Honorees - IEMSA

2011

Full Time Instructor of the Year
Part Time Instructor of the Year
Friend of EMS
Dispatcher of the Year
Volunteer Individual EMS Provider
Career Individual EMS Provider
Volunteer EMS Service
Career Service
Hall of Fame

Full Time Instructor of the Year
Sandy Neyen

Sandy Neyen is the Clinical Coordinator for the paramedic training program at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta. Though hers is a part time position, her commitment is full time. Sandy has primary responsibility for delivery of the paramedic program, through teaching, scheduling, planning and advocacy for her program and her students. Sandy has done mountains of work toward the accreditation of the institution, has built a class schedule to accommodate the new curriculum and modified it to wrap around the electronic unit examinations that the
college has purchased. The college has new facilities, including a shared health sciences lab space. Sandy was part of the team that developed the concept of a shared space with nursing, respiratory care, nursing assistants, and dental students. Sandy takes her students' successes and failures as her own. She holds them to the highest academic, affective, and performance standards and makes sure that they all have the tools to get there. She has brought several external programs into the paramedic program at NICC. Paramedic graduates leave the college with eligibility for National Registry testing for certification and course completion credentials in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Geriatric training for Emergency Medical Services. This summer, she organized and delivered a National Registry Paramedic Practical examination on the Peosta Campus, which was the college’s first. Every detail was covered and a large number of students went through flawlessly. This was so successful that it will be repeated annually. Sandy's drive to do this was for the benefit of her students, to allow them easy access to a practical examination on familiar turf, taking away two stressors and distractors. Her classroom delivery is precise and thorough. Her office demeanor is pleasant and detailed. Her students make great employees, with several serving the local area in various capacities at Dubuque Fire and other high performance services. Sandy is a modest leader in her field, totally committed to the success of her students and her training program.

Part Time Instructor of the Year
Dave Tice

Dave has been a vital part of EMS in the North Iowa area. He has taught hundreds of students throughout his career. Tice has chaired the Floyd County EMS Association since the organizations inception. He has worked tirelessly to be the voice of EMS at the local level and lobbying for a better system across the State. The hours of creativity that he has volunteered have fueled yearly disaster drills in Floyd County and throughout the region. His "can do attitude" will be missed as he is retiring from a career of service - well done!

Friend of EMS
Tom Hendricks

"Taco" Tom Hendricks has been an inspirational supporter of EMS in Muscatine for well over ten years, in addition to his ongoing support of the community as a whole. As the owner of Taco John's, Mr. Hendricks has provided corporate support for the Muscatine County EMS Association EMS day over the past decade, as well as providing financial and in-kind support of the area's EMTs and emergency responders any time he is asked. Many disaster drills and training sessions have utilized the graciousness of Taco Tom to help subsidize the cost of training so that more responders could take part. Mr. Hendricks has been an ardent supporter of emergency responders in their goal of providing public service, most notably by assisting in the annual MDA boot drive managed and staffed by Muscatine and area fire fighters, EMTs and paramedics. Tom is an integral part of the Muscatine community and always goes above and beyond in support of worthy causes - not just emergency responder support. An example of this was a recent block party in Muscatine where Taco Tom gave away over 750 tacos. He also is an annual supporter of such causes as "Coat Connections" in order to gather winter coats for the community. Taco John's also is the driving force behind and annual youth golf tournament. Taco Tom Hendricks is an ardent supporter of EMS in and around Muscatine as well as an integral part of the community.

Dispatcher of the Year
Lori Connell

Lori first started her career as a dispatcher with the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office. She came to us with an impressive background in EMS and volunteer fire department experience. She had also spent time working in hospice with cancer patients. Her empathy and caring were obvious from the very beginning. Lori and I immediately found that we had many things in common and we became friends pretty quickly. I helped to train Lori and when she decided to leave and continue her career with the Iowa City Police Department, I was sad, but incredibly happy for her.

Shortly after Lori started, she was dispatching during an officer involved shooting that eventually became an incredibly difficult situation involving the parents of the victim. Although it was the first major situation Lori was involved in, it certainly would not be the last.

Eventually, I followed Lori to Iowa City. Ironically enough, while I trained Lori at MCSO, she trained me at ICPD. She was incredibly knowledgeable and patient with me. I will never forget the day that I stood in the stairwell in tears, unsure if I could handle the job in a much larger city with a much bigger call volume. She came to me and took me by the shoulders. She looked me in the eye and very sternly said “You CAN do this. I KNOW you can. You’re a good dispatcher, Kat, you just need to understand that there is a lot to learn here and you aren’t going to get it immediately. Give it time.” She gave me a huge hug that I’ve come to know very well over the years. I did give it time, and I am forever grateful to her for that conversation.

