The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) Announces New Commissioner and Board Appointments - January 04

At their December 15, 2003, meeting, the CAAS Board of Directors elected Dr. Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH, to its Panel of Commissioners as Health Care Representative. Dr. Rinnert replaces Dr. Robert Domeier, MD, FACEP, who held this prestigious position from January 1, 2001, until December 31, 2003.

January 27, 2004 - At their December 15, 2003, meeting, the CAAS Board of Directors elected Dr. Kathy J. Rinnert, MD, MPH, to its Panel of Commissioners as Health Care Representative. Dr. Rinnert replaces Dr. Robert Domeier, MD, FACEP, who held this prestigious position from January 1, 2001, until December 31, 2003.

Dr. Rinnert has been involved in EMS for many years, beginning as a nationally registered paramedic in the mid-1980s. She earned her Doctor of Medicine at The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, where she received the Award of Excellence in Emergency Medicine Research and the David Saylor Memorial Award (1991).

Dr. Rinnert currently serves as the Associate Medical Director for The University of Texas Southwestern/BioTel EMS System which is comprised of fourteen municipal fire departments providing emergency care in urban, suburban, and rural environments. She also serves as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, as Director, EMS Fellowship, and Director, Government Emergency Medical Security Services Fellowship, in the Department of Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, at The University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School. Dr. Rinnert is also Instructor of Emergency Medicine Education, Paramedic Training Program; Associate Medical Director, Training; Emergency Medicine Education; and Associate Medical Director, Quality Improvement; Emergency Medicine Education; at The University of Texas, Southwestern Allied Health Sciences School.

Dr. Rinnert also serves as Medical Team Manager, Texas Urban Search and Rescue Task Force One for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); as a member of the Texas Medical Association Bioterrorism Task Force; and on the Board of Health of the Dallas County Medical Society. She has been a site reviewer for the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services and the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the EMS Professions since 1998. An active member of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of EMS Physicians, as well as numerous other EMS organizations, Dr. Rinnert is widely published in EMS journals and textbooks and is a frequent presenter at professional meetings.

Mark Postma, Executive Director of MEDIC EMS, headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, has been named to the CAAS Board of Directors, replacing Kenneth Cummings, Executive Director of Tri-Hospital EMS, as representative of the American Ambulance Association. An Iowa and Illinois and nationally registered paramedic for over 20 years, Mark is also certified by the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch. Mark’s agency was the first CAAS-accredited agency in Iowa.

Mark is a member of the board of directors of the Trinity School of Emergency Medical Services Association in Moline, past president and vice president of the Southeast Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association, a member and past legislative chair of the Iowa Emergency Medical Services Association, and a member of the State of Iowa Trauma Task Force. He implemented Iowa’s first permanent Car Seat Safety Fit Station at MEDIC’s Eldridge Station. He also developed and implemented Alternative Delivery Model Ambulance Operations in Scott County. The Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau for Reducing Injuries presented Postma with the Commissioner’s Special Award for Traffic Safety for the development and implementation of the universal disabled-vehicle identifier.