Each year, ZOLL recognizes EMS professionals who strive to use data solutions to improve patient, financial and operational outcomes. These awesome individuals save their organization money, time and resources, which enable their teams to save more lives within their communities. As we open up nominations for the 2018 EMS Pulse Awards (deadline is March 16), we want to take the opportunity to re-recognize our 2017 EMS Pulse Award winners.

Commitment to Safety

James (Jimmy) Pierson, vice president of operations, has been instrumental in the improvement of every aspect of Medic Ambulance. Dedicated to running a high-performance system, he is always working to keep the trajectory of the company aimed at better outcomes for the community and employees. He recently reviewed the utilization frequency of a 24-hour station car and despite the increased financial cost of converting the assignment into 12-hour units, he pushed that change through to prevent employees from driving without enough sleep.

Read Jimmy’s story                                                                                                                                                                            

Streamlining Business

Ryan Thorne, CEO and director of Thorne Ambulance Service in Greenville, South Carolina, knew that in order to progress in a private ambulance service model, he would have to think outside the box. He recognized that in order to have a highly-efficient and effective EMS model there must be cohesive technology.

Read Ryan’s story

Innovation

Stacey Cloutier has been with Armstrong Ambulance Service for 11 years. She is an innovative thinker that focuses on the behind-the-scenes nuances that are vital to the organization functioning efficiently, but that are often overlooked by others. She ensures that insurance documentation is handled and filed, manages fleet registrations, and maintains dozens of forms and licenses for regulatory agencies.

Read Stacey’s story

Hard Work & Dedication

Brian Weindel has been with Fort Smith EMS for nearly 18 years and has implemented several processes, technology systems and software that have been a tremendous advancement for the agency. The majority of Weindel’s operational improvements surround the communications center, ITS operations, and the data and IT to support it. He’s become a champion for EMS, making sure that not only does his agency understand the importance of data and how it drives evolution of efficiency and success, so do surrounding agencies within his community as well. In fact, Weindel successfully lobbied the City of Fort Smith to enact ordinances that requires any ambulance services operating within Fort Smith to operate similar technology and software. It’s this hard work and dedication that made Weindel a perfect recipient of the ZOLL EMS Pulse Awards in 2017.

Read Brian’s story

Business Growth & Development

Through dedication, perseverance and expert patience, Alexander Lewinsky, operations manager for JFK EMS, has been instrumental in growing their business by more than 100 percent in the past five years. He helped expand into the BLS and specialty care transport unit (SCTU) service lines, and established a median response time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds in New Jersey’s fifth largest municipality using the tools from the ZOLL suite of software.

Read Alexander’s story 

High-Performance EMS

Chris Byrd has held several roles at On Time Transport from being an EMT, dispatch manager and currently the manager for high performance initiatives. Under his direction, the agency monitors incidents per 10,000 hours, revenue per vehicle, average price per call, retention and recruitment, and so much more. The data collected by ZOLL RescueNet Dispatch and Billing is used to make internal improvements that are imperative to the agency being able to continue to maintain its high-performance systems.

Read Chris’ story

Exemplary Leadership

In 2011, Steve Fravel, EMS Data Systems Coordinator for Pinellas County (Florida) Fire & EMS Administration, led the transition to electronic patient care reporting and is now responsible for more than 200 tablet devices used by 89 ALS first responder units and 50 Sunstar Paramedic ambulances that responded to approximately 300,000 EMS incidents during the previous year. He harnesses this data on a routine basis by monitoring performance metrics and providing situational awareness to system stakeholders via production and dissemination of standardized reports for key performance indicators.

Read Steve’s story

Outstanding Milestones

Susan Delsandro began her career as a driver, and is now the director of customer care billing and compliance for On Time Transport after 23 years with the company. Delsandro meets with the billing department on a regular basis to study metrics and implement improvement processes. Her leadership has helped the department reduce its days sales outstanding (DSO) from 65 days to under 40 days, and increase the 365-day collection percentage to more than 98 percent in just over a year’s time.

Read Susan’s story

 So, Who Will Be ZOLL Pulse Award Winners in  2018?

Now's the time to nominate someone awesome. This can be a coworker or yourself. As you can see from last year's award winners, they did some cool stuff, which is why the won. They also had nominators who took the time to really paint a picture of all their achievements. So if you want your nominee to win make sure to:

• Fully complete the nomination form
• Provide examples and/or statistics to support the nomination (this is where the more details you share, the better we understand why they deserve to win. So don't skimp on the details!)

Winners  will receive a special token of our appreciation as well as recognition at SUMMIT, ZOLL’s annual user conference in May, on the ZOLL Pulse Blog, and on social media.