Nicholas Rosecrans Award

Clay County Fire Rescue (CCFR) has earned accolades for their pioneering Community Paramedicine Program, emphasizing proactive, preventive care over the traditional reactive emergency approach.

Established in 2019, the CCFR Community Paramedicine Program embodies this forward-thinking spirit. Beyond medical assistance, this initiative promotes a comprehensive approach where firefighter paramedics engage deeply with residents. They identify their unique needs and seamlessly connect them to crucial community resources. This encompasses both tangible aids like medical equipment and invaluable resources like health education, all tailored to elevate residents' overall well-being and reduce the potential for emergencies.

In 2022, the CCFR showcased their commitment to community health with the introduction of the Overdose Prevention and Education Program (OPEP). This initiative, in less than a year, led to the distribution of 2,663 naloxone kits and the education of 590 individuals on its use. A testament to its effectiveness, Clay County witnessed a 27% drop in overdose-related deaths since 2020.

What stands out in the program’s success is CCFR's collaborative ethos. Their partnerships with entities such as the regional Opioid Task Force, Clay Department of Health, and St. Vincent's Hospital amplify their impact, underscoring their commitment to intertwining their services with community resources.

In 2022, the California Paramedic Foundation honored Dr. Gerard Carroll of Cooper University Health EMS with the Nicholas Rosecrans Award. Dr. Carroll's groundbreaking work centered on the development and launch of the nation's first EMS-administered buprenorphine program. Recognizing that many individuals struggling with opioid addiction often bypassed local emergency services, Dr. Carroll introduced a paramedic-delivered buprenorphine and referral service to assist patients at high risk of overdose.

Buprenorphine, pivotal in Dr. Carroll's program, serves as an effective bridging medication for opioid addiction. Not only does it alleviate withdrawal symptoms, but it also counteracts the effects of opioids, offering a crucial window for seeking further addiction treatment. A study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine confirmed the success of this initiative, with patients showing reduced withdrawal symptoms and increased follow-up care.

Today, Dr. Carroll's pioneering efforts inspire EMS organizations across the country. As many confront the challenges of the opioid epidemic, his proactive approach is being hailed as a model for future EMS-integrated programs. In celebrating his achievement, the California Paramedic Foundation highlighted the transformative impact of such preventive measures in the EMS landscape.

The 2021 Nicholas Rosecrans Award honors Falck Mobile Health for their ambulance-bound public safety messaging targeting pediatric unintentional injury.

The California Paramedic Foundation is proud to recognize the 2020 Nicholas Rosecrans Award Winner: Dr. Kevin Munjal and the Mt. Sinai Community Paramedic Program (CPP). The Mt Sinai team protect high-risk seniors by ensuring they received timely and necessary care in the safety of their home during the initial onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.

The Mt Sinai team recognized that high-risk seniors often face acute-on-chronic health events in which they cannot wait for important evaluations to rule out significant causes, but if those significant causes are ruled out can often stay at home and avoid unnecessary emergency hospital visits. They also identified that many of these health events resulted in 9-1-1 utilization despite patients being connected with robust primary care teams and networks.

The Mt Sinai team leveraged EMS providers to work ahead of these 9-1-1 calls to provide early assessments and navigate the patients back into their primary care teams. Furthermore, they built their community paramedicine program in a scalable manner with the ability to onboard and train EMS providers in a quick and safe manner. This design choice would prove invaluable during the initial COVID-19 outbreak that faced New York City and dramatically increased the needs of high-risk seniors in their community.

Dr. Munjal at their team have been successful in diverting more than two-thirds of the CPP patients from unnecessary 9-1-1 activation and/or emergency department visits. They have seen lower re-request rates than typical emergency department post-discharge return rates. They have also seen high rates of admission when patients are found in need of a transport to the hospital. All pointing to their accuracy and success as a program. To learn more visit: https://partner.mountsinai.org/web/mspps/initiatives

As the United States continues a hard-fought battle against the current opioid epidemic, many communities around the nation are finding incredible value in the prevention capabilities of their EMS providers. Paramedics and EMTs—who are the frontline responders in many opioid overdose cases—often have unparalleled opportunities to establish relationships with overdose survivors and get them critical preventative resources and assistance. This year, the California Paramedic Foundation recognized just such a program being operated by the Colerain Township Fire and EMS Department.

