Company Facts:
60 Team Members
18 Administrative & Leadership
42 Paramedics & EMT’s Represented by the International Association of EMT’s and
Paramedics
7 minute 30 second Average Response Time
The company arrived with professionally staffed and fully equipped ambulances almost 19,000 times in 2008.
About CAAS:
The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) was formed in 1990 as a not-for-profit agency to be a standard bearer for medical transportation systems. It is sponsored by the American Ambulance Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of EMS Physicians, the National Association of State EMS Officials, the National Association of EMT's, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, with liaison representation from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Accreditation signifies that an ambulance service has met the "gold standard" determined by the ambulance industry as being essential for a modern emergency medical services provider.
About Nature Coast EMS
Nature Coast is Citrus County’s exclusive, not-for-profit, Advanced Life Support 9-1-1 emergency responder and medical transportation provider. The organization was established on October 1st, 2000. We work to perform, monitor and enhance our care with the overall objective of ensuring clinical excellence. It is our county-wide, on-time response that benchmarks our excellent customer service and attentiveness. And, it is our fiscal accountability and efficiency that proves the company’s organizational effectiveness. Nature Coast EMS fully engages in EMS leadership through our local participation and collaboration with all Citrus County EMS stakeholders and through our regional and national EMS association leadership positions.
Dedication to Saving Lives
In addition to following all the Citrus County and State of Florida regulations and clinical protocols, Nature Coast EMS became the first ambulance service in Florida to offer Induced Hypothermia otherwise known as Induced Cooling (ICE), a treatment used for the management of post cardiac arrest patients.
Nature Coast's EMS paramedic crews partner with area hospital’s emergency department personnel, to provide a lifesaving continuity of care, whereby cardiac arrest victims who have been revived to the point of showing a visible heart rhythm immediately receive rapid cooling measures along with protocol driven Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) treatments. These rapid cooling measures have increased the possibility that patients can be fully resuscitated and return home with without any neurological impairment by 6 times over the national average.
In 2007, Nature Coast EMS trained all the organization’s Emergency Medical Technicians to skill proficiency in intravenous catheterization. By so doing, the EMTs offer invaluable assistance for their paramedic partners during a response requiring advanced life support services.
Because we know that seconds can feel like hours during a medical emergency, Nature Coast EMS highly values its on-time response performance record.
Nature Coast EMS, serving Citrus County for more than 9 years with high quality advanced life support ambulance service is now officially one of four ambulance providers in the state of Florida and one of less than 130 ambulance services nationwide to achieve this “gold standard” industry status.
The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) granted Nature Coast EMS, national accreditation on September 30, 2009.
Nature Coast EMS’s leader, Mike Hall says,
“The accreditation process gave us an opportunity to thoroughly examine our current practices and to take the steps necessary for either documenting our current practices or for investing in significant quality upgrades. We have recently purchased new ambulances, updated our policies and procedures, added new educational opportunities and purchased new state-of-the-art equipment. Thanks to our staff’s diligence and commitment to giving each and every patient excellent service, our company continues to stand apart in Citrus County as a distinguished provider worthy of such a prestigious honor. As a result, everyone benefits, especially the emergency and non-emergency end users of our service.”
Mike Hall is the president/CEO of Nature Coast EMS in LeCanto, Florida. As the organization’s visionary and leader, Mike oversees the activities of all departments in the organization. Answering to the Citrus County EMS Board, Mike ensures that the organization’s team members exceed customer service expectations, offer exemplary clinical services and that the organization maintains the financial integrity and structure that will result in long-term efficiency and cutting-edge effectiveness. (read more)
Jane Bedford is the Education Director for Nature Coast Emergency Medical Services in Inverness, the nonprofit ambulance service provider for Citrus County. Ms. Bedford works closely with the organization’s medical director to ensure the integrity of Nature Coast EMS’ quality assurance/ quality improvement program. She is also responsible for ensuring the clinical excellence produced by the on-going critical care paramedic program she co- designed. Jane is also credited with the employee training and program facilitation for the organization’s recent designation as a certified STEMI provider. (read more)
Floyd Mead is the Education Supervisor for Nature Coast EMS. As such, he is responsible for day to day supervision of field staff, the development and implementation of new Education for team members, the development and implementation of CEU training for staff and the creation of a two year education calendar. With great leadership abilities, Mr. Mead teaches all EMS curriculums and part-takes in First Response for emergency situations.
