Today during the County Commissioners’ session, the Delaware County Emergency Medical Services Department introduced its new leadership team. Led by Jeff Fishel, hired last month to serve as the Director and Chief of Delaware County EMS, the department has named a new assistant chief and created two positions to oversee newly created programs for training and continuous quality improvement.

“We wanted to form a leadership team that was involved on the national EMS stage,” said Delaware County Administrator Mike Frommer, “could leverage our outstanding medics on the front line, and bring specialized talents to the core functions of our service.”

Fishel, who came to the county from Oklahoma, was selected from a candidate pool that included national-level candidates. He has also worked in California and Texas.

Jennifer Cochran, a 22-year veteran of Delaware County EMS, has been promoted to Assistant Chief of Administration. Cochran is well known to many first-responder agencies in the county for her pioneering work in mental resiliency and wellness. Cochran joins Eric Burgess at the Assistant Chief rank. Burgess has overseen DCEMS operations since January 2014.

After commissioning internal and external analyses of DCEMS, the Delaware County Board of Commissioners identified an opportunity for the department to become an industry-leading service provider by fortifying its training and Continuous Quality Improvement processes. DCEMS also plans to offer these training and CQI services to other EMS providers in the county.

“The medical industry moves at a very fast pace,” said Fishel, “and we need for our EMS practices and protocols to move at the same pace so that we are providing our patients with industry-leading care.”

Scott Gano has been hired as a Training Captain and will be responsible for preparing a comprehensive training curriculum that will go beyond the certification minimums and will focus on training DCEMS personnel in new techniques that will keep them at the forefront of the industry. Gano comes from Columbus State Community College where he has been the paramedics program director and their anatomy lab director. He is a 21-year veteran of DCEMS, having served full-time in the past and currently as a part-time paramedic.

Glen Keating has been promoted to the newly created position of Continuous Quality Improvement Captain. Keating, a 10-year DCEMS veteran, will be working collaboratively with DCEMS’s medical director Dr. Ashish Panchal to review every patient interaction, ensuring and documenting that DCEMS is performing at an industry-leading level.

“These levels of training and CQI excellence will be the industry expectation in five to 10 years,” Fishel said, “and I am very grateful to be working for a Board of Commissioners that understands the dynamics of our industry and is willing to invest in achieving that excellence now.”

Added Frommer: “The residents of Delaware County deserve and should expect industry-leading emergency medical services. It is a very exciting time to be part of the Delaware County EMS organization.”

For more information about Delaware County Emergency Medical Services, visit their website at: https://ems.co.delaware.oh.us/

(L-R) Captain Glen Keating, Assistant Chief Eric Burgess, Director Jeff Fishel, Assistant Chief Jennifer Cochran, Captain Scott Gano