.
  
  
• Upon being designated a separate Emergency District by New York State, Westchester County increased the number of training hours in pediatric emergency care required for paramedical staff.
  
  
• Efforts continue to assess the availability of special pediatric equipment in emergency services and to create better communication and coordination between pre-hospital and hospital services.