About Our Speakers Julie Bacon, RNC-LRN, BA, CPEN, CPN, C-NPT After obtaining a degree in Criminal Justice and spending ten years in law enforcement, Julie returned to college and obtained her nursing degree. She had the good fortune to join a pediatric critical care transport team. After a few years in nursing, she became the coordinator and found the profession she loved! Julie has been a neonatal/pediatric critical care transport nurse for 23 years, and has spent countless hours on the ground and in the air managing patients from ten ounces to two hundred pounds. She currently is the Chief Flight Nurse at All Children s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, a combined neonatal/pediatric team with ground and air capabilities and transporting over 1500 patients a year throughout the state, country, and internationally. Julie has earned certifications and instructor status in multiple programs, and has had the opportunity to meet her passion of teaching by speaking at seminars and conferences across the country. She has served as the Florida EMS for Children Advisory Committee Chair for over six years, giving her the opportunity to influence pediatric pre-hospital care on a number of state committees, including motorcycle, pedestrian and bicycle safety; disaster preparedness; and EMS strategic visions. A Floridian since the age of 10, Julie lives outside of Orlando with her husband, Ben, and near to her four children, their spouses, and two grandchildren (BEST THING EVER!!). She is a lay pastor for her church, and enjoys working with youth of all ages. Julie s Kansas friends delight in stories of hurricanes, alligators, and sinkholes.
T. Elaine Blackwell, RN, MSN Ms. Blackwell is the Director of Education at McBride Orthopedic Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She has 16 years of experience in critical care nursing and education. Ms. Blackwell has developed and implemented an ongoing orientation and training program that focuses on evidence-based practice for nursing care. Her expertise is in post operative critical care and emergency management. She is responsible for maintaining current knowledge of state and federal regulations to instruct and guide clinical practice as it pertains to nursing development and positive patient outcomes. She has been certified as a BLS and ACLS instructor with the American Heart Association for 14 years. Ms. Blackwell sits on several boards related to nursing academia, clinical practice, and emergency management. In her spare time, she loves to travel with medical mission trips, and volunteers with several local community and statewide organizations. Jason Dush, FF, NR/CCEMT-P, FP-C Jason serves as a full-time firefighter/paramedic for the Arlington Fire Department and part-time critical care flight paramedic with CareFlite. Jason s resume includes 17 years of paid EMS/Fire and 10 years as a critical care flight paramedic. Other experiences include three years as the EMS Clinical Coordinator for the Arlington Fire Department and seven years on a ground ambulance with Austin-Travis County EMS. Jason has been an active commissioned police officer and tactical paramedic since 1997, currently commissioned with the Bedford Police Department. Jason is passionate about EMS education and is a known speaker locally and nationally over the last 10 years, bringing a sense of humor, laughter, and practical experience to his audience.
A.J. Heightman, MPA, EMT-P A.J. Heightman is the Editor-in-Chief for JEMS and is the Business Development Coordinator for PennWell Public Safety Publications. He is also affiliated with other PennWell products including: Fire-Rescue Magazine, Fire Engineering Magazine, Law Officer Magazine, APCO s Public Safety Communications Magazine, the EMS Insider newsletter and all PennWell Public Safety websites and conferences including the EMS TODAY Conference and Exposition and the FDIC (Fire Department Instructor s Conference). Prior to joining the staff of JEMS in 1995, he served as Director of Operations for Cetroinia Ambulance in Allentown, PA, from 1992-1995. For 17 years he was the Executive Director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Services region and the regional MEDCOM Advanced Medical Communications System. He also served as a paramedic and command officer for Bethlehem Township Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years where he developed and supervised the Medic 1 Paramedic Response System, which provided ALS service to 11 urban, suburban and rural municipalities. Melissa Hodges, BA, MBA Melissa Hodges is the Director of Marketing for the Salina Women s Clinic in Salina, KS. She is heavily involved in volunteer work in her community. She is a board member for the Salina Montessori School, and is past board member for the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts and club manager for the KANZA Fencing Club. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in History of Art from the University of Kansas and her Master s in Business Administration from Kansas Wesleyan University.
