Loudoun County graduates six emergency medical services supervisors

On Tuesday, April 9, six members of Loudoun County Fire and Rescue graduated from the County’s Emergency Medical Services Supervisor School. Upon completion of their field ride-time, the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System EMS system will have 19 Paramedics that are qualified to fill the EMS Supervisor role.

The EMS Supervisor is responsible for the overall supervision of our Loudoun County EMS providers assigned to field operations and responds to support significant emergency incidents twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

As ‘Authorized Paramedics,’ EMS Supervisors have an extended scope of practice, which allows them to perform skills above those of other Advanced Life Support providers in the system to include the delivery of whole blood to patients in need. Currently there are two EMS Supervisor units; EMS601 which is staffed out of the Moorefield station in Ashburn and EMS602 which responds from the Purcellville station. 

The EMS Supervisor school covered a variety of topics and skills such as the role and daily operations of the EMS Supervisor, management of emergency incident rehabilitation, mentoring new paramedics, assisting command staff on incidents, and the command and control of hostile threat incidents. Several practical sessions also covered skills each supervisor is required to perform in the field such as rapid sequence intubation, advanced airway management, and mass casualty incident management.

The graduates were required to pass a final written examination and three scenario-based skill stations aimed to realistically illustrate the unique challenges faced by EMS providers on the scene of an incident.

Battalion Chief Andrew Hopkins, Captain Nicole Artisst, Operational Medical Director Dr. John Morgan, and Assistant Chief James Williams addressed the graduates, commending their dedication and commitment to our County’s expanding need for emergency medical services.