SAVE THE DATE!
Education By The Sea 2022
May 4-6, 2022
Port Aransas Civic Center
in Port Aransas, Texas

Stephen R. Wirth
Attorney and Consultant

Steve Wirth is a founding partner of Page, Wolfberg & Wirth. In a distinguished fourdecade

public safety career, Steve has worked in virtually every facet of EMS – as first responder, firefighter, EMT, paramedic, flight paramedic, EMS instructor, fire officer, and EMS executive. He was one of central Pennsylvania’s first paramedics. Steve brings a pragmatic and business‐oriented perspective to his diverse legal practice – he served for nearly a decade as senior executive of a mid‐sized air and ground ambulance service, helping to build the company from the ground up.

Steve is a dynamic and sought‐after speaker at regional, state and national conferences on a variety of EMS law and public safety subjects. He has authored many articles and book chapters on a wide range of EMS leadership, reimbursement, risk management, corporate compliance and workplace law topics. A contributing writer for JEMS, (where he serves on the editorial board), EMS1 and EMS World, Steve has co‐authored the highly acclaimed and popular compliance manuals and video training programs produced by PWW. He enjoys teaching and is an adjunct professor for the University of Pittsburgh EMS degree program.

Steve is a past chair of the Panel of Commissioners for CAAS, the national ambulance accrediting body. He serves on the boards of the Pennsylvania EMS Provider Foundation, the National EMS Memorial Service, and is an active participant in the National EMS Memorial Bike Ride – the “Muddy Angels.” A space exploration enthusiast, Steve serves on the board of trustees of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, created by the Mercury astronauts. He is a life member of the Nippenose Valley Fire Co. near Jersey Shore, PA, where he started his public safety career at age 16 as a junior firefighter and later served as Deputy Fire Chief. Steve was an active firefighter/EMS practitioner with Hampden Twp. Fire Rescue until he recently “retired” as Safety Officer. Steve was the recipient of the prestigious James O. Page Leadership Award in 2013.

Steve and his wife Jill enjoy boating, paddle boarding, scuba diving, and spending time with family – including their two grandsons, and their golden retriever, Piper.

Chief Stephen Rahn, NRP
Bulverde Spring Branch Fire & EMS

Stephen J. Rahm, NRP is an educator, author, and lecturer whose career in EMS spans more than 35 years. Chief Rahm currently oversees the Office of Clinical Direction at the Centre for Emergency Health Sciences and manages all clinical efforts within Bulverde Spring Branch Emergency Services.

Stephen is a prolific author, with numerous textbooks, EMS certification exam preparation tools, videos, and articles published to his credit. Additionally, he is named on multiple journal articles and scientific posters. He is the Centre’s Co-Chair and is a respected faculty member in procedural and anatomical programs, multilead ECG interpretation, and more.

Chief Rahm is a frequent speaker at local, regional, state, and national conferences, where he presents on a wide variety of emergency medicine related topics.

Bill Justice NREMT-P, TEMS-I
Deputy Chief
EMSA
Special Operations

Associate Director, University of Oklahoma, Department of Emergency Medicine
Center for Pre-Hospital and Disaster Medicine
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Special Operations Division
US Marshals Task Force
Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department Tactical Team

Bill is a frequent educator at regional, national and international conferences. His user-friendly approach to emergency management topics provides a relaxed and interactive atmosphere for all participants. His background started in 1976 in EMS and remains currently active with Fire-Rescue, EMS and Law enforcement.

He is currently a Regional PHTLS/TCCC Coordinator, AHA Regional Faculty and active on multiple committees related to Disaster Medicine.  Bill continues to assist local, state and federal law enforcement, fire service, hospitals and military agencies with education and response operations.

Brent Smith EMT-P
Interim CEO / EMS Director
Hopkins County Hospital District / Hopkins County EMS

President of the Texas EMS Alliance, chairman of the board of directors of the Northeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, and task force leader for the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force

 

Chief Scott Lail
Cleburne Fire Department

Scott began his EMS career in 1992. Shortly after his arrival into pre-hospital medicine, he became a Firefighter with the City of Cleburne, Texas. With his love for education, Scott became the EMS educator for his Fire Department and other local agencies in need. He also joined Tarrant County College in Fort Worth as Adjunct EMS Faculty.  In 1999, Scott became a Flight Paramedic with CareFlite in Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas.

