RAA’s Danny Garrison Wins the 2012 Virginia Governor’s EMS Award for Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medical Services Telecommunication
November 13, 2012 – Danny Garrison, Richmond Ambulance Authority’s Director of Communications, has won the 2012 Governor’s EMS Award for Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medical Services Telecommunication. The Governor’s EMS Awards were presented Saturday night during the 33rd Annual Virginia EMS Symposium at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott. The winners of the various EMS award categories were presented with a certificate signed by Governor Bob McDonnell and an awards trophy.
“Danny has not only done an outstanding job in his role as director of our Communications Center, he has also contributed to the improvement of emergency communications on a state, national and international level,” said Chip Decker, CEO of the Richmond Ambulance Authority. “We are pleased Danny was recognized by the Governor for his efforts and also very proud of the entire RAA team for the excellent job they all do on a daily basis.”
Garrison leads a 16 person team at the Richmond Ambulance Authority that provides command, control and communication for RAA’s operations. RAA receives approximately 60,000 calls for service each year and responds to 52,000 of these calls in addition to handling the 100,000 or more additional telephone and radio calls necessary to operate this busy EMS system. Despite the heavy call volume, RAA’s response times are among the fastest in the nation, and RAA remains one of the few EMS agencies in the United States accredited by both the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) and the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED).
In 2011, Garrison was appointed by Governor McDonnell to the State E911 Board and embarked on a communications project with the University of Oslo, Norway to compare and contrast the US-based Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) against the European Criteria Based Dispatch (CBD) System. And in 2012, Garrison was invited to become a member of the NAED International Research Committee, alongside members from such countries as the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria and Brazil. He has also worked to help improve the performance of the Richmond Police Department’s Division of Emergency Communications.
“We know that life saving in Richmond begins when we receive the call, and the RAA communications team can begin to initiate the world-class EMS and Dispatch Life Support we are renowned for,” said Garrison. “This award is an acknowledgement of the hard work of the team at RAA that manages the system as well as being a huge personal honor to be singled out as a leader in EMS communications by the Governor and EMS community across the commonwealth.”
Garrison also won the 2012 Old Dominion EMS Alliance (ODEMSA) Regional Award for Outstanding EMS Telecommunications Dispatcher in July.
