The value of CAAS Accreditation for the Henderson Fire Department cannot be fully described, other than stating that it is our “secret weapon” to meeting the continuous challenge of excellence. The standards help us to ensure that we are consistently meeting or exceeding the highest expectations of our citizens and the industry. Since our first accreditation in 1999, the CAAS Accreditation process has proven itself over and over again as the number 1 planning tool in our “quality toolbox”. The Henderson Fire Department deeply values the commitment to excellence that CAAS stands for, and we look forward to living up to that challenge in the future.

HEMSI uses accreditation to validate to our community we are meeting the standards that will make a difference for our patients. We have experienced a significant benefit internally from the process helping us investigate and appraise ourselves in our operation. We have developed consistency in our processes and refined them by aligning them with our industry’s best practices.

The CAAS standards guarantee high quality in all aspects of ambulance service operation while recognizing creativity and individuality in the way those standards are met.

Through CAAS accreditation EMS agencies are optimally positioned to address the innumerable challenges facing EMS today. This includes tough issues such as risk management, legal requirements, fiscal accountability, and patient safety. CAAS accreditation tells the community that your EMS agency cares enough to meet the “Gold Standard”.

We believe there is great value in having an external party who is well versed in the best practices of EMS put us through our paces. We are a very process oriented organization and find that the CAAS accreditation audit is a great way to ensure our processes are functioning as designed. There’s no better validation of the quality of our processes than the CAAS accreditation audit. Not only does the CAAS accreditation validate the status of our vital processes, it also provides an added level of assurance for the community we serve that they have the right people on the job.

Seeking CAAS accreditation seemed to be a natural extension of our commitment to providing a higher level of emergency medical services to our communities and our patients. The accreditation process has served as the single most effective way of educating our managers and field staff of the need to continually evaluate and improve our organization’s performance.

CAAS is not the cheapest way to be in the ambulance business. It’s the RIGHT way! Every member of our organization believes this stronger now than ever before.