The Foundation conferred its national Nicholas Rosecrans Award for injury and illness prevention to Colerain during the keynote address at the 2019 EMS World Expo in New Orleans in front of thousands of EMS practitioners and leaders from around the country and world. As part of the awarding, Colerain Fire and EMS presented during the seminar teaching how others might implement successful prevention programming in their region.

Colerain’s incredibly successful program reflects a paradigm shift throughout the country in which EMTs and paramedics—often as a part of multidisciplinary teams—try to prevent 911 incidents before they happen. The Township’s program was born out of the personal experience of Colerain Assistant Chief Will Mueller’s 911 responses to local drug overdoses. During his presentation to attendees, Chief Mueller recalled the final precipitating event leading to his creation of the Colerain program.

“I went on an overdose response for a young woman. I found her curled up in the corner of a room with a friend at her side. This woman was someone’s daughter or sister. It could have been my daughter. The worst part was a friend of the victim was present throughout the whole ordeal and could have activated 911 but was too afraid. I knew we had to do more,” said Mueller, as he shared with the group.

Since that event, Chief Mueller and Colerain Fire and EMS have worked to address the opioid crisis through multifaceted prevention programming. Their efforts include a “Safe Station Program” offering round-the-clock resources at each fire station, educational materials in the hands of frontline EMTs and paramedics, and a multidisciplinary quick response team (or QRT). The QRT consists of a fire-paramedic, a chemical dependency specialist, and a police officer who work together directly with at-risk individuals identified through 911 incidents.

To date, their programming has viewed by many as highly successful. The team has had a 72% success rate in helping more than 350 individuals enter into substance abuse treatment. As a direct result, the Colerain Fire and EMS Department have seen a 70% reduction in 911 requests for opioid overdose.

At the heart of Colerain’s high impact programming is the idea of “meeting patients where they are.” The EMS Agenda 2050, a national document providing a vision for the future, refers to this as people-centered care and has identified it as a transformative idea in the way our country delivers out-of-hospital care.

Hannah Dawes—the Colerain QRT’s chemical dependency specialist—echoed this sentiment when she told the audience, “it is so important to develop a trusting relationship between all members of the team and then with those individuals in need of help wherever they may be. This relationship will serve as the foundation for any subsequent successful action plan and follow-up.”

“Prevention is the future of emergency medical services and paramedicine,” states Paul Maxwell, founder of the Nicholas Rosecrans Award and a Director at the California Paramedic Foundation. “It is flipping traditional EMS on its head with paramedics working ahead of 911 calls to reduce injury and illness in their communities. We are incredibly proud of Colerain Fire and EMS for the impact they have had on their township.”

The Nicholas Rosecrans Award is conferred to individuals and organizations who create EMS-driven injury and illness programming. The award is named after a young toddler whose tragic drowning helped drive critical prevention programming in California. The award is facilitated by the Foundation in partnership with EMS World—the leader in paramedicine meetings, content, and education—and RedFlash Group—the leading EMS consultancy specializing in emergency communications and care professions.

February 21, 2018. 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.

The 2017 Nicholas Rosecrans Award is presented to Battalion Chief Bart Buckendorf for his creation of the Ada County ABCs of Safe Infant Sleep Program. The Ada County EMS Director Darby Weston notes, "BC Buckendorf stated he had seen far too many infant deaths over the course of his 30+ years in EMS. He knew if we could prevent just one death the program would be entirely worth it."

Bart envisioned using the ambulances as mobile billboards for the critical messaging of the program. With the approval and support of his leadership, BC Buckendorf designed and implemented the program across his service. The project puts this very important message in front of community drivers each and every day. The organization continues to expand the mobile signage across their fleet in support of the program.

The Code Green Campaign has been awarded the 2016 Nicholas Rosecrans Award for Excellence in Injury Prevention. The award is presented by EPIC Medics in conjunction with JEMS, The RedFlash Group, the NHTSA’s office of EMS, and Laerdal Medical in recognition of emergency responders who demonstrate leadership, commitment and innovation in preventing injuries.The Code Green Campaign works towards preventing suicides in first responders by raising awareness and providing education about the high rates of PTSD and suicide in the field. Since Code Green was founded in 2014 they have collected nearly 400 stories from first responders about their personal experiences with stress and trauma, have created a database of first responder-friendly mental health resources, and have distributed over 22,000 resource cards, in addition to several other projects they are engaged in.

