As Chair of the New York State Assembly Commission on Rural Resources, I’m happy to announce that several bills I helped pass to increase access to health care throughout New York’s rural communities have been signed into law.

One bill created the Rural Ambulance Task Force, which will help up address the unique challenges facing rural ambulances and ensure everyone has access to this essential service (Ch. 778 of 2021).

Another bill allows air ambulances to carry and transfuse blood products during air transport (Ch. 779 of 2021). Before this law took effect, New York was the only state in the nation that prevented air ambulances from carrying blood and transfusing patients in hemorrhagic shock.

From bolstering ambulance services through the NYS Rural Ambulance Task Force that I helped create to ensuring health care workers can effectively deliver care in emergency situations, I’ll always work to improve the quality of health care in New York’s rural communities.

With that said, I’m pleased to see a new enrollment opportunity for organ and tissue donations that allow people to register as a donor online through legislation that I supported (Ch. 743 of 2021). This will now make it easier for people to make this life-saving decision and has the potential to save thousands of lives.

Emergency medical services are often the first line of defense for rural communities who face long distance travel to hospitals and inclement weather and poor road conditions. These new laws will support the important work these lifesaving care providers do in our community.