For over 30 years, Scott continued to work both Fire and EMS as well as Flight. He promoted through each rank, including EMS Chief and is currently the Cleburne Fire Department Fire Chief, a certified Master Firefighter, and still serves as an EMS Instructor with the Fire Department.  He recently “hung up his wings” after 19 years of service as a Flight Paramedic with CareFlite.  Scott still holds his Certified Flight Paramedic (FP-C) certification, and still maintains his flight status just in case! Scott has lectured at state, national, and international conferences with a reputation as a dynamic speaker. He also appeared in an episode of “Miracle Detectives” on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Justin R. Northeim D.O.
Emergency Medicine, BEST EMS Medical Control Director

NCTTRAC EMS Committee Co-Chairman, Integrative Emergency Services
Baylor Scott & White Health System

Dr. Northeim’s medical career began in the field of EMS at age fifteen dispatching and eventually working on a paramedic 911 ambulance for Life Care Ambulance Service in Cleveland, OH.  He completed an externship with Metro Life Flight, Cleveland, OH. He attended Bucknell University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology/Spanish.  He graduated from TUCOM—California with his Osteopathic Medical Degree and subsequently completed his Traditional Year Internship at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Emergency Medicine Residency at Michigan State University.  He received his Board Certification in Emergency Medicine.  After residency, he worked for HealthEast Care System in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and then moved to the DFW area where he worked for Questcare Partners.  He became a executive partner at Questcare and served on their board.  While at Questcare, he served as the Medical Director for several EMS agencies in Denton County.  He joined Integrative Emergency Services seven years ago who provides emergency physician staffing for all of the Baylor Scott and White, John Peter Smith and CHI St Luke facilities and is the BEST EMS Medical Control Director.  BEST EMS now serves as the Medical Control entity for twenty-four agencies in Texas. Dr. Northeim also serves as the NCTTRAC Medical Director Chairman, NCTTRAC EMS Committee Co-Chairman and is the Medical Director of North Central Texas College’s EMT/Paramedic program.

Rachel Williams
Vice President of Client Services, EMERGICON

Rachel is the Vice President of Client Services at EMERGICON. Rachel originally supported EMERGICON in a Client Development role and has recently returned to help guide Client Services. Rachel is a graduate of the University of North Texas, with more than 15 years of experience in communications, consulting and client experience. She is a member on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Healthcare Innovation, serving as the Marketing Chair. Rachel has spoken at events, both in person and virtual, around the country to topics ranging from intergenerational teams, leadership communications, building business cases and storytelling.

Chief Officer Christopher Way
Kootenai County EMS, Idaho

Christopher Way has been an emergency service professional for 30 years. Chief Way transitioned to Kootenai County Fire and Rescue as the Fire Chief in May of 2020 after serving as the Chief Officer for the Kootenai Count EMS System for the previous seven years.

Chief Way came to Idaho from Kansas where he served in Fire and EMS roles in urban, sub-urban and rural settings. He was an EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate and now has been a licensed paramedic since 1994 as well as a certified Firefighter. Throughout his career he has held different ranks culminating most recently in his promotion to Fire Chief.  He also has significant experience in disaster management at the local, state and national level.

In addition to his full-time role as Fire Chief he is involved at the local, regional, state and national level in advocacy and leadership for emergency services.  He is a regular speaker at national conferences and in his spare time Chief Way and two partners own an Emergency Medicine education and consulting company.

Passionate about emergency medical care, Governor Brad Little selected Chief Way to be the Chairman of the Idaho Time Sensitive Emergency Council in May of 2019. He has a bachelor’s degree in Management and Human Relations and maintains all of his Fire and EMS licenses/certifications.  He regularly donates time to his community, serves local non-profit organizations and is involved in his children’s many activities.

Chris and his wife Jennifer live in Hayden, Idaho with their two daughters and four Labradors.