The Code Green Campaign works towards preventing suicides in first responders by raising awareness and providing education about the high rates of PTSD and suicide in the field. Since Code Green was founded in 2014 they have collected nearly 400 stories from first responders about their personal experiences with stress and trauma, have created a database of first responder-friendly mental health resources, and have distributed over 22,000 resource cards, in addition to several other projects they are engaged in.

Ann Marie Farina, president of The Code Green Campaign, said, “We are honored to receive the award and humbled that after only being around for two years we are seen as being as worthy of the award as the previous winners. Code Green’s mission is quite a bit different than the winners in years past, but our ultimate goal is still prevention. Preventing suicide and preventing providers from leaving the field due to the trauma they’ve experienced.”

At a special ceremony at the national EMS Today conference, the American Medical Response (AMR) River Safety Program in Clackamas County, Oregon received the highly regarded Nicholas Rosecrans Award, given annually to an EMS agency or individual demonstrating excellence and leadership in injury prevention.

In the late 1990’s, local officials in Clackamas County Oregon were stunned when over a five-year period 13 people drowned, including many children, in a local river park.  AMR worked with the local community and lifeguards with a goal to end deaths at the park through a program of prevention and education.

“The River Safety Program has been a labor of love for AMR’s Justine Kilsby, Scott Stafford and Lucie Drum,” said Randy Lauer, who heads operations in the northwest for AMR. “Their effort, and the effort of their colleagues in the program, have made a significant difference. We’re very proud of their unselfish service to their community.”

In 2002, JEMS and EPIC Medics introduced the Nicholas Rosecrans award, created by paramedics Paul Maxwell and Josh Krimston in the memory of a little boy who died in a preventable drowning. It is supported by the National Highway Traffic Administrations’ Federal Office of EMS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Laerdal Medical, and the RedFlash Group.

“While we celebrate many different kinds of injury prevention programs, this year’s winner particularly resonates,” said Maxwell, who was one of the paramedics who cared for Nicholas and later met with Lynn, the boy’s mother. (Nicholas had wandered away from a daycare facility and fell into a backyard pool nearby. Maxwell and his colleagues at EPIC Medics made it their mission to eliminate preventable drowning in their community, using awareness but also advocating for new laws requiring backyard pools to be fenced.)

“The River Safety Program has prevented hundreds of rescues from ever having to take place, and saved many lives, many of whom are children,” said Maxwell. “In fact, based on the trends from the previous 15 years, it is estimated that 57 lives have been saved since the inception of the program. They are to be commended for their dedication.”

The AMR River Safety Team works with the local Safe Kids organization, local nonprofits, and hospitals to provide community education on water safety. On-site, AMR performs several thousand outreach encounters to warn of hazards and to get to them before their lives are at risk in the swift-moving water that can take even the most seasoned swimmer by surprise.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue has embarked on the “No Child Locked Inside: Creating awareness of the dangers of leaving children in hot vehicles” awareness program. The Action Plan provides established goals, objectives and tasks that must be completed to assure a successful awareness program and see a reduction in injury and death of children.

Although new, the program has been well received by citizens who have had exposure to the surveys and handouts. Many who were surprised by the statistics and unaware of the grim realities of what has occurred over the past 14 years have expressed appreciation for the newfound awareness.

I recently had the honor of being awarded the Nicholas Rosecrans Award at the 2013 EMS Today Conference & Exposition in Washington D.C. for the conducted research and awareness program. I had the opportunity to present our research and program to EMS professionals from across the country during the conference. The feedback was positive, which gave reassurance that we are on the right track to reducing death and injury of the innocent children.

The hope is that by sharing our research, experience and awareness program, you will take a comprehensive look at your own communities and, if warranted, take a proactive approach to community risk reduction by establishing your own awareness program and help spread the word to leave No Child Locked Inside.

In January 2009 Wake County EMS began a new “Advanced Practice Paramedic” (APP) program designed to add a new and efficient enhancement to the existing EMS delivery model.

The APP program has three main objectives:

Reduce the occurrence of, or minimize, medical crises for persons with specific medical conditions known to benefit from close medical monitoring. Increasing the overall well-being of the patient can prevent the need for EMS response and decrease the time and money spent by patients and other taxpayers for emergency room visits and hospital stays.

