WSW Secures Bipartisan Support, Increased Funding for SIREN Act Grant Program for National Association of EMTs
In Brief
- Achieved consistent, year-over-year funding increases for the SIREN Act grant program, in some years doubling the appropriation and delivering a critical lifeline to rural EMS agencies.
- Directly enabled nearly 200 grant awards to date, allowing rural communities to purchase new ambulances, upgrade medical supplies, recruit personnel, and enhance life-saving services.
- Executed a comprehensive, multi-prong advocacy campaign that included submitting requests to nearly 100 congressional offices and effectively mobilizing the association’s grassroots advocates to secure overwhelming bipartisan support.
WSW has represented the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) since 2018. WSW supports a broad range of advocacy and legislative priorities for NAEMT, including their efforts to secure funding the Rural EMS Equipment and Training Assistance (REMSTEA) program, also known as SIREN Act grants. SIREN Act grants are specifically for rural public and non-profit EMS agencies and fire departments to purchase equipment, provide training, and meet other critical needs. They provide a critical lifeline for budget-challenged rural EMS agencies and fire departments to assist in procuring medication and medical supplies, recruiting and retaining personnel, increasing service levels from Basic Life Support to Advanced Life Support, and even replacing older ambulances with newer and safer models.
WSW has assisted NAEMT in developing and executing a multi-prong strategy to educate Members of Congress on the absolute need for increased funding for SIREN Act grants. These efforts included drafting white papers, preparing and submitting appropriations request forms to nearly 100 congressional offices, and engaging NAEMT advocates to help them reinforce to Congress how crucial these funds are for rural EMS agencies.
These efforts have resulted increased funding for the SIREN Act grant program each year, with some years seeing as much as double the funding from the previous year. The result? To date, nearly 200 SIREN Act grant awards have been made to rural communities.