The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services is pleased to announce that one of its own has been recognized by the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) as one of the top ten emergency medical services (EMS) innovators in the country. Captain Dale Becker, a 16 year veteran of the Department, represents Maryland for his continued work to advance the method in which emergency medical crews administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
During the past year, Captain Becker formed and implemented an initiative to train every provider in Howard County with high-performance CPR. This method of CPR pre-assigns a role to each member of a crew so that they can save time when performing CPR. As a measure of Captain Becker’s efforts, cardiac arrest survival rates for victims of sudden cardiac arrests in Howard County have more than doubled the survival rate from 19% to 38%.
“This is an outstanding example of the commitment to innovation and excellence that our firefighters and paramedics continually aspire to,” said County Executive Ken Ulman. “On behalf of the entire county, I applaud Dale’s contributions in moving the EMS profession forward.”
The EMS 10 program is now in its fifth year and is conducted in partnership with Physio-Control. With more than 100 applicants from across the United States, Captain Becker was selected under the criteria of revising a local protocol or standard operating procedure (SOP) that significantly enhanced the efficiency, safety or quality of EMS care or the work environment for EMS personnel.
“I am truly honored,” said Captain Becker. “To know that I represent all of the providers in the County, means a great deal to me. I hope that this opens the door for finding more solutions to the challenges that emergency medical personnel sometimes encounter within their own systems.”
Some of the other EMS 10 innovators include Dr. Graham Nichol, from University of Washington, Dr. Jim Dunford from San Diego and Dr. Joseph Ornato from Virginia Commonwealth University. For a full list of EMS 10 innovators visit here