Studies show that diabetics, high blood pressure patients with congestive heart failure, those with increased risk of falls (such as people over 65 years of age), some substance abusers, and children with asthma may all significantly benefit by home visits from medical care providers such as our Advanced Practice Paramedics.

Redirect care for people with mental health or substance abuse crises at facilities other than the emergency room when no other medical emergency exists. APPs may evaluate a patient along with paramedics from a responding ambulance to help determine if the patient would benefit by treatment at another facility. For appropriate patients, the APP will determine the best alternative treatment location and arrange for the patient’s transportation and admission. Ambulance transport to the emergency room is always an option if our patients request other medical evaluation or treatment.

The mean hold time for a mental health patient in an emergency department is 14 hours. Within the first six months of the APP program, we have referred 167 patients, returning approximately 2,400 bed-hours to local emergency departments. This equates to 800 chest pain evaluations in our community.

Ensure that an additional experienced paramedic is available on critical level calls by responding alongside paramedic ambulances. While some EMS systems use a “paramedic chase car” to provide the lone paramedic responding to assist a basic ambulance, our approach brings APPs to provide a supplemental paramedic with a high frequency of critical patient care encounters to augment the care being provided by our outstanding ambulance-based EMS providers and fire service first responders.

The Wake County EMS System currently uses 17 specially trained Advanced Practice Paramedics to operate up to five APP response units at the busiest times of the day, with at least two of those units remaining in service overnight. They operate out of single-responder vehicles with medical and personal protective equipment designed to allow them to operate independently until an ambulance arrives or to provide additional medications or equipment to ambulances if needed. APPs attended an in-house education program consisting of more than 200 didactic hours and 128 clinical hours.

Glenn Luedtke of the NAEMT

In January 2009 Wake County EMS began a new “Advanced Practice Paramedic” (APP) program designed to add a new and efficient enhancement to the existing EMS delivery model.

The APP program has three main objectives:

Reduce the occurrence of, or minimize, medical crises for persons with specific medical conditions known to benefit from close medical monitoring. Increasing the overall well-being of the patient can prevent the need for EMS response and decrease the time and money spent by patients and other taxpayers for emergency room visits and hospital stays.

Studies show that diabetics, high blood pressure patients with congestive heart failure, those with increased risk of falls (such as people over 65 years of age), some substance abusers, and children with asthma may all significantly benefit by home visits from medical care providers such as our Advanced Practice Paramedics.

Redirect care for people with mental health or substance abuse crises at facilities other than the emergency room when no other medical emergency exists. APPs may evaluate a patient along with paramedics from a responding ambulance to help determine if the patient would benefit by treatment at another facility. For appropriate patients, the APP will determine the best alternative treatment location and arrange for the patient’s transportation and admission. Ambulance transport to the emergency room is always an option if our patients request other medical evaluation or treatment.

The mean hold time for a mental health patient in an emergency department is 14 hours. Within the first six months of the APP program, we have referred 167 patients, returning approximately 2,400 bed-hours to local emergency departments. This equates to 800 chest pain evaluations in our community.

Ensure that an additional experienced paramedic is available on critical level calls by responding alongside paramedic ambulances. While some EMS systems use a “paramedic chase car” to provide the lone paramedic responding to assist a basic ambulance, our approach brings APPs to provide a supplemental paramedic with a high frequency of critical patient care encounters to augment the care being provided by our outstanding ambulance-based EMS providers and fire service first responders.

The Wake County EMS System currently uses 17 specially trained Advanced Practice Paramedics to operate up to five APP response units at the busiest times of the day, with at least two of those units remaining in service overnight. They operate out of single-responder vehicles with paramedic and personal protective equipment designed to allow them to operate independently until an ambulance arrives or to provide additional medications or equipment to ambulances if needed. APPs attended an in-house education program consisting of more than 200 didactic hours and 128 clinical hours.

The winner of the 2010 Nicholas Rosecrans Award goes to San Diego Medical Services for their Serial Inebriate Program, called SIP.

San Diego was a pioneer in addressing the challenge of the intoxicated homeless, who were frequent users of the 911 system, often for falls resulting in trauma.

The SIP program did everything right, in terms of assessment, collaboration between agencies, appropriate intervention, and evaluation.  They worked hard to manage a small but significant population, getting them into appropriate rehab facilities, resulting in reduced calls for paramedics—and fewer injuries.  They have become a model for other programs around the country.

