EMLRC President Receives Roy M. Baker EMS Leadership Award
 Dr. Rick Slevinski
Recognized for Leadership in the Provision of
Emergency Medical
Services
ORLANDO, FL -- October 17, 2006
--
Rick Slevinski, MD, FACEP, who serves as the
current president of the Emergency Medicine Learning &
Resource Center (EMLRC) and
served as
president of the Florida College of Emergency Physicians
(FCEP) from 1983-85,
has been chosen by the
Florida Medical Association (FMA) as the 2006 recipient
of the Roy M. Baker, M.D., Award for Outstanding Leadership
in the Provision of Emergency Medical Services by a Physician or
Layperson.
Dr. Slevinski was chosen for his extraordinary
achievements and clear dedication to the
practice of medicine.
The FMA House of Delegates established the
Roy M.
Baker Award in 1995, to be given to a physician or layperson
whose efforts have
greatly contributed to the protection and
health and safety of the citizens of their community, or the
state of Florida, either in preparation for or during the time
of a natural or caused disaster. The FMA will highlight this
award at the FMA Board of Governors & Council Days Joint
Meetings, to be held Oct. 19-21 at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa
in Miami.
"I am honored by the thoughtfulness of my
colleagues for this recognition,” said Dr. Slevinski, who
currently practices at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. “I
have been lucky to work with many skilled people these past 30
years in the development of our field. We have developed one of
the best EMS systems in the country, but we cannot rest on our
past. We must continue to recognize new trends in patient care
and use education to prepare our emergency responders. I hope
to continue to lead, working through the EMLRC to develop new
lifesaving education for America’s lifesavers. What I have done
in the past is not as important as what we can do tomorrow. I
want to thank the FMA, FCEP and the Roy Baker family, as I had
the opportunity to work with Dr. Baker and I want to live up to
the high standards he set for service to our society.”
Dr. Slevinski, a graduate of the University of
Florida, has been practicing Emergency Medicine for more than 30
years. He was instrumental in leading the development of
emergency and disaster response in Florida and the Nation. He
has led numerous efforts to change and improve the EMS System in
Florida. He taught one of the first DOT Paramedic courses in
the 1970s, represented Florida in the first national meeting on
Trauma Center development, and in 1980 led the first meeting on
Trauma Center concepts and operations in Florida. He has
remained active in Trauma Center development, helping to write
and implement the standards we use today.
In the world of cardiac care, he was one of the first
instructors for ACLS and he helped write the first law allowing
the use of AEDs (automatic defibrillators) in the state in the
late 80s, and then wrote the first training course for AEDs. He
served the state as the Medical Advisor to the EMS Advisory
Council in the early 80s and became EMS Medical Director of the
State of Florida in 1988. In this role he became the field
medical commander for our disasters. He was part of the
leadership from Hurricane Andrew through Hurricane Ivan that
developed our successful sophisticated statewide response to
weather and man-made disasters. He served as one of the first
medical directors of Florida DMAT-1, responding to statewide
fires, hurricanes and other disasters.
Dr. Slevinski helped develop the concept of Medical Direction
for EMS Systems. He was the author of the first course to teach
doctors the principles of EMS Medical Direction. It was
developed in Florida and has been adopted as the official
training course of the National Association of EMS Physicians.
In the 1990s he became interested in improving stroke care and
led the statewide committee that developed the concept of using
clot buster drugs for strokes and developing stroke care as a
system response that starts with patient recognition and ends
with timely care in stroke centers. Florida had the first
statewide stroke care protocol in 1997 – years ahead of the
nation. This evolved into our stroke centers of today. In
2000,
Dr. Slevinski was recognized nationally by the American
Stroke Association as the
“Stroke Advocate for the Year.”
He has received numerous national awards. In 1990 the National
Association of EMS Physicians gave him the Ronald Stewart Award
for National Education. In 1996 the American College of
Emergency Physicians named him the National EMS Leader of
the
Year, in 2000 the American Stroke Association named him Stroke
Advocate for
the Year and in 2004 the National Association of EMTs gave him the National Medical Director of the Year Award.
He has served as the President and Board member of the Florida
College of Emergency Physicians, on the Board of Directors of
the Florida Chapter of the American Heart Association and has
spent the past 20 years developing the continuing education of
our emergency responders, first as President of the Florida
Emergency Medicine Foundation and now as President of the
Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center.
The Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center (EMLRC) is
a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and advancing
emergency medicine, disaster management, pre-hospital emergency care
and public health through the provision of educational and research
programs. The EMLRC provides lifesaving education to lifesavers.
For further information contact:
Beth Brunner, Chief Executive Officer
John Todaro, Director/Chief Operating Officer
Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center
3717 South Conway Road
Orlando, FL 32812-7607
Phone: 800-766-6335
Email: bbrunner@emlrc.org
Email: jtodaro@emlrc.org
Internet: www.emlrc.org
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