Merle J. Boo Hodges, MD, FACOG Merle J. Hodges, MD is a board certified obstetrician/gynecologist and has been in private practice for over 20 years in his hometown of Salina, KS. He also serves as a volunteer clinical instructor for the University of Kansas Medical School s Salina campus and the Smokey Hill Family Practice Residency. He is also a volunteer health care provider for indigent and low income clients of Ashley House and their satellite program, Bridge House, for pregnant women. Theodore H. Ted Hodges, BA Ted earned his Bachelor of Arts in English degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2011. He was a member of their NCAA Championship Fencing Team. He currently is working on his Master s of Business Administration from Kansas Wesleyan University and works as Director of Facilities Development at Salina Indoor Athletics. He also does volunteer work, establishing Team Ted, an organization that promotes organ donor registration and blood donation. David Kingfisher, MD, JD, FACEP, FCLM David Kingfisher, MD, graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1982. He has over 30 years of emergency care experience. He currently is an emergency room physician at Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka, KS. He is the Medical Director for Life Star of Kansas and has been associated with Life Star in that role since 1988. He also serves as the Medical Director for AMR in Shawnee County. Dr. Kingfisher also serves on the executive committee on the Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services. He is board certified in Emergency and Family Medicine.
William J. Mach, RN, BSN, MS, PhD Bill Mach, RN, PhD, has been practicing nursing in Topeka, KS, since 1984 when he finished at Washburn University School of Nursing with his BSN. While practicing in varied specialties--psychiatric, hospice, rehab, emergency, cath lab, critical care, and post anesthesia care--he completed his MS in Nursing in 1991 and his PhD in Nursing in 2010. Dr. Mach is currently enjoying teaching nursing students at Washburn University and practicing nursing at Stormont-Vail HealthCare s surgical services post anesthesia care unit. His favorite down-time activities are rest and relaxation with family and friends. Tony Nunn, RN, BSN, MAOM, CNRN Tony Nunn is an international speaker, teacher, budding researcher, seasoned nurse of over 20 years, and passionate team builder. He has been privileged to serve in critical and emergency care for over 17 years. Tony believes teams who understand role equality and partnership accountability deliver improved patient outcomes. Tony says he is fortunate to have been selected to present at the American Heart/American Stroke Association s International Stroke Conference three of the last five years. In 2012, Tony addressed many air and ground EMS providers in Kansas regarding stroke and stroke care. He believes the real reason he has been so fortunate to speak at such notable events is because of the terrific mentors and teammates he serves with. His easy-going style provides high value content in an easily transferable format.
Edward M. Racht, MD Edward M. Racht, MD, serves as the Chief Medical Officer of American Medical Response. He has more than 20 years of experience in emergency medical services and health care systems. Previously, Dr. Racht served as the Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs for Piedmont Newman Hospital in metro Atlanta and as Medical Director for the Austin/Travis County EMS System in Texas, which was nationally recognized for its collaborative approach to resolving challenging health care integrations issues. A frequent national speaker at EMS and health care conferences, Dr. Racht is well known for his expertise in operationalizing medical care. Dave Seastrom, RN, BSN David Seastrom is the Injury Prevention, Outreach & Education Coordinator for Trauma & Burn Services at Children s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Children s Mercy is the only Pediatric Level One Trauma Center between St. Louis and Denver. David attended Kansas State University, followed by Baker University School of Nursing. David was an Emergency Medical Technician Intermediate for seven years and a Registered Nurse for the past 11 years with experience in pre-hospital, emergency and flight medicine. He also has experience in trauma program management in both adult and pediatrics and Level l and Level ll trauma centers. In addition, David promotes educational development and training with special interest in stabilization and transport, trauma center development, and permissive hypotension.
Janet Taylor, RN, BSN, CEN, CCEMT-P Janet is a full-time flight nurse for Mercy Life Line out of Springfield, MO. In addition to EMS, she has worked in ICU, ER and OB in order to be familiar with the different types of calls that she and her partner may encounter in EMS. Janet has obtained her Bachelor s Degree in Nursing and enjoys teaching part-time at various National EMS Conferences throughout the year. She is always looking for new challenges and unique topic ideas for future presentations. Her website is www.emsteacher.com where you can see where she will be headed next as well as the most current list of topics offered. You can email her at flygirltaylor@yahoo.com Casey Zeigler, RN, CEN Casey is a full-time pediatric flight nurse for AirLife in Denver, Colorado. He also serves as Safety Officer for AirLife. In addition to his AirLife duties, Casey is a captain in the Army Reserves, 440 th Civil Affairs.