By Jamie Thompson
EMS1 senior editor
BALTIMORE — FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino pledged to engage with the EMS community during a speech at EMS Today on Thursday.
Serino was appointed to the post in October having served as head of Boston Emergency Medical Services. With FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate himself a former paramedic, the agency now has a strong EMS representation at the highest level.
“We are both thrilled about that,” Serino told the audience at the event in Baltimore.
“I really look forward to engaging with the EMS community on the national level on many issues as we move forward.”
Serino said in the few months he has been in the job, he has come to realize that the agency is not the team, it’s merely part of the overall team of various agencies and departments at both state and local level.
“The most important part of the team is the public,” he said. “I think it’s something we all forget; we forget to include the public in our planning.
“One thing that I know and I know people in this room know is that we succeed or fail as a team.”
During his time in Boston, Serino helped bolster the city’s response plans for chemical, biological, and radiological attacks and other emergency incidents. He brings 35 years of state and local emergency management and emergency medical services experience to the FEMA position,
“Over the years, one thing I have found is all disasters are local, all EMS is local,” he said. “My job now at FEMA is to help and support the local communities.”
He told the conference that the agency is committed to pushing more responsibilities, resources and authority to the regions and localities.
“That’s where the work gets done,” Serino said.
He closed the speech by thanking attendees for the jobs they do, saying EMS personnel try to make a difference in people’s lives each and every day.
“You help save people’s lives, you help comfort them in their worst times,” Serino said.
“You really make a difference. One thing we don’t do enough is simply say, ‘Thank you.’”