History
OUR BEGGININGS
In 1992 David Long, then Director of the Oregon Training Education Research Foundation (OTREF) and Skip Kirkwood, then State EMS manager, founded the Oregon EMS Conference more than 32 years ago. The two believed in the importance of holding an annual EMS Conference to ensure rural providers of Oregon had access to excellence in prehospital training. The first Conference was held in the Portland area in 1992. This Conference included the first EMS and Trauma Office’s Awards Banquet.
Since then, the Oregon EMS Conference has been held throughout the State of Oregon and grown into one of the largest EMS Conferences on the West Coast.
Attendees from Alaska, Washington, California, and Idaho regularly attend this event. Our Conference features renowned national speakers and local experts from Oregon. The conference committee comprises volunteers from across the state, including Community Colleges, Hospitals, EMS providers, private and public EMS systems, vendors, and other allied healthcare professionals.
In 2022 the Conference moved from under the nonprofit status of OTREF to the Oregon EMS Association (OREMSA). Beginning in 2025 the Oregon EMS Conference formed its own non profit achieving 501-C-3 status and is compreised of various committee members whose purpose is to offer affordable EMS education with cutting edge presentors.