We Salute You!

Meet the 22nd Annual Braun Industries/ZOLL Medical EMT/Paramedic of the Year
     Most contest nominees feel honored to receive one nomination. This year's recipient of the Braun Industries/ZOLL Medical EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award was nominated five times, from as far away from her home in Hope, Alaska, as Texas and Washington, DC. When the same name appears on that many nominations, the selection committee sits up and takes notice, and Valerie DeFrance, EMT-P, is glad they did.

     Valerie's work as an EMS professional includes her position as a founding member of the Hope-Sunrise EMS service--an all-volunteer nonprofit group which, according to Valerie, has never had more than a dozen responders to cover a community of 250 residents and 20 miles of a busy major highway. She entered EMS in 1984 after her brother died in a car crash two miles from home and the closest emergency care was 60 minutes away.

     "In those days, a trooper was usually first sent to an accident to see if an ambulance was needed, so there were a lot of delays," she says. "I decided that was nonsense; we needed somebody local to respond."

     Fortunately, that was a time when the region was looking to expand EMS, and Valerie stepped up--first as a student, then as an instructor. She progressed through the levels of EMT certification to paramedic course coordinator and served as president of the Kenai Peninsula EMS Council for seven years, in addition to being a member of numerous state and local committees and boards.

     Since 1999, Valerie has owned and operated a website called the EMS House of DeFrance (www.defrance.org), and has operated the Emergency Medical Services Educational Resources website since 2000 (https://defrance.org/inst), which is an free online repository of instructional materials and multimedia presentations. She is also publisher of EMSNetwork News (www.emsnetwork.org), a free online site; webmistress for www.emsspeakers.org; and will become webmistress for the new National EMS Museum Foundation. She is a prolific writer and owner of numerous other specialty EMS websites.

     In addition to the websites, Valerie has created a Pediatric Seat Belt Safety Program and a comic book series for children that teaches injury prevention and how to call 9-1-1, and helped develop software to help EMS services track, extrapolate and archive patient databases and statistics. She is a two-time recipient of Alaska's "First Lady Award for Volunteerism," from the governor's wife.

     Recently, when a local EMS training program declared bankruptcy, Valerie volunteered her time and personal funds for six months to enable the 11 paramedic students to complete their training. This came at a time when her husband (who died in January) was ill and funds were scarce.

     All of these accomplishments barely scratch the surface of Valerie's contribution to EMS, but you wouldn't hear it from her. This unassuming lady still thinks she's just "a small cog in the EMS wheel," as one of her supporters put it. What drives her to continue? "Knowing you can make a difference in the quality of people's lives," she says. "Anything you can do to send them home from the hospital in as close to the shape they were in before an illness or injury occurred is the name of the game for me."

     Valerie will be recognized during the EMS EXPO opening keynote ceremony on October 11 in Orlando, FL. She will receive a $1,000 U.S. savings bond, a $200 EMS Bookstore gift certificate, and free travel, lodging and registration for EMS-EXPO.

Meet the winners of the EMS Magazine/NAEMT Gold Award
VOLUNTEER SERVICE: SLATERVILLE VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE, INC.
     Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Inc., located in the small upstate New York town of Slaterville Springs, consists of only 16 active providers, but their commitment to EMS care is huge, says squad member Beth Harrington. The group of two paramedics, three critical care technicians, three basic EMTs and eight drivers provide full ALS service 24/7, 365 days a year at absolutely no cost to patients.

     Average response time (call received to ambulance leaving the station) is between 5-6 minutes. Because the coverage area includes 55 square miles of rural farming country, Slaterville Ambulance realized early on that responding long distances with a BLS crew, then having to wait for ALS to arrive, wasn't providing the best patient care. As a result, an ALS provider is scheduled for every response, whether or not ALS care is needed.

     As an integral part of a small rural community, ambulance crew members actively participate in various community functions, says Harrington, including fire and safety demonstrations at the local school, and emergency and disaster preparedness committees. In 2006, they even organized an animal response team under the auspices of the ambulance. Members also participate in county activities, such as the CQI committee, and regional EMS Council meetings. Ongoing EMS education, incorporated into a quality assurance program via case review, is provided monthly by a New York State Certified Instructor Coordinator.

     "In New York state, if you are an active member of a volunteer agency, there is no charge for training," says Harrington. The squad pays for education activities like state conferences, as well as for textbooks for EMS classes. They also put money aside to purchase equipment, which enables the squad to provide patient care that is "equal to any commercial service," Harrington adds.