Falls are the second most frequent call that the City of Edmonton Emergency Medical Services (EMS) respond to annually. Edmonton EMS currently has two options for call resolution: transport the patient to an acute care facility or accept refusal of services by the patient.

In addition to direct patient care, EMS providers can play an expanded role in community wellness. Jennifer Fernandez recognized this opportunity by launching an EMS-led project to increase client access to and utilization of existing fall prevention programs and resources in Edmonton.

Jennifer's objectives were to identify and partner with programs and resources already in place and initiate a program where paramedics could make warm referrals. The goal of her initiative was to decrease the number of senior fall events in the EMS system and garner a 75% compliance of referrals.

Jennifer's program has had incredible success in preventing injuries in at-risk senior populations. She is commended for her dedication and creativity in leveraging EMS professionals for programming outside of emergency events.

Frisco Fire Safety Town is a place where children learn real-life strategies for dealing with emergencies while developing a positive attitude towards safety.  Frisco Fire Safety Town combines traditional classroom education methods with unique interactive experiences in a realistic child-sized townscape.  Children participate in activities designed to build self-confidence and to strengthen their ability to make safe decisions.  Students then have the opportunity to practice a variety of their newly learned safety skills in a safe environment, complete with 5/8th scale replicas of local buildings, roads with realistic pavement markings, traffic signals and street signs.

Interactive areas include an actual living room and kitchen, which illustrate various fire safety hazards such as a lighter and matches, candles, frayed electrical cords, and an overloaded electrical outlet.   A child-sized bedroom is equipped with a nontoxic “smoke machine” that demonstrates to students how smoke fills a room during a fire.  Children then have the opportunity to practice escaping safely from a bedroom through either their primary or backup escape route.    Pedestrian, bicycle, and motor vehicle safety are taught in an outdoor environment while children operate battery-powered vehicles and ride bicycles on realistic streets.   Children have the unique opportunity to practice safety skills from both youth and an adult perspective while remaining in the safe environment of Frisco Fire Safety Town and under the watchful eye of trained educators.

Our mission is to eliminate preventable accidents and injuries.   With the generous support of local developers and businesses, we can achieve this goal with Frisco Fire Safety Town.

The Water Awareness in Residential Neighborhoods (WARN) program, created by several Fishers and Indianapolis-area organizations, was recognized on March 22 at the 2005 EMS Today Conference in Philadelphia. WARN is a water-safety awareness program that got its start after pond drownings in Fishers and Franklin Township in the summer of 2000.

The Rosecrans Award was accepted for WARN by Ron Lipps of the Fishers Fire Department, Jerry Richert of the Franklin Township Fire Department, and Scott Bowers of CP Morgan.

The Fishers and Franklin Township fire departments created their own custom presentations shortly after the 2000 drownings, to educate residents about water safety hazards in pools, ponds and homes. Homebuilder CP Morgan saw the need for a universal water safety program, and offered to help representatives from both fire departments combine their programs into a single presentation that could be used anywhere.

“Both my department and Franklin Township looked around for a presentation we could use, but there was nothing that met our needs, so we each created our own. When CP Morgan got involved, we saw a great opportunity to help other area fire departments educate their communities,” said Fishers Fire Department Public Information Officer Ron Lipps, who represented Fishers in the creation of WARN. “Receiving an award of this magnitude certainly exceeds anything we ever thought would happen with WARN.”

Lipps worked with Jerry Richert of the Franklin Township Fire Department and Scott Bowers of CP Morgan to build a coalition of fire departments and businesses that dedicated time and resources to create the WARN presentation kit. This coalition included:

    – Brownsburg Fire Department

    – Carmel Fire Department

    – Plainfield Fire Department

    – Washington Township (Avon) Fire Department

    – Wayne Township (Marion County) Fire Department

    – Emmis Communications

    – IdeaAvenue

    – Schneider Engineering

    – YMCA

The presentation kit includes two copies of a video, a CD with adult and child oriented Powerpoint presentations, and handouts for adults and children. The WARN website (www.warnonline.org) also provides some basic information and resources for presenters and the general public.

WARN currently has about 50 member organizations in at least 10 states, and continues to grow.

