Captain Mike Filson, of Chula Vista FD, receives the 2018 Nicholas Rosecrans Award during the keynote address of the EMS Today Conference.

This past Wednesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, the California Paramedic Foundation and EPIC Medics conferred the 17th annual Nicholas Rosecrans Award to Captain Mike Filson of Chula Vista Fire Department. Captain Filson was honored during the opening keynote ceremony of the EMS Today Conference for his WARN: Water Awareness in Residential Neighborhoods program which has successfully worked to prevent residential drownings.

Captain Filson started the comprehensive prevention program in 2011 after his department saw a string of preventable drownings throughout their community. The WARN system centers on high-quality education to both providers and the public. After successfully implementing the program in his own community, Captain Filson expanded his reach by training over 50 other departments across his region.The program has been highly successful in both its scope and influence.

Paramedics for the Elimination of Preventable Injury in Children, or EPIC Medics, was founded by Paul Maxwell in 1997 after he too experienced a series of tragic child drownings. EPIC Medics soon realized the power of paramedic-driven public health campaigns, which flips traditional 911 on its head by using providers to eliminate emergencies before they ever happen. Paul and his team then created the Nicholas Rosecrans Award, named after the young child whose drowning spurred EPIC Medics, to encourage providers to create equally powerful programs in their own communities.  Lynn Artz, Nicholas’ mother, personally attends each annual event to thank organizers for their work.

Captain Filson’s WARN program and EPIC Medics’ start share a common theme of pediatric drowning prevention, however the Nicholas Rosecrans Award has recognized diverse initiatives over the last two decades.  Prior winners have worked on everything from auto-safety to provider-injury prevention. The award is supported by our generous partners: NHTSA, JEMS, Laerdal and Redflash Group. We thank these partners for their continued support and passion for EMS-driven public health.

Would you like to start a campaign in your own community? Having an impact in your community does not always require inventing an entirely new initiative. We can work with you to identify the issues your community faces and introduce you to previous campaigns that may align with your needs. Are you already leading a successful prevention initiative in your community? Contact us today so that we can recognize your work.