Rescue Inc. has announced the appointment of Drew Hazelton as chief of operations, along with other key leadership changes.
Hazelton had been serving as interim chief of operations since June 2013. The board of directors, in announcing Hazelton’s confirmation as chief, said that he has the right mix of vision, business savvy, people skills and political acumen to lead Rescue through today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment.
Joining the team is Michael Hudson as assistant chief of operations and Dr. James Suozzi as EMS Medical Director. Suozzi will lead Rescue’s Clinical Care practice to assure the organization maintains the highest quality of care.
Hazelton says: “People are the lifeblood of our agency and we strive to have the most qualified, experienced team to provide the highest quality, risk appropriate, rapid response emergency medical care and transportation services in the region. With the new team additions we continue to strengthen our ability to serve the community.”
Public education and outreach coupled with the involvement of its 15 member communities and their Selectboards is critical to Rescue’s strategic planning. In February Rescue announced a new educational campaign to bring CPR training to every citizen and all area schools and businesses with the goal to become an American Heart Association HeartSafe Community. The project will include strategic placement of public access AED’s throughout Windham County. Rescue is also working closely with Windham Regional Commission to further develop its local Medical Reserve Corps. These are just a few of the new developments at Rescue, Inc. under Hazelton’s leadership.
Michael Hudson is a former Navy Hospital Corpsman (combat medic). He has a strong history involving over 20 years as a beach and ocean lifeguard in Southern California. His first job as a paramedic was on the fourth busiest 24-hour paramedic unit in the country—Medic 317 City of San Diego Paramedics. He started teaching EMT and Paramedic school in 1994 and was lead instructor for EMT and Paramedic training for the US Navy Seal Teams and the Marine force RECON training cells. Before coming to the east coast he worked as a Paramedic for Denver General/Denver Health Paramedic Division and recently spent three years in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains as a Paramedic and rescue team supervisor as well as a helicopter flight paramedic. Before joining Rescue he was employed with the Discovery Channel, BBC, MTV, VH1 and National Geographic as remote duty dive Rescue/Paramedic and Medevac specialist.
Dr. Suozzi has been involved with EMS for over 20 years and worked as a paramedic in New York, Colorado and Connecticut prior to becoming a Physician. He is the Associate Medical Director and EMS/Trauma Medical Director at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock, Keene, NH. He is also Attending Physician at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. He is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services.
Rescue Inc. is an active participant on the State EMS Advisory Board and has provided input on protocols, credentialing, curricula, and plan development with the goal of further strengthening EMS in Vermont.
Rescue Inc. provides high quality emergency medical response to 15 towns in Southeast Vermont and Southwest New Hampshire. Rescue is one of the oldest paramedic services in the state of Vermont, is well respected by the medical community and ranked among the best in the state.