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Archive: Quarterly Newsletter June 2013

IN THIS ISSUE:

FEATURE STORY
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
TESTIMONIAL
EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT
MEDIC MONTHLY UPDATES
NEW COURSE OFFERINGS
FEATURES & ENHANCEMENTS

FEATURE STORY: THE DAYTONA BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT

Meet the Daytona Beach Fire Department (DBFD) – a coastal fire department located almost at midpoint of the Eastern coast of Florida. The DBFD has the unique distinction of being the first department in the United States to have a MotorMedics (motorcycle paramedics) unit. With 100 uniformed personnel, the DBFD serves a population that’s just over 61,000, with more than 8,000,000,000 visitors who annually come to the Daytona Beach area. The DBFD is a busy firehouse, with a rich an interesting history.

The DBFD was formed after the first big fire in 1898, when a group of influential citizens tried to form a volunteer fire department. By 1902, the city actually owned a chemical fire engine. In 1909, Henry T. Titus was their first paid fire chief. By the end of that year, under chief, Charles Messing, the DBFD had 65 volunteers and a water system in place. The towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach, and Seabreeze came together in 1926 to form the City of Daytona Beach, bringing the three fire departments together.

Before telephones and the central dispatch center, the DBFB was notified of calls from the Light Plant Whistle, and later, a bell tower nearby. Today, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Department houses the central dispatch center that receives 9-1-1 calls and communicates them to the DBFD.

Under the leadership of Captain Lt. Michael Harvey, the DBFD now responds to around 19,000 calls annually. As for equipment, the DBFD has seven ALS engines, one 100-foot aerial platform, three ambulance-style rescue trucks, one command vehicle and two MotorMedics motorcycles. There are seven ALS stations under the department.

Like many agencies, the DBFD chose Kaplan Fire & EMS Training because they had a need to provide additional training to personnel, while at the same time, remaining available to meet the ever-growing demand for emergency services. The DBFD has found that their crews very much enjoy viewing the Medic Monthly training videos.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
June 12 – 15, 2013
South Carolina Fire Rescue Conference
Myrtle Beach Convention Center – Myrtle Beach, SC
http://scfirefighters.org/
June 16-22, 2013
International Fire/EMS Safety & Health Week
For more information visit www.safetyandhealthweek.org

June 19 – 22, 2013
Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs
North Charleston, SC
www.seafc.org

June 21 – 23, 2013
New England Association of Fire Chiefs
Sheraton Springfield Hotel and the Easter States Exposition – West Springfield, MA
www.newenglandfirechiefs.org

June 22, 2013
21ST Annual National EMS Memorial Service
Pikes Peak Center – Colorado Springs, CO
For more information visit www.nemsms.org

July 20 – 24, 2013
Ohio Fire Chiefs’ Association Annual Conference
Sharonville Convention Center – Sharonville, OH
www.associationdatabase.com/aws/ofca/pt/sp/conference

July 23 – 27, 2013
Firehouse Expo
Baltimore Convention Center – Baltimore, MD
www.firehouseexpo.com

August 21 – 24, 2013
IAFF Symposium Conference
Denver, CO
www.iaff.org/events

September 10 – 13, 2013
Firehouse Software Education & Training Seminar (FHETS)
Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel – Phoenix, AZ
www.firehousesoftware.com/support/fhets/.php

TESTIMONIAL: DAYTONA BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT

“In working with Kaplan and Firehouse, we have been online now with the Kaplan/Firehouse interface and it has proven to be a success. One of the many selling features to our transition from Target Solutions to Kaplan Fire & EMS Training was the Firehouse interface. In an industry full of required documentation, the benefit of eliminating the need to manually enter our training records into the Firehouse system has freed up resources to be used on other tasks. We found it easiest to utilize the stock Firehouse course codes and fit the Kaplan courses into them. We did explore the idea of giving the Kaplan courses their own Kaplan code or identification purposes, but we did not want to overload our training records database. If you operate like our department, we are very dependent on records management. My first fear was what might happen if there was an error in the import process. Rest assured, the teams from Kaplan and Firehouse were a part of the process beginning to end and there were several measures put in place to allow us to restore to a past point-in-time, should there have been an error. As expected, the process was simple, smooth and without problem.”

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: DEZ SAVOY

This quarter’s Kaplan Fire & EMS Training employee spotlight features Client Services Coordinator, Dez Savoy, who works at the corporate office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dez is very new to the team, and is currently working on her Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences.

In this key role, Dez is responsible for providing excellent customer service and technical support to the Fire & EMS Training team and our clients. Dez is passionate about working closely with clients and troubleshooting any questions. Her daily goal is to make the lives of our clients and the Fire & EMS Training team easier.

Dez is a funny person with a colorful career, ranging in a secretary for a fire chief, television production in New York City, and international logistics. When she’s not working, she enjoys photography, the outdoors, traveling the world in search of the best cupcake, blogging restaurant reviews, and running trails with her two dogs, Roxy and Sydney.

Dez lives by these famous words from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”

You can reach Dez via email at lsavoy@kaplan.edu or by telephone at 945.515.3692.

MEDIC MONTHLY UPDATES

Kaplan Fire & EMS Medic Monthly courses have provided cutting-edge online training for first responders, EMTs, and paramedics since 2004. Each video in these online training programs offer fire-based, EMS-physician directed case studies that are relevant to today’s EMS providers. It’s an engaging and fast-paced format that meets the highest standards for EMS education.

The updates will be made to course content, pre-tests, and post-tests, and all modules will continue to be accredited by the Continuing Education Coordinating Board for Emergency Medical Services (CECBEMS). The changes will go into effect in early September 2013, and each module will be assigned 1.0 Continuing Education Units (CEU).

The Medic Monthly series of web-based classes is directed by former paramedic and EMS physician, Dr. Steven Katz.

NEW COURSE OFFERINGS

The Medic Monthly series, directed by Steven Katz, MD, FACEP, EMT-P, provides online EMS courses for fire responders, EMTs, and paramedics. These classes feature videos starring real EMS crews, dealing with true-to-life EMS scenarios and challenges.

Upcoming Medic Monthly Releases:

Volume 10, Issue 4, Pediatric Shock
Volume 10, Issue 5, Pediatric Falls
Volume 10, Issue 6, Body Piercing
Volume 10, Issue 7, CHF or COPD
Volume 10, Issue 8, Stabbings

FEATURES & ENHANCEMENTS
Several enhancements have been made to features of the program. This includes enhanced features in the batch utility. The first enhancement allows for a department manager to modify student first and last names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The second update to the batch utility includes a tutorial for department managers with information about how to modify, add, or remove students from the roster. The FAQ feature has also been enriched with answers and instructions on how to use the system.
Kaplan Fire and EMS Training makes no representations or warranties as to whether the program meets the specific licensing certification requirements for any individual state. Kaplan Fire and EMS Training encourages its students to independently research the licensing requirements in any state in which they intend to seek or renew licensure.