Association News

At the annual FAEMSE membership meeting last week, the 2021 and 2022 EMS Educator of the Year award recipients were announced. They were:

Cindy Bell, Valencia College
2021 EMS Education Program Director of the Year

Mike Lynch, Hillsborough Community College
2021 EMT Instructor of the Year

Ed Hall, Valencia College
2021 Preceptor of the Year

Scott Kennedy, Suncoast Technical College
2022 EMS Education Program Director of the Year

Yvon Paiement, Treasure Coast Medical Institute
2022 Paramedic Instructor of the Year

Mark Tuttle, Suncoast Technical College
2022 EMT Instructor of the Year

Greg Kaplan, Braxton College
2022 Continuing Educator of the Year

Congratulations to all of the award recipients. We encourage all FAEMSE members to watch for the award nominations top open in early 2023 to recognize all of the great educators we have working in this state.

Since our meetings this past week, there have been some changes to the membership of the FAEMSE Board of Directors.

Following our meetings, we received notice from Scott Kennedy, who had moved up to President, that he would be leaving EMS education and his position at Suncoast Technical College to return to clinical practice. In his new position, he was not going to be able to dedicate the time needed to serve effectively, so he tendered his resignation from both the Board and the Association as a whole. Scott has been a very vocal member when it comes to doing EMS education well and moving FAEMSE forward. We thank Scott for his past service and wish him the best as he returns to clinical practice.

Scott’s resignation created a vacancy on the board. Per the bylaws, it is the responsibility of the seated board to appoint someone to fill the remaining term of a vacant position. The board met today and filled that vacancy as follows:

• President-elect Mark Tuttle (Suncoast Technical College) automatically moved into the President position thru 2024.
• Secretary Melissa McNally (Central Florida Emergency Education Consultants) was appointed to fill the President-elect vacancy, a six year commitment thru 2028.
• At-large board member Elizabeth Todak (Seminole State College) was appointed to fill the Secretary vacancy thru 2024.
• Kozette (Kozy) Hubbard (Bartow High School Medical & Fire Academy) was appointed to fill the at-large vacancy for the remainder of Todak’s term thru 2023.

In recent years, the Board has sought to broaden its representation of our various educator communities. We have public and private schools represented as well as different geographic regions of the state. With the addition of Kozy to the board, we further broaden that reach with representation of our high school medical educators.

We welcome Kozy to the board, and we thank all of our board members for their ongoing commitment to help resource the EMS educators in the state with the goal of fostering excellence in EMS education.

Click here for the full list of board members and their contact information.

We have updated the FAEMSE corporate address to: 306 Lake Charles Drive, Davenport, FL 33837. This is also the address to which all membership payments should be mailed moving forward. Please update your records accordingly.

As discussed in prior emails and at our last meeting, we have been working on a project to get our membership rolls up-to-date with the goal being getting the FAEMSE membership and the membership on the listserv in sync with only current, paid members of the Association.

Invoices were mailed via USPS to all lapsed members in early January with a deadline of payment by February 3. Those members in all classifications (individual, institutional, and corporate) that were not current at that point would be removed from the membership rolls. They are welcome to re-apply to reinstate their memberships as we don’t want to exclude them, but at this point, they have been removed, and the Google group has been updated. All current, paid members and those in "renewing" status should have received an email re-adding them to the Google group. This method was necessary due to limited member management functionaltiy within Google Groups.

Anyone that believes they were removed in error, needs their subscribed email changed, or has any other questions should contact Executive Director Dinsch at james.dinsch@faemse.org.

Thank you all for your continued commitment to education excellence in Florida.

Past-due renewal invoices are being mailed out. Be watching your mail as one may be coming your way. Non-current memberships will be removed at the end of January from both the FAEMSE website/membership system and the Google Listserv. Removed members can always reapply for membership if removed.

Now is the time to renew, too, as the dues increases approved by the board will be going into effect February 3, 2022: Individual $50, Institutional $250 (includes 5 individuals), and Corporate $200.

Effective immediately, the mailing address for the FAEMSE office will be:

2609 N. Forest Ridge Boulevard #151
Hernando, FL 34442

The general phone number remains (561) 320-1774.

We will maintain access to the old address for a period of time. If you have any questions, or if you recently mailed anything to the old address in Port St. Lucie, please just let Executive Director Dinsch know by email (james.dinsch@faemse.org) so he can be looking for it.

Nominations are now open thru April 5 for three at-large director positions on the board. They will serve 2-year terms starting at the annual meeting (roughly July) this year. Members may nominate themselves or another member to serve on the board. Non-members can be nominated but would have to join the association before being accepted to the ballot. Click here to access the nomination form.

Click here to download a PDF of the August newsletter.

Click here to download a PDF of the April newsletter.