The goal of the Tennessee Emergency Medical Services for Children Foundation is to advocate for the highest quality of care for the critically-ill and injured children who come into our hands, whether you are a physician, nurse, nurse’s aid, paramedic, EMT, social worker, hospital administrator, educator, or parent. The national Emergency Medical Services for Children Project, which began in 1989 when funding was initially granted to the states, considers the emotional, family, and cultural needs of children equal to their medical needs when faced with a life-threatening illness or injury. The Tennessee Emergency Medical Services for Children Foundation (TN EMSC) is the charitable organization in Tennessee which seeks to advocate for these children’s needs, to advise the state government concerning current state of the art pediatric emergency/critical care services, and to facilitate the provision of these services across the breath of the state and across the continuum of pediatric care.

TN EMSC is not a provider of pediatric services; instead, like the well-known advertisement, “We don’t make ‘such and such.’ We make it better.” Through this website we hope to provide information, clinical tools, internet links and educational opportunities which will benefit and enhance your care of these precious children when you are called to service. The Foundation works behind the scenes to coordinate communication among facilities, to seek opportunities to promote injury prevention, to formulate and implement a state plan for disaster management that addresses the specific needs of children, and to encourage an exchange of knowledge and experience between healthcare professionals, families, school systems, and government. You will notice in our Awards Archive that the recipients of the Advocate for Children Award and the Joseph Weinberg, M.D. Leadership Award, in most instances, received this recognition for contributions advancing the infrastructure of emergency pediatric care, not as acknowledgment of an individual effort in direct patient care.

With this website, the Foundation strives to expand its educational offerings and publicize pediatric critical care educational opportunities available in the state, the Southeast region, and eventually the nation. We invite you to partner with us by offering your suggestions, participating in our educational conferences, becoming a member of the TN EMSC Foundation, and/or making a charitable donation to continue and strengthen the efforts of the Foundation in promoting a national standard for pediatric emergency and critical care.