Slideshow: EMS Expo 2009

Members of the Atlanta Fire Department Honor Guard take part in the opening ceremony at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. The expo, which runs through Friday, will feature hundreds of educational sessions and exhibitors. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Chad Brown (left), of Braun, and NAEMT President Patrick Moore present Linda Smith with the EMT of the Year Award at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. Smith has worked as an EMT for 24 years and currently serves as an EMT-Intermediate and Service Training Officer for Kadoka, SD, Ambulance. Offices she has held include Philip Ambulance Director, Kadoka Ambulance Training Officer, District 5 Vice President and South Dakota EMT Association Historian. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Jeff Lindsey, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the George Washington University in Washington DC, presents a session on reducing calls runs during EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

NAEMT President Patrick Moore (left) presents Chris Honda with the Paramedic of the Year Award at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. Chris, who has served as a Hawaii County firefighter/paramedic for nearly 10 years, was given the award to recognize his role in maintaining the department’s EMT training program after it was in danger of stalling after its key instructor retired. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

EMS1.com joins a host of other vendors at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. The expo included educational conference sessions for EMS professionals as well as product and service exhibits showcasing the latest developments in the industry. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Tim Hillier, Director of Education, M.D. Ambulance, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, discusses the importance of hand washing in disease prevention at EMS EXPO in Atlanta on Wednesday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Skip Kirkwood discusses the importance of EMS agencies having "crisis checklists" in place in a session aimed at chief officers and managers at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Mic Gunderson discusses how GPS technology will impact the way EMS response times are logged and recorded during a conference session at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Thursday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Ken Bouvier, past president of NAEMT and a paramedic and administrative liaison for New Orleans EMS, speaks about preparation for school shootings during EMS Expo in Atlanta on Thursday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Ray Barishansky outlines a number of methods EMS managers can use to maintain healthy staffing numbers during a session at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Thursday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Mike Wallace, a Missouri EMS division chief, lectures that the responsibility for public perception lies with each and every agency member during a session at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Thursday. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Attendees at EMS Expo check out the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, Mass Casualty Evaucation Transport Vehicle, designed by Sartin Services. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

A range of ambulances were on display at EMS Expo. (Photo Jamie Thompson)

Cheryl Shaver, a training officer/paramedic with Ogden-Hanover, NC, Volunteer EMS, is presented with an iPod Shuffle for wearing an EMS1 T-Shirt at the exhibit hall of EMS Expo on Thursday. She was one of two winners of iPod Shuffles who were randomly selected from the hundreds of attendees to whom we gave T-Shirts. (Photo Jamie Thompson)