Eric Morrison began his career in EMS as a volunteer EMT, eventually becoming a paramedic for Mecklenburg EMS Agency, better known as MEDIC. In the year 2000, MEDIC demonstrated its commitment to the community it serves by creating the position of Community Relations Coordinator, to oversee local injury prevention efforts. Eric functions in this role yet continues to work as a paramedic in the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Over the past three years, he has been instrumental in guiding injury prevention efforts in Mecklenburg County. In selecting Eric for the honor, judges cited his work and Medic’s Community Relations program as “the national model for others in EMS to emulate.”

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 15 in Mecklenburg. In his 10 years of EMS service, Eric has responded to thousands of car crashes and, tragically, Eric noticed a large number of injury crashes involved children not properly restrained in car seats.  So, he put together an Injury Prevention Team of field paramedics that staff two permanent Car Seat Fitting Stations.  They have inspected and installed more than 1,000 car seats. The same Injury Prevention Team also teaches teens in driver education classes, conducts bicycle safety rodeos, teaches a program called “Kid Tips” targeted to childcare providers about injury prevention, and appeared in several Public Service Announcements scripted by Eric himself.

Next on Eric’s agenda-Senior falls, which accounted for the highest percentage of injuries to the elderly. To combat these injuries, Eric put into place two programs, “Remembering When” and “Scouting for Dangers in the Home”, a program that has trained boy scout troops to conduct home safety inspections for over 4,000 seniors.

Eric is one paramedic who is truly making a difference in his community.

Mecklenburg EMS Agency, better known as Medic, has crafted its entire community education program on injury data from local emergency departments. We know who is getting hurt, how, and where. Programs and curricula are developed based on that information. Target populations include children and senior citizens, parents, and teachers. In Mecklenburg County, we know that falls and motor vehicle crashes account for almost half of all unintentional injuries that result in an emergency department visit. Specific
programs include car seat classes educating expectant parents about proper car seat use (100 parents taught); car seat inspections (nearly 2,000 seats inspected); Kid Tips, a safety program for preschool teachers and parents that was revised from existing curricula (30 schools, nearly 350 teachers, 3200 students); a driver's education
program presented to teenagers discussing the medical consequences of bad decision-making (50 programs to 1500 teens); Scouting for
Dangers, a program created by Medic to train scouts and youth groups to conduct home safety inspections for seniors (100 trained, 75 home inspections completed); Remembering when use of a national program to educate seniors about fall and burn prevention (1500 seniors educated).

Medic is also committed to educating its own staff and others in public safety. The agency has created a two-day injury prevention curriculum to educate paramedics and EMTs. Medic has also trained 50 paramedics, firefighters and police in the NC 2-day Child Passenger Safety training, and another 25 have been trained to the 4-day certification level.

In Vince Easevoli’s 20 years as a firefighter/paramedic for Miami Dade Fire Rescue, he has responded to nearly every imaginable call for help.  However, he noticed a disproportionate number of calls involving teenagers and tragic car crashes.  And, there seemed to be a common denominator: the teens were not wearing seat belts.

In 1987 Vince decided to stop the cycle of preventable injuries and deaths.  With the help of fellow firefighter/paramedic Ralph Jiminez and others, Vince started  S.A.F.E., Stay Alive From Education.

There was a lot of work to be done; Unintentional injuries continue to be the leading cause of death for Floridians ages 1 through 34.  Seat belt use statewide was only 58%, well below the nationwide average.

The goal of the S.A.F.E. program is to offer young adults information that will allow them to make educated and rational decisions concerning their safety and well-being, thus reducing injuries and fatalities, giving them the opportunity to become responsible and healthy adults.

SAFE Program instructors, all experienced paramedics, use a hands-on approach to teach students about the consequences of irresponsible actions.  Students learn about crash dynamics and participate in dramatic demonstrations of what happens to trauma patients.

Since the programs start in Dade county, it has grown to include teams in 6 other counties in Florida, as well as teams in California and New Jersey.

On average, over 55,000 students attend the SAFE program each year.  The University of Miami recently conducted a study on Florida SAFE’s effectiveness and documented a dramatic increase in seatbelt use by SAFE graduates.

We honor you-Vince Easovoli and Florida SAFE! Congratulations

Bob Painter is awarded the first Nicholas Rosecrans Award for his Kids Don't Float program. Chief Painter created a community programming that placed floatation devices at open-access water locations with the highest risk for drowning.

The program has been immensely successful and has received support from his local community, with many people donating safety devices for new sites.