While there is not nearly enough time or space to talk about all of the situations Lori has been involved with, I would be remiss if I did not mention the tornado on April 13, 2006 in Iowa City. Lori was on her way home from work on the day that the tornado struck and when she realized what was happening, she risked her own life to turn around and drive back to Iowa City from her home in West Liberty. She eventually spent many, many hours working during the tornado that devastated downtown Iowa City. She and several other dispatchers were ultimately recognized during the following APCO conference for their professional and skilled handling of that event.

Again, there is not enough time to really express how valuable Lori has been to the community that she serves. She is professional, empathetic and dedicated. When Iowa City chose to become involved in a joint dispatch center with Johnson County, North Liberty and Coralville, Lori was promoted to Lead Dispatcher. It is a position she deserves and it’s a position she excels at.

Lori is not only a fantastic and deserving dispatcher of this award, but she is also my best friend. Her character and dedication extend to her family and friends and we all feel very blessed to have her in our lives.

Volunteer Individual EMS Provider
Lonnie Ondracek

Lonnie's contribution to Blairstown EMS as a volunteer has been outstanding. In his almost 10 year of service, he exhibits professionalism that one wish were characteristic of all EMS providers.

Lonnie prides himself on providing excellent patient care and maintains his skills to achieve this. Whether it is attending conferences, continuing education classes or practicing all skills throughout the year to remain proficient and learn new techniques to improve his patient care. Lonnie has been involved in many complex, traumatic EMS calls and his professionalism and empathy shines through with the patients and the families whose lives he touches.

Besides being amazing with patient care, Lonnie does so much for our service: filling in for other crew members shifts, even though he already covers more than his share of our schedule, being the one willing to write the patient care report, and spring/fall maintenance at the shed just to name a few. Lonnie works hard and takes pride in keeping our rig looking great, from cleaning it up for parades and activities to touching up the paint from chips and normal use. He is always the first to take the initiative and does whatever needs to be done.

His own wife, Connie, recruited Lonnie in 2002. She was an EMT-B for several years before talking Lonnie into driving the ambulance for our crew. He had apparently had some issues dealing with the sight of blood when their kids were younger and he was not sure EMS would be his "cup of tea". Shortly after becoming a driver the crew had a 'pretty messy' call and Lonnie was just fine with it. Not long after he decided to take the EMT class himself and has been invaluable ever since. He and Connie are regulars at community events, CEH classes, volunteering with meals on wheels, and are just all around wonderful community members who are always the first to help someone out in a time of need.

Many crewmembers of the Blairstown Ambulance have consistently commented that we do not know what we would do without Lonnie. He gives 150% to our service professionally and personally and we feel that he is everything 'The Volunteer of the Year' represents.

Career Individual EMS Provider
Roger Wernimont

Dubuque Fire Department consists of 89 personnel, any of which I feel could deserve nomination for career EMS provider. 64 are Iowa-Paramedics or Paramedic Specialists. When I asked for recommendations on who to nominate for this award, one name was all I received. That name was Roger Wernimont. Roger has been with the Dubuque Fire Department since 1993 and was promoted to Medical Officer in 1995. In 2007 he was promoted to Captain on Medic 551, where he serves currently, quietly going about his daily duties always willing to take on more than his share of the work. Roger is the person you want taking care of your family. If you were to have a family member in need of pre-hospital emergency medical care, Roger is the one that you would want to care for your loved one. Not only are his care and interpersonal skills impeccable, he is a fantastic teacher. There is not a person that rides with him that does not learn from him, yet Roger will be the first to say he learns from them. Roger remains calm under pressure and is a perfect example of how we should all respond to emergencies.

Volunteer EMS Service
Stuart Rescue Unit

The Volunteers of the Stuart Rescue Unit in Stuart, Iowa deserve to be recognized for the many hours of time given to the community in a variety of ways. On a daily basis, they enhance the quality of life in our City.

They strive to provide public information and education through public service announcements and educating the community about healthcare issues including teaching public CPR, First Aid and AED classes. They continuously teach the public about the EMS System and how it works, from early recognition of warning signs to arriving at the hospital, to all the key players involved within the system. They work with all ages of citizens from the very young to the elderly. They work closely with other departments in the city, providing education and back-up. The have coordinated the “File of Life” program at the local assisted living facility and have 100% participation. They are active with the schools, recently holding a poster contest for K-2 students, with trophies being presented for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in each class. The middle school students were given CPR Anytime kits which allowed interactive training with the students. All high school students were trained in CPR. They have installed AED’s in all district school buildings and teach CPR/AED to the school staff. Most recently they coordinated a community project to build a new, first in the nation, WAAS certified landing zone for MercyOne helicopter, which will further increase their effectiveness of EMS delivery in the immediate Stuart area. In closing, this hard working and dedicated staff takes pride in their volunteer role and provide great care and compassion in the service they provide.

Career Service
MEDIC EMS

Since 1982 MEDIC has provided the citizens of Scott County a high level of service with an emphasis on quality improvement and innovative delivery of care. In 1996, MEDIC was recognized by IEMSA as the career provider of the year, but since that time they have achieved so much more.

