Conference 2017 

Biographies of the 2017 EMS Conference speakers.

Pre-Conference

Lynn Riemer is president of ACT on Drugs, Inc., has a regional and National reputation as a speaker, trainer, and advocate of the issues related to substance abuse.  As an experienced chemist and prior member of the North Metro Drug Task Force in Colorado, her experience and engaging style brings a real, personal, and vivid face to the issues presented by illicit drug use.  Lynn speaks regularly with students, community child advocacy groups, industrial and professional groups, and employees of local and State governmental agencies about drug awareness, recognition, and prevention.  Her presentations cover all abused-substances, including legal and illegal drugs, plant material, and synthetic “designer drugs”.  Lynn also targets methamphetamine including information on recognizing in-home clandestine “meth-labs” and discusses the dangers these laboratories present to children living in the homes and the devastating and dangerous effects these “meth labs” have on the home and the community

Main Conference

Brent Williams is the FirstNet Senior EMS Advisor,  having joined the organization in October 2015.  Since January 2002, Brent served as the EMS Radio Communications Consultant to the EMS and Trauma Systems Section of the Michigan Dept of Health and Human Services. In that role, he served as the subject matter expert for the Department on EMS radio communication systems and requirements.  During that same time, he also worked as an independent consultant for many local units of government, providing a diverse range of services related to radio communication system design, FAA and FCC licensing assistance, propagation studies, and tower construction. 

Brent’s “real world” public safety experience includes 11 years as a police patrol officer and over 20 years as a practicing paramedic. He retains his State of Michigan Paramedic License, first earned in 1978.    

He served for 10 years as a member of the DHS SafeCom advisory group and for the past three years has been the APCO “Local Frequency Advisor” for the State of Michigan.   He has been an elected member of the Marshall, MI City Council, for 10 years. 

Divyajot (DJ) Sandhu, MBBS, MD:  Dr Sandhu received his MD from the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Punjab India.  Residency was done at the University of Missouri-Columbia Hospital in Columbia, Missouri followed by his residency in Vascular Neurology and Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis MN.  He joined the Sanford Brain and Spine division in 2016.   DJ’s area of expertise is Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology, neurointerventional procedures, acute stroke intervention, aneurysm evaluations and aneurysm coiling, endovascular management, carotid disease evaluation and management, strokes and neurocritical care.

Deb Von Seggern-Johnson, NREMT-P, EMSI; UNMC EMS/Trauma Coordinator - Omaha, NE; FF/Medic/Physician Surrogate on North Bend Fire - North Bend, NE.  Deb is currently the EMS/Trauma Coordinator for the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE.  She has been active in EMS since 1991 and is involved with organizations and committees dealing with American Heart Association and prehospital education on local, state and national levels.  She resides outside of North Bend, NE with her family and is a member of the North Bend Fire Department.

Christopher David Ebright:  Since 1996, I have been providing medical education to firefighters, EMT’s, nurses, doctors and paramedics.  I have extensive experience in the field setting ranging from primary EMS response to critical care transportation.   I am also vastly experienced teaching all certifications from First Responder through Paramedic as well as BLS, ACLS, ITLS, PHTLS, NRP, PALS, GEMS and AMLS. 

Chief Scott Lail, EMT-P, FP-C:  Scott began his EMS career in 1992. Shortly after his arrival into pre-hospital medicine, he became a Firefighter with the City of Cleburne, Texas. With his love for education, Scott became the EMS educator for his Fire Department, and other local agencies in need. He also joined Tarrant County College in Fort Worth as Adjunct EMS Faculty.  In 1999, Scott became a Flight Paramedic with CareFlite in Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas. Over the past 24 years, Scott has continued to work both Fire and Flight, and is currently the EMS Chief and an EMS Instructor with the Cleburne Fire Department and the senior Flight Paramedic with CareFlite. Scott has lectured at state, national, and