Hillsborough County Fire Rescue staff including Deputy County Administrator Sharon Subadan; Fire Medic III Derek Butler; Fire Medic I Jeremy Tabak; Dr. Michael Lozano; Deputy Chief David Travis; Fire Chief Ron Rogers; Lieutenant Paul Costello; and Quality Management Chief Todd Carnell, Fire Medic III Paul George, Fire Medic III Christine Branam, Administrative Specialist Debbie Griffin, and Rescue Chief Karen Davidson, receive the EMS Provider of the Year Award from the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.
The Florida Department of Health Bureau of Emergency Medical Services was pleased to recognize Hillsborough County Fire Rescue as the EMS Provider of the Year during a recently held Excellence in EMS Awards ceremony.
Each year the awards program honors outstanding Florida EMS organizations and individuals who make a positive impact on local EMS and communities throughout the state who stand out by achievement in the areas of quality assurance-improvement, patient care, public access, medical control, disaster preparedness, public education and training in Florida.
According to Hillsborough Fire Rescue Chief Karen Davidson the department has become a leader among its peers, through a combination of its community and industry outreach, quality assurance efforts, extensive staff training, and advanced treatment procedures.
“We set the bar pretty high when it comes to our paramedics in connection with our per-hospital care,” Davidson said. “With close to 85,000 calls per year many of which are medical calls HCFR crews are busy caring for the various needs of our residents”.
In agreement with Davidson, Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said that HCFR strives to use cutting edge technologies in its treatment, at the same time focus on fundamental skills and decision-making abilities of its EMTs and Paramedics.
Yeakley also confirmed that Hillsborough County Fire Rescue instituted an effort to increase the number of residents who have learned CPR, which eventually led to the Hillsborough County School System seeking out a grant that allows them to teach students CPR.
“It is estimated that approximately 10,000 eighth-graders in Hillsborough County now have been thought CPR as a direct result of the effort,” Yeakley said.
Hillsborough County Fire Rescue was additionally recognized with the 2011 Heart Safe Community Award from the International Association of Fire Chiefs, which recognizes agencies that have shown creative approaches to improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and sudden cardiac arrest.
For more information about Hillsborough County Fire Rescue please visit www.hillsboroughcounty.org/firerescue/
