IAFC EMS Section Announces Award Recipients
Chief Mark Lockhart Receives the 2009 James O. Page EMS Achievement Award
Three departments honored for Heart Safe Community programs
James O. Page Award
This morning at Fire Rescue-Med, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Section named Mark Lockhart, fire chief of the Maryland Heights Fire Protection District, Missouri, as the 2009 recipient of the James O. Page EMS Achievement Award. The award presentation took place during the General Session this morning at the IAFC’s annual conference for fire-based EMS leaders, May 4-6 in Las Vegas.
This award—presented by the IAFC EMS Section and Physio-Control, Inc.—is given annually to an individual who has played a key role in creating and/or promoting non-clinical innovation and achievements in fire service based EMS management and leadership that have had a positive impact nationally. The award is named in honor of the late James O. Page, who was a visionary and national leader in fire service based EMS for over three decades.
Recipients selected for this award must be dedicated to creating a positive image for EMS as a whole while being an advocate of the fire service, devoted to making a difference for the overall good of the fire service and committed to furthering and strengthening the role and image of the fire service EMS across the country. Each year’s recipient shows the following qualities: Enthusiasm and dedication toward fire service based EMS; professionalism and vision; a desire for achievement and drive for excellence; exemplary performance, and leadership qualities.
Mark Lockhart is Chief of the Maryland Heights Fire Protection District in St. Louis County, Missouri, a position he has held since February 2007. His career in fire and emergency medical services started in 1983 and includes working for an ambulance district, an air medical program, a Level I trauma center, and the fire district. Chief Lockhart served as the Deputy Chief in charge of Emergency Medical Services prior to his promotion to Chief.
Chief Lockhart is a past president of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) and has received that organization’s Jeffrey S. Harris National Leadership Award; the A. Roger Fox Founders Award for outstanding contributions to the association; a Presidential Leadership Award; and the William Klingensmith EMS Administrator of the Year Award.
As a member of the PreHospital Trauma Life Support International Faculty, Chief Lockhart has taught EMS professionals in the United States, Mexico, Great Britain and Sweden. He served as a site reviewer for the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services for fifteen years and currently serves as a member of the IAFC Fire-Rescue-Med Conference Planning Committee. In addition, he currently chairs the IAFC EMS Section’s Elections Committee and By-Laws Committee.
The IAFC applauds the life-long achievements of Fire Chief Mark Lockhart and his continued work for the overall good of the fire service.
In 1994, the IAFC EMS Section created an EMS award and presented it to a television show at the time, “Rescue 911.” The following year the award was given to James O. Page in recognition of his years of leadership, vision and dedication in the promotion of fire-based emergency medical services.
Visit the IAFC EMS Section Awards page to learn about past year’s’ winners.
Heart Safe Community Awards
Also at Fire Rescue-Med, the EMS Section awarded the annual Heart Safe Community Awards. These awards focus on creative approaches to implementing or maintaining PAD (Public Access Defibrillation) programs and the STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) management programs in our nation’s communities. The awards presentation took place during the General Session this morning at the IAFC’s annual conference for fire-based EMS leaders, May 4-6 in Las Vegas.
The annual Heart Safe Community Award is divided into two categories, honoring programs representing populations over 100,000 and those with fewer than 100,000. The PAD Program, Small Community Award for 2009 was presented to the Durango Fire & Rescue Authority of Colorado. The PAD program, Large Community Award for 2009 was presented to San Diego Project Heart Beat and the San Diego Fire Department of California.
The STEMI Awareness Community Program Award for 2009 was awarded to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department of Florida.
These awards—presented by the IAFC EMS Section and Physio-Control, Inc.—recognize fire-service-based EMS and other EMS systems that have used creative approaches to implement or maintain public access defibrillation programs within the communities they serve. The STEMI Awareness Community Program Award is presented to the agency that has implemented a community program to improve therapies for patients with acute coronary syndrome and its life-threatening complication—sudden cardiac arrest—and backend initiatives that include STEMI management.
The 2009 Honorable Mentions were awarded to: Westerville Ohio Division of Fire, Ohio (PAD Program, Small Community); MD Ambulance-Saskatoon EMS, Saskatchewan, Canada (PAD Program, Large Community); and Anchorage Fire Department, Alaska (STEMI Awareness).
The annual Heart Safe Community Awards were first presented in 2001 with the goal of highlighting the nation’s best practices in PAD and STEMI management programs every year.
Information about the 2009 Heart Safe Community Award and STEMI Awareness Community Program Award winners will be posted on the IAFC EMS Section’s Awards page soon.
Visit the IAFC EMS Section Awards page to learn about past years’ winners.
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