For the second year in a row, Flathead County EMS Program Manager Alan Browne and multiple members of the county’s emergency medical services (EMS) team attended EMS World Expo, the largest EMS-focused educational event in the world. Browne said the decision to send a group of seven local EMS and OES professionals to the 2025 conference was driven by a few priorities: bringing home innovative techniques, tools, and effective strategies that can strengthen public safety. This was an amazing opportunity for our EMS responders to learn from many national speakers, see the advancement in EMS from all over the world and learn valuable training opportunities to bring home. The seven attendees at this event included responders from multiple areas of the county including paid and volunteers.
One of this year’s Flathead County attendees described the experience as “eye-opening.” The Indiana Convention Center was filled with thousands of professionals from across the nation and around the globe—paramedics, volunteer EMTs, fire personnel, medical teams, and program innovators—each focused on advancing the future of emergency services. According to another Flathead County EMS responder, walking into the conference felt less like a formal event and more like stepping into a national reunion of people with the same mission. Despite differences in geography and agency size, many departments were facing the same issues: budget limitations, recruitment challenges, burnout, and the pressure to modernize systems that have run the same way for decades.
For rural communities, the educational value was immediately clear. Flathead County responders attended multiple courses on rural EMS innovation, mental-health resilience, data-driven decision systems, and emergency airway management. Much of the content centered around low-cost, high-impact strategies that smaller counties can realistically adopt. One responder highlighted a simple but transformational tool showcased at the Expo—an airway-management device that automatically counts ventilations in the field. In high-stress scenes where seconds matter, anything that reduces cognitive load can improve patient outcomes.
Technology was another major theme. New monitors, AI-assisted dispatch software, and smarter tracking systems were displayed throughout the vendor hall. Responders noted that these innovations aren’t just for large urban departments—many were designed with rural terrain and volunteer crews in mind. One Flathead County EMS responder pointed to upgraded radios and communication equipment as especially promising. As they explained, communication failures are one of the first issues to surface in multi-agency emergencies. Several vendors offered solutions for modernizing older radios or converting them into more reliable systems capable of overcoming local dead zones.
Several of our responders said they left the Expo with a better understanding of how data collection can strengthen rural EMS. Other counties across the U.S. are now tracking patient outcomes, call patterns, response times, and even community-paramedicine interactions in real time. Seeing how these systems improved efficiency elsewhere led many of the Flathead attendees to consider how similar tools could be applied at home. Better analysis could help determine where resources are most needed, how to reduce burnout, and where volunteer shortages hit hardest.
The conference also reinforced national momentum toward improved mental-health and peer-support programs. While Flathead County already offers next-day counselor access and structured debriefing options, one EMS responder noted that several departments across the country have built mentorship and wellness models that could add value locally. “Prevention matters just as much as equipment,” the responder said.
Outside the formal sessions, the Flathead team connected with responders from Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and rural Texas. They noted that the conference even had EMS members from United Arab Emirates, Italy and multiple other counties across the globe. Conversations centered on shared terrain challenges, volunteer-dependent operations, and creative solutions for limited budgets. One attendee said the networking alone made the trip worthwhile. “If you’re in a room and nobody challenges your intelligence, you’re in the wrong room,” they said. “I was not in the wrong room.”
Now that the team is back home, responders plan to share their takeaways at the next EMS Administrative Board meeting. Several members are drafting recommendations for equipment updates, communication improvements, and expanded training models. The hope is that even small advancements—like upgraded radios or a new airway device—can improve emergency response across the valley.
When asked whether the trip was worth it, one EMS responder didn’t hesitate: “Absolutely. Training is invaluable. The community supports its EMS system, and this is how we honor that trust—by bringing back tools and knowledge that help save lives.” Another mentioned, “We wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of the citizens of Flathead County, and they trust us to be experts in our roles.”