EMS Safety Authors

• Michael Szczygiel, BS, Chair

  Mike Szczygiel was certified as a Paramedic in 1975. After 20 years in medical transportation as a clinician, educator, administrator and litigation consultant, he spent a decade as the director of risk management for a chain of hospitals.

  Since 2006, he has served as a Senior Loss Control Specialist for Markel, which insures private, for-profit ambulance services. He provides Risk Engineering Services and Loss Control to Markel’s client-base, which consists of about 650 private medical transportation services in 48 states. He is also actively involved in claims and litigation management.

  Szczygiel sits on the Johnson County Community College Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board and is a member of the Neurosciences Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His undergraduate studies focused on psychology and human biology, and he did graduate work in the molecular biology of cancer.

  
  

• Taz Meyer, BS, EMT-P, Vice Chair

  Taz Meyer is the operations coordinator for St. Charles County Ambulance District, one of the largest EMS providers in Missouri. With an EMS career spanning 30 years, Meyer is an experienced field provider, educator and administrator. He is responsible for oversight of multiple facets of the district’s operations, including the training division and quality improvement program.

  Meyer is an active member of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services East Central Region EMS Committee and Time Critical Diagnosis Task Force. In addition, he is a member of the Missouri Center for Patient Safety EMS Workgroup, assisted with the development of a statewide patient safety reporting system, is an advocate for the implementation of a Just Culture in emergency medical services, and is a Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Affiliate Faculty.
  

• Charlene Cobb, NREMT-P

  Charlene Cobb is a member of the NAEMT Safety Course Committee, which developed the "Taking Safety to the Streets" course. She has also been a contributing member of the EMS Safety Foundation since 2007.

  She began her EMS career in 1980 as a volunteer for Sayville Community Ambulance Squad in Sayville, N.Y. In 1988, her family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. She has worked for Sunstar Paramedics (Pinellas County EMS) in various positions ever since and is currently the Community Outreach Coordinator for Sunstar. She has been a Nationally Registered Paramedic since 1992 and held positions as a Field Training Officer, Emergency Vehicle Operator Course (EVOC) Instructor, Designated Infection Control Officer and Education Coordinator.

  Her career has been focused on patient and practitioner safety. In 1998, she received the Paramedic of the Year Award from the State of Florida for her work on an EMS translation tool that communicates with patients who do not speak English. In 2010, she was chosen for the State of Florida Injury Prevention Award for her work in EMS and community safety.
  

• Peter Dworsky, MPH, NREMT-P, CBRM

  Peter Dworsky is the Corporate Director for Support Services at MONOC Mobile Health Services in New Jersey. There he is responsible for risk management, injury prevention programs, reducing workplace injuries and Emergency Management. He has an MPH in Health Systems Administration and a BS in EMS Management; he is an OSHA Certified Safety Professional and a Healthcare Risk Manager. Peter’s a member of the advisory board for the EMS Safety Foundation and serves as the Safety Officer for the State EMS Task Force.

  He became a paramedic in 1988 and worked in the NYC EMS system. He then became the Paramedic Director for Jersey City Medical Center. Following that he took on the position of Associate Director of the Office of Disaster Preparedness for the Barnabas Healthcare System. Through his work in EMS safety, MONOC received numerous safety awards including the 2012 New Jersey State EMS Safety Award, two Rutgers University’s Transportation’s safety awards. Peter was also named one of the JEMS EMS 10: Innovators in EMS for 2013.

   

• Rob Garrett, MS, ASP, NRP

  Rob Garrett is a regional safety & risk manager for American Medical Response. He has been in the EMS industry for 22 years, receiving his Paramedic certification in 1994 from Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Michigan. In 1990, he earned his Bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University and in 1999, a Master's degree in Aviation Safety Management from Central Missouri State University. He holds an Associate Safety Professional certification from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals.

  Garrett began his EMS career working for Mall City Ambulance and Life EMS in Kalamazoo, Mich. He started working for American Medical Response in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2001 as a paramedic and has also held positions as Field Training Officer and Field Supervisor. He moved into the role of Regional Safety & Risk Manager in 2005 and is responsible for maintaining regulatory compliance with federal and state agencies, as well as AMR corporate regulations by establishing and monitoring written programs for business units in five states.

   

• Jason Scheiderer, MS, NREMT-P

  Jason Scheiderer, MS, NREMT-P, is the EPIC implementation director of training for Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is currently coordinating all users in Eskenazi Health being trained on the new Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. This includes faculty at the IU School of Medicine, staff at the hospital, and members of Indianapolis Emergency Medical Service (IEMS).
  
  Formerly, he was an education lieutenant with IEMS, the largest 911 service in the city responding to roughly 100,000 calls each year. A division of the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety, IEMS has a unique partnership with the Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, Marion County Health and Hospital Corporation, and the City of Indianapolis, with Eskenazi Health as the supervising hospital. Scheiderer teaches specialty continuing education classes such as Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS), Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and CPR, and also works in the field with students.

  Prior to the formation of IEMS, Scheiderer worked for the Wishard Ambulance Service, first as an EMT, then paramedic and educator. He received his master's degree in Emergency Service Management from The George Washington University and his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Religion from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he started as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, continuing in several part-time fire and EMS positions following throughout Indiana. Scheiderer serves as the NAEMT Advocacy Coordinator for Indiana, and is a member of the Advocacy Committee and EMS Safety Course Committee. He was honored with the 2014 Field EMS Bill Advocate of the Year Award and is a member of the Indiana EMS education work group.