What ’s in a Title? Why Credentialing EMS Leaders Matters

Brian LaCroix is the president of the National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA), an organization for leaders representing all service models. Brian recently retired from his role as president and EMS chief for Allina Health EMS, a hospital-based system with headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving more than 100 communities with more than 600 employees. It was named career service of the year by the NAEMT in 2017. Brian began his career in 1983 and has worked as a volunteer firefighter, EMT, paramedic, educator, author, peer counselor, manager and executive officer. Q: Why is supporting and credentialing leaders in the field of paramedicine such a focus for NEMSMA as an organization? A: NEMSMA is all about education and support of leadership, and not only existing leaders but aspiring leaders. We have an interest providing leaders with real, practical, and meaningful information, a solid and best practice base of knowledge, and the support needed in order to make sure that we are providing the highest level of care to the communities we serve. Historically it's been said that we have a history in our career field of picking either high performers or well-liked employees and giving them a hearty handshake and a shiny badge and promoting them to leadership roles with little or no background, education or information support. Several years ago, NEMSMA came up with the idea to create leadership competencies to support the training of our current and future leaders. Those c...
Source: JEMS Administration and Leadership - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Training EMS Insider Exclusive Articles Administration and Leadership Source Type: news