Okaloosa County Emergency Medical Services is a Division within the Department of Public Safety under the authority and supervision of the Board of County Commissioners. Until 1992, the functions of Emergency Management (which includes 911) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were separate. These two departments were consolidated in 1992 to form the Department of Emergency Services, later renamed the Department of Public Safety in 2001.

Our employees mainly consist of Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians, but we employ several other skill sets as part of our team. Aside from our EMT’s and Paramedics, our staff is comprised of Paramedics, Captains, Lieutenants, Administrative Staff, Division Management/Leadership and Co-Medical Directors. Many of these team members are assigned to specialized assignments such as Field Training Officer, Tactical Response Team, Critical Care Transport and Community Paramedicine, among others.

Emergency Medical Technicians
Emergency Medical Technicians work alongside the Paramedics to assist with care and provide for and transport patients who require basic life support functions. As all of our ambulances are dual stickered for ALS and BLS staffing/response our EMT’s play a critical role in the assessment and treatment of patients at the Basic Life Support Level. The EMT’s also operate under expanded protocols to include the delivery of simple medications to patients.

Paramedics
Paramedics are state-licensed and trained to provide advanced life support. All of our ambulances are staffed and equipped to provide advanced life support (see our FAQ for an explanation of Basic and Advanced Life Support).

Captains
The Captains oversee the Logistics, Operations, and Training/Compliance Sections of the Division. The Captains are also Paramedics and often provide additional medical assistance on-scene during critical incidents. Additionally, they are responsible for scheduling employees, payroll administration, ensuring compliance with rules and protocols, and ensuring the continuing education required for certification is completed and of the highest quality. They are responsible for the day-to-day quality assurance of the organization including strict parameters identified within the organization as well as the new state-mandated data reporting requirements. They also provide the department’s middle management representative on-scene in significant or critical incidents.

Lieutenants
Lieutenants are responsible for ensuring the continuity of day-to-day operations and the readiness of the system as first-line supervisors. These individuals are assigned either to the North Branch or South Branch of the County and have direct responsibility for those areas as well as combining and covering for one another as call volume and circumstances command. Critically, the Lieutenants are also responsible for the timely delivery of life-saving blood products to scenes that require them and to handle the minute-to-minute status of the system. Lieutenants assist the Captains with the day-to-day quality assurance of the organization in compliance of the strict quality parameters and state-mandated data reporting requirements.

Administrative Staff
Administrative staff includes an administrative assistant whose duties include coordination of accounts payable, payroll, and maintenance of accounts receivable; this individual also monitors all Department and Division Contracts. The billing clerk works closely with the contracted billing software company to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of all claims generated by calls for service. The individual works closely with the EMS Chief, EMS Training and Compliance Captain, and the EMS Logistics and Finance Captain to ensure accounts are properly documented and submitted for reimbursement. The logistics supervisor works closely with the supply clerk EMS Logistics and Finance Captain to ensure that accountability and cost control measures are maintained.

Division Leadership
The Public Safety Director and the EMS Division Chief comprise the division’s leadership. The Director provides overall management of the entire Public Safety Department, while the EMS Division Chief has specific functional responsibilities for managing the day-to-day response, planning, and administrative operations of the EMS Division.

Co-Medical Directors
Co-Medical Directors are physicians who exercise supervision and quality assurance over our medical practices and protocols as required by Florida Statute. The Medical Directors are contracted to provide these services and are not County employees.

Mental Health Resilience Director

Okaloosa EMS contracts with a licensed psychologist to provide resiliency training and mental health support to our staff. This mental health professional provides monthly education to all staff with the goal being to increase their. mental health resiliency to provide mechanisms to experience a long, healthy career and good work-life balance.