Experience and Accomplishments

 

In 1991, Dave received his Master of Healthcare Administration Degree from Des Moines University.   In the early 2000's, Dave went part-time with West Des Moines EMS and was hired full-time by a large healthcare system as the director of development.  In this role, Dave lead the expansion of a cancer fundraising event from being a small event held at the  hospital, to the major fundraising event for the cancer center, raising millions of dollars during his tenure.  He lead the capital campaign for the renovation of the inpatient cancer unit, and was the capital campaign director for the development of a new hospital in West Des Moines.  After five years in this role, Dave transitioned back to the City of West Des Moines after the City and the health system developed a public/private partnership.  He remained in this role of Assistant EMS Chief until his retirement in 2023. 

 

Dave was integral in taking a majority volunteer department with a call volume under 1000 in 1991 to a full-time service with 70 employees and responding to just under 10,000 calls per year when he retired.  This transition required continual strategic planning with department leadership, city leadership, unions, and employees.  Key initiatives included, compensation, crew configurations, development of field supervisors, transition from 24 hour to 12 hour shifts, creating a career path, partnership develop, and in some cases partnership dissolution. 

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Key department programs that Dave helped implement include.

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-First communitywide public access defibrillation program in 1999

-defibrillators in all police cars-1999

-Tactical EMS Program for the police department

-Public Safety/City Vaccination program during COVID

-Bike Medic Program

-Highly Infectious Disease Transport Team-contracted with State of Iowa

-Created a fatigue matrix and policy for employee safety-Received an EMS-10 Innovators Award from JEMS for this program along with them publishing an article on the program.-2013

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Regional programs/initiatives Dave was part of include;​

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• Mass casualty resources including job in a bag and switching to the SMART System and resource management

• Metro STEMI/STROKE task force

• Implementation chair for EMS/hospital use of PULSARA-2017

• Iowa Department of Public Health's Highly Infectious Disease Committee

• FEMA Region 7 EMS Workgroup

• Iowa EMS for Children committee member

• Central Iowa EMS Director's Association  (held positions of President and Vice President)

• EMS representative for the Metro Emergency Department Group

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Dave has and continues to participate in the betterment of EMS at the local, state and federal level. 

•  He is currently on the Board of Directors for the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) and serves as the treasurer.  

• He is the committee chair for the National Association of Emergency Medical Technician's Lighthouse Leadership Program

• Coordinates a national group of third service EMS providers. 

• Completed a two-year term after being elected to the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) Board of Directors. 2022-2023)

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Dave's career in EMS has afforded him the opportunity to impact the industry, department and his local community in many ways.   These include;

 

• Reserve police officer for 10 years

• CONTOMS Tactical EMS graduate

• Department internal investigations

• Recruitment, hiring, and background checks on employees

• Public information officer and social media coordinator

• Board and City Council presentations

• Union negotiations

• Strategic planning, and management of a public/private partnership. 

• Major event coordination including including the US Senior Open, The Solheim Cup, Seniors Golf Tour, Presidential visits, Ironman and numerous marathons.

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