     If patients aren't charged, where does the money come from?

     "We have a contract to provide coverage for the nearby municipality of Caroline for about $40,000 a year," says Harrington, "and we do get some donations. The ambulance is incorporated separately from the fire company, but it's the same group of people, and there's a lot of fundraising for the fire company, which is actually a stand-alone organization. We have the best chicken barbecue in Tomkins County."

     As with all EMS agencies, large or small, recruitment is an ongoing problem.

     "We get new people from time to time," says Harrington, "and we have an Explorers group that is a cross between the ambulance and fire. We try to find other activities that might get people interested, but we're like every other volunteer agency--volunteers are hard to find."

     A big plus is that there are several long-term members on the squad. Harrington has been an active member since 1976 and her husband joined in 1983. Many others have well over 20 year's of service, she says.

     "EMS volunteers are a breed within themselves," she says. "You just don't find that kind of commitment any more in people. We're very lucky to have them."

     In nominating her squad for the Gold Award, Harrington said, "How do you recognize committed and caring volunteers for 'just doing their jobs' for the benefit of their community? How do you compare small organizations with limited budgets to bigger, flashier services with a lot more patient volume? It all comes back to patient care and patient caring. And Slaterville Ambulance is very, very good at doing just that."

PAID SERVICE: BAXTER REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER AMBULANCE
     Baxter Regional Medical Center Ambulance, located in north central Arkansas in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, has been in operation since 1974 and became the first paramedic service in that area in 1985. The service covers two counties from five ambulance bases, with 10 fully equipped units to respond to a population of 60,000 residents. According to Margaret Fielding, RN, chief nursing officer for Baxter Regional Medical Center, many of those residents are retirees from the Midwest, making the average age in Baxter's coverage area 67 years. The ambulance staff at Baxter consists of 60 employees with extensive experience in EMS, including nationally trained dispatchers, EMTs, paramedics and critical care paramedics, in addition to registered nurse paramedics and EMTs, LPN/paramedics and respiratory therapist/paramedics. With an in-house EMS education coordinator, training opportunities are numerous, and the interest from an ongoing endowment left by two former residents of the community furnishes scholarships for RNs, LPNs and paramedics.

     All ambulances are equipped with monitor/defibrillator systems with 12-lead capabilities, and Baxter has implemented a LifeNet receiving station in the dispatch center for transmission of 12-lead EKG data to ER staff physicians. By September 1, they expected to be online with a new CAD system and GPS emergency vehicle tracking module.

     Like many busy services, Baxter Ambulance is heavily involved in community activities and prides itself on excellent customer service. Every patient who receives EMS care is given an opportunity to complete a customer service survey, which, for the past five quarters, has resulted in an average satisfaction score of 94.2%. According to Fielding, ambulance crews are routinely scheduled for public speaking and first responder training with rural fire/rescue services. A primary focus for many events centers around helping the needy, including Coats for Kids and gifts for children at holidays and other special events. BRMC personnel stage drinking/driving-prevention scenarios at local high schools and have distributed approximately 1,000 Vials of Life to help citizens with medical care needs. In 2005, two ambulances staffed with BRMC employees deployed to help the citizens of Louisiana for 10 days after Hurricane Katrina. BRMC personnel have also helped the Arkansas Department of Health administer 3,500 flu vaccinations to local residents, and participated in the Special Olympics/Torch Run, Kids Day America, child safety seat programs, Relay for Life, Mountain Home July 4th Red/White/Blue celebration, countywide disaster drills, and many other functions like fishing tournaments, fire department functions, car and boat races, parades and the Baxter County Fair.

     BRMC is such a great employer, there is very little turnover, says Fielding. "When we need someone, we usually fill the position through our college," she says.

     J.P. Black, MD, medical director for BRMC's emergency department, has high praise for his EMS providers. In nominating his service for the Gold Award, Dr. Black wrote: "Baxter Regional Medical Center Ambulance Service has determined that being proactive in the development of new standards of care for EMS is paramount, and we continue to strive to be on the leading edge of advances in patient care as they become approved through the Department of Health. Our ambulance staff exemplifies a strong commitment to provide excellence in patient care."

     Receiving the 2007 Gold Award is wonderful validation of their hard work, says Fielding. "This award is awesome," she says. "Everyone is talking about it here, and they're all so proud." Baxter will be represented at the EMS EXPO by Gerald Cantrell, RN, EMT-P.