 Karen Ketchie, RN, EMT-P, President and START 2 Finish Project Director
Mrs. Ketchie is the author of the START 2 Finish Disaster Response model. She has extensive clinical and disaster management experience, which are critical requirements to successfully lead this project. Karen's 15-year clinical background as a Registered Nurse is exclusively in Emergency and Trauma Nursing with the past twelve years in a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center. She has served in the role of Disaster Preparedness Manager for SHANDS Healthcare System at the Jacksonville campus. Her areas of concentration include hospital preparedness issues, surge capacity and catastrophic care triage. She also served as the Chairwoman for the Environment of Care during reviews and audits of accreditation and regulatory agencies such as JCAHO and AHCA as well as the accreditation for Stroke Center and Trauma recertifications.
External to her hospital experience, Karen is the Team Commander of Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) FL-4, a FEMA medical unit. She serves on the state level work groups for Triage, Hospital Response Plan and the Catastrophic Response Plans, and is a primary contributor to the Homeland Security Advisory System Recommended Hospital Actions for the 5 Threat Levels for the state of Florida. She serves on many regional and local committees and task forces related to hospital response and inter-agency coordination. Mrs. Ketchie has spoken to several audiences about hospital issues including the International Disaster Conference. Mrs. Ketchie has completed several training courses related to catastrophic care and terrorism response patient management as well as the National Incident Management System (NIMS) course.
Tim Ketchie EMT, CMTE, Vice President and Senior Consultant
Areas of expertise include aeromedical and disaster response operations and communications. Mr. Ketchie is a Certified Medical Transport Executive and provides sales and consultation services for two-way radio systems.
Tim is currently a member of the FL-4 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, where he serves as the Lead Communications Officer. In 2004, he was deployed with the Disaster Medical Assistance Team FL-4 to Hurricane Charlie and Hurricane Ivan for field hospital operations. He has also been trained by FEMA as a resource tracker/coordinator on the National Disaster Medical Systems Logistics Support Team and was deployed for the G-8 Summit, Republican National Convention, and Presidential Inauguration.
Elizabeth A. Breuilly RN, EMT, Consultant and Trainer
Ms. Breuilly has clinical experience working in the pre hospital setting as well as a Registered Nurse in the country's top Level One trauma and burn centers. In addition to her clinical duties, she was responsible for supervision of staff, JCAHO and ACHA compliance, enforcing hospital triage protocols, participation in hospital disaster drills, and the day to day operations of the emergency department. She holds provider certifications in Advanced Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Basic Disaster Life Support, Neonatal Advanced Life Support Provider and Trauma Nurse Core Course. She has completed National Incident Management System (NIMS) training.
Aside from her hospital-based experience, Ms. Breuilly has been an active team member of the Disaster Medical Assistance Team FL-4 under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since 2000.
C.J. Smith, BS, Training Coordinator
Mr. Smith received his Master Training Specialist certification during his twenty-three year service in the United States Navy. His training prepared him for many projects that revolve around the coordination, development and implementation of training and professional education. Mr. Smith's career has involved managing continuing education for 130 instructors, chairing academic review boards and being held accountable for the team delivery of technical training of over 50 training courses.
Lou Romig MD, Professional Advisory Board member
Dr. Lou Romig serves as the pediatric and emergency medicine physician consultant through her company, Team Life Support for the START 2 Finish project. She is the author of JumpSTART, an international pediatric triage system. Please visit her website at: http://www.jumpstarttriage.com/ .
Chief Julie Downey, Professional Advisory Board member
Chief Downey is an Assistant Chief, Davie Fire Rescue, Davie, Florida. She is the author of the Uniform Pre-hospital Mass Casualty Incident Procedure used throughout the state’s of Florida and Georgia. She is the developer of the recently adopted Florida All Risk Triage Tag and its training programs which has been distributed to all EMS providers in the state of Florida. She is and adult education professional and a business consultant.
1 http://speakersbureau.femf.org/aboutspeakersbureau.asp
2 Healing team arrives on heels of hurricane; Medical crew's quick deployment across Florida highlights federal disaster agency's new mission; [FINAL Edition]. Debbie Howlett. USA TODAY. McLean, Va.: Sep 20, 2004. pg. A.04
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