EMS Week Promotional Products and Gifts

Celebrate EMS Week Ideas

EMS Week

Mark your calendars for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week in 2008. It’s the perfect time to educate people of all ages in your community about safety and to acknowledge the heroic yet everyday efforts of your emergency responders and EMS volunteers.

This year’s EMS Week Idea Guide brings you a variety of event and activity suggestions to help make your upcoming EMS Week a success. Many of these ideas are derived from suggestions sent in by customers like you, who have used them for memorable celebrations and valuable educational events in past years. We invite you to combine them with our affordable products in order to easily deliver crucial messages to your community. At the same time, you can expressa special “thank you” with ease to those dedicated public servants and volunteers who help to keep your community safe and informed.


	Welcome One And All!
	Kick off EMS Week by hosting an Open House for families at your EMS facility. Let boys and girls see the interior of an actual ambulance while they learn how to keep safe in every way. Arrange ambulance “tours” in groups and give each child who takes one a “Let’s Learn About Ambulances” Educational Activities Book. You can also send each child home with goodies from your choice of EMS Open House Kits. Each Kit has giveaways created to help teach children about the vital role of EMS and introduce them to key safety concepts. As for parents and guardians, provide them each with an Emergency and First Aid Handbook, filled with timely information every family should have at its fingertips


	Get ‘Em While They’re Hot!
	Flipping pancakes will be fun for EMS personnel and eating them will be a tasty treat for everyone who attends your EMS Week Pancake Breakfast. What better way to educate kids and their parents on first aid and handling emergencies than on a full stomach? It’s also a great opportunity to promote your services. After breakfast, invite everyone to ask EMS personnel questions about handling emergencies and staying safe. Youngsters will be delighted to receive a “ Be An EMS Everyday Hero” Educational Activities Book along with an “EMS: Helping People One Life At A Time” Balloon, and “EMS 24/7/365” Silicone Wristband . Give all the moms, dads, grandparents and guardians who attend a CPR Pocket Pal to help them keep a cool head if a crisis occurs.


	Add Fitness Flair To Health Fairs
	Team up your EMS personnel with fitness instructors and organize a well-publicized health fair. Get children and adults in your community thinking health by offering blood pressure, cholesterol and body composition testing. Then go a step further and promote the benefits of fitness by offering fitness assessments and short classes on yoga, step aerobics and body conditioning. Also have mini-workshops on basic first aid and handling emergencies. Send younger children home with “EMS Caring For Our Community” Educational Activities Books. Older children will appreciate “What To Do In An Emergency” Pocket Pals. For young adults, make available “People I Love Buckle Up” Water Bottles, and give adults “Blood Pressure Recorder” Pocket Pals and “ABC’s of CPR” E-Z Stick Glancers.


	Prepare Students For A Safe Summer
	Many preventable accidents occur to children each summer. Hold an assembly at local schools to educate children about the biggest dangers summer may bring. Teach them water safety and bike safety, and help them learn when and how to call 9-1-1 in an emergency. Include demonstrations of how to properly put on helmets, kneepads and other sports gear. Then quiz children on what they’ve learned. Give each child who gets a correct answer an EMS Safety Glow Bracelet. Then conclude your assembly by providing every student with a 9-1-1 Emergency Value Pack, with its “Telephone For Help Call 9-1-1” Educational Activities Book, and other items that help reinforce your lessons.


	Let Safety Go To Their Heads!
	Add a new element of fun to your EMS visits to elementary schools during EMS Week. Have your EMS personnel present a Junior EMT Helmet and Junior EMT Sticker to each child before you begin your safety talk. Tell the children that by staying safe they’ll be part of your EMS Team. Then, at the end of your safety lesson, distribute “Practice Safety Every Day” Coloring & Activities 2008-2009 Calendars to all. Students can bring home these 15-month calendars for the whole family to learn from.


	Ready, Set, Ride
	Sponsor a 5- or 10-mile bike race to raise revenue for your station and local charities. Encourage families to participate and offer an “EMS: Helping People One Life At A Time” T-Shirt to anyone who acquires pledges, either per mile or per ride. The day before the race, hold a presentation on bicycle safety and have EMS personnel on hand to check equipment and ensure that each rider’s bicycle and helmet is safe for the race. Give each child a Bicycle Safety Activity Pack , with its Bicycle Safety Educational Activities Book and other incentives for safe riding. Present each adult with a First Aid Guide Slideguide.


	Fitness & First Aid For Seniors
	Find a local fitness professional to help your EMS personnel organize Fitness & First Aid For Seniors Workshops in senior centers, adult community centers and assisted living facilities. Educate participants about how to handle medical emergencies that require EMS calls. Then take this opportunity for your fitness pro to demonstrate simple exercises seniors can practice daily to improve balance and prevent life-threatening falls. Give attendees a Medication Recorder Pocket Pal to carry with them at all times and a File of Life Magnet to place on their refrigerator. The Magnets have a file inside that recipients fill in with emergency medical information, so EMS rescue workers can find it right away.


	Encourage Teens To Just Say No
	Many teens obtain their driver’s licenses and drive off to parties or football games without considering the risks of drinking or using drugs behind the wheel. To combat the dangers of such practices, offer a presentation at high school driving classes on the dangers of driving under the influence. Showing a video of an actual car crash can make your presentation more powerful. When you’re done, provide students with Drinking and Driving Calculators, Drug Education Slideguides and “Buckle Up” Key Rings to remind them to be safe when on the road.


	Coffee to Go
	Start off your EMS Week appreciation tactics by surprising your valued crew members at the opening of their shifts with hot pots of Colombian coffee and platefuls of freshly baked doughnuts or even better, homemade and healthy baked goodies! Then give each EMS rescue worker a Blue Satin Tumbler to pour coffee into when the next call comes in. Further show your appreciation by holding a catered dinner or lunch (whichever works best for everyone’s schedule) at which time each of your crew members get the verbal praise they deserve! This is a good time for giving every EMS professional a Lapel Pin With Presentation Card and awarding Service Pins based on years of service. Before the celebration ends, bring out Deluxe Lunch Bags for all. It’s a gift everyone loves.


	Plan A Picnic To Remember
	Set aside a Sunday afternoon to recognize your EMS personnel and volunteers who constantly perform heroic tasks as part of their everyday job! Organize a picnic at a nearby park and encourage each worker to bring the entire family for food and festivities. Have on hand plenty of “EMS: America’s Hometown Heroes” T-Shirts so people can wear them on the day of the event. Hire a disc jockey or local band for entertainment and bring in a jumping castle and a large inflatable slide for the kids. After a meal of grilled hot dogs, chicken and vegetables as well as baked beans and coleslaw, award each of your valued EMS personnel with a Deluxe Lunch Bag and a Stainless Steel Thermal Beverage Holder. Take plenty of pictures that you can later put in your newsletter, on your Web site, or on a sheet of paper you photocopy and pass around.


	Knowing 911 Helps Toddler Save Mother’s Life!
	Four-year-old Tony Sharpe was at home in North Pole, Alaska, on April 10th, 2007, when his mother, Courtenay, blacked out during a gall bladder attack. Thanks to having read a children’s book about calling 911, the boy took quick action. He phoned 911, reaching the North Star Volunteer Fire Department. He told the dispatcher, “Mommy is sick. Mommy needs an ambulance. Mommy fell over. She is sleeping,” Then he described how to find his apartment building. Thanks to his training, firefighters soon arrived and Tony’s mother was saved.