Deputy director brings new vision

MAT-SU -- Dennis Brodigan hopes to draw on his wealth of history in emergency services to help find solutions to the issues facing the growing community he serves.

Brodigan was recently hired into a new position created during the Mat-Su Borough's 2002 budget cycle. The position, deputy director of the borough's emergency services department, gives him oversight of the borough's emergency services departments and the Animal Care and Regulation division.

Brodigan's nearly 30 years in the emergency medical field make him well-qualified for the job -- and his strong background on that side of the borough's emergency services department pairs well with that of acting director, Jack Krill.

"What's nice is that Jack, as interim director, has a very strong background in fire services -- I do not," Brodigan said.

If asked for a synopsis of his career, Brodigan's bent toward emergency medical services is clear. He started in 1974 as one of the first paramedics in Arizona, where he worked with a private company. In the old days, he explained, the field of emergency services was mostly relegated to the private sector, and even then it was not far removed from the days of doctor house calls and hearses called to the scene of accidents.

"City governments, for the most part in the U.S., really didn't see a role in emergency services," Brodigan said.

Rural Metro Corp., the company he worked for and eventually managed in Tucson, was still primarily focusing on fire services -- fewer than 10 percent of its activities were directed at emergency medical services.

"That small company was then and still is the largest private fire department in the U.S.," Brodigan said.

Brodigan eventually moved from Rural Metro to become the state training coordinator for the Idaho EMS bureau, he said, a position he held for more than three years. At the age of 27, he decided to start his own ambulance service in Twin Falls, Idaho, in the early '80s. It was a good idea, he said, halted by terrible timing.

"It was right at the start of the recession in 1981," Brodigan said.

After trying unsuccessfully to get the service off the ground, Brodigan returned to Rural Metro, where he helped the company focus on EMS services. In 1984, Brodigan said, Rural Metro had a budget of $25 million per year, about 10 percent of which went to EMS services.

"When I left in 1998, they had a $450 million company, with 98 percent in EMS and 2 percent in fire services," Brodigan said.

Much of that growth, he said, came through purchases of smaller, mom-and-pop style EMS companies -- a process Brodigan largely headed, as head of the acquisition team. He and a group of Rural Metro employees, he said, would go to the smaller company and go over a 27-point checklist analyzing the facility, including human resources, fleet and equipment.

Brodigan said he's applying much of that checklist to the borough's EMS setup to see what its strengths and weaknesses are. Although he hasn't done a down-the-list check on every EMS department in the Valley yet, he said he's seen some ups and downs.

"I'm incredibly impressed with the equipment here," Brodigan said. "For the rural setting the Mat-Su Borough is in for the most part, both fire and EMS equipment is superb."

The response time is good, he said -- it could improve, but that will require more investment. The competence of borough EMS responders, Brodigan said, is also remarkable.

"For a rural setting, and for a lack of call volume, the skill sets are very good here," Brodigan said. "There's a real dedication to training."

Although one side effect of good training is that some of the well-trained, top-of-the-class emergency medical technicians are lost to better-paying, full-time jobs in Anchorage, Brodigan said he's dealt with that dilemma before. At Rural Metro, he said, company managers came up with management techniques to reward those who stay and limit costs for the percentage who would leave for other companies. Similar concepts can be introduced here, he said, and he is moving forward with volunteer coordinator Kathleen Krug to develop a strategic plan for higher retention.

One of the weak spots, Brodigan said, is the current lack of computer-aided dispatch. The obvious solution to that problem, he said, is a consolidated dispatch center.

"Palmer Dispatch is doing a good job, but what they don't have is computer-aided dispatch," Brodigan said. "They paint a picture for you."

A range of information that currently can't be tracked through the existing dispatch network can be followed through computer-aided dispatch, Brodigan said, but he acknowledged that getting to the end goal of a consolidated facility may take time.

"My hope of hopes is that it turns out to be one consolidated dispatch center -- that would be the best for the borough," Brodigan said. "With the anticipated growth of the borough, it's going to serve us longer and better."

Ultimately, Brodigan said, his goal as deputy director is to provide quality, effective patient care and work to realize the visions and goals set out by borough administration. He recognized that the foundation laid by administration, Krill and himself in the coming years will guide development as the area continues to grow and place a greater demand on such services.

"Theoretically, [the importance of services for] fire will continue to reduce while EMS … will do nothing but pick up," Brodigan said. "We've got to prepare for that today."