With a service area of over 300,000 residents, MEDIC EMS responds to 75 calls each day, totaling 27,000 calls in 2010. MEDIC EMS operates with 18 ambulances and 4 supervisor/disaster vehicles, working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Over 90 Paramedics and 50 EMT’s make up the two person crews, which respond to calls at an ALS level. MEDIC received a 5 year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) for its compliance with national standards of excellence in 1996 and has been reaccredited every 3 years since. Although accreditation is a common practice in many domains, it is very new to the ambulance service industry. MEDIC became on the 52nd ambulance service in the county to successfully complete the voluntary review process, which included completion of a comprehensive application and on-site review by national experts in the field of EMS. With this achievement, MEDIC became the first CAAS accredited ambulance service in Iowa and Illinois.

In 2011, the MEDIC EMS dispatch center (MED-COM) was recognized as an Accredited Center for Excellence (ACE) by the National/International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED/IAED), for its compliance with international standards of dispatch excellence. MED-COM became only the 150th dispatch center in the world to successfully complete the voluntary review process. Coupled with this, MED-COM relocated this past spring to the new Scott Emergency Communications Center (SECC) to provide Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) for all EMS calls for service in Scott County.

MEDIC EMS began Critical Care transports in 2007 to respond to the needs of the community for a higher level of ambulance transport. In November 2009, they added a customized ambulance to its fleet to offer bariatric patient transports and has offered this great resource to many patients across Iowa and Illinois. In 2010 MEDIC implemented hypothermia treatment for cardiac arrest patients. In July of 2010 they treated and transported the first cardiac arrest patient who received this treatment, responded favorably, and was later released from the hospital. In 2011 MEDIC in a partnership with Davenport Fire Department, received two Lucas 2 automatic CPR devices for its rural LeClaire and Eldridge ADM (Alternative Delivery Model) stations.

MEDIC EMS is strongly committed to the evolving needs of the community. They provide many programs that enhance the quality of life in the Eastern Iowa, Western Illinois areas. Mikey Medic program, Eldridge ADM Permanent Care Seat Fit Station, and Bike Medic are just a few examples.

MEDIC has been a key player in the development and operation of the EMS Quality Management Committee that operates under the direction of the EMS Physician’s Advisory Board (PAB). Their accreditation and achievements set the bar high for other agencies in our EMS system.

Hall of Fame
Randy Bever

On August 26, 2011 at approximately 19:00 Life Net 2-2 out of St. Joseph, Missouri, went down while en route to Liberty, Missouri, all four souls on board were killed. On board that flight were Flight Nurse Randy Bever, Flight Medic Chris Frakes, Pilot James Freudenberg and patient. Life Net 2-2 frequently serviced southwest Iowa as a back-up aircraft and Randy was well known and respected by all.

Randy Bever joined the Missouri Army National Guard where he completed his basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, serving as a specialist with the Headquarters Battery 1/129th Field Artillery for six years as a combat medic.

Randy worked at numerous ambulance districts throughout northwest Missouri as a paramedic and served as a Supervisor at Gold Cross. Randy also served as an air crew member for Life Net Air Medical Services where he became a Chief Flight Nurse and Base Supervisor in 2000 at the St. Joseph, Missouri Rosecrans Airbase.

He also taught classes for the American Heart Association, mentored numerous paramedic and nursing students and other health professionals. He was a member of the Emergency Nurses Association, Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association, and the Missouri Emergency Medical Association. He was always willing to share his knowledge.

Randy gave his all to those in need and saved countless lives in doing so. Randy was well known for making people feel welcome, even during the worst of times. He performed his duty by choice, knowing it had risk, but he bravely took to the sky in order to save lives. He died a true hero, and his sacrifice will not and should not be forgotten.

Hall of Fame
Jeff Dumermuth

In 2008 Jeff helped create a partnership between West Des Moines EMS and Iowa Health systems to improve upon overall healthcare in central Iowa. This venture combined private hospital interests with a government EMS system to form a partnership that may be a one of a kind in the nation.

It started out as providing a “back-up” to an existing service to provide specialty transports. When the hospitals considered starting their own ambulance service, Jeff saw a rare opportunity to create a partnership where both sides win. He explained to the hospitals that West Des Moines has the expertise, leadership and experience with operating a high quality EMS service. And the Iowa EMS Alliance was born. He is credited with having this vision, and creating the partnership, but he is quick to say he is only “the face of this project” and gives credit to all the people who helped make the vision a reality.

In today’s difficult economy, this outside the box thinking saved the city of West Des Moines over $200,000 in the first year. This occurred because each “agency” is still responsible for the cost of operation, but they share the administration costs. This is what make the public/private partnership a benefit to the taxpayers.

Jeff was recognized earlier this year at the JEMS EMS Today Conference in Baltimore where he was a recipient of the EMS 10 award for being a top innovator in ems. The state of Iowa, the citizens of West Des Moines, and IEMSA should feel honored that “one of our own” received this award. Jeff’s years of dedication to IEMSA and to EMS in general makes him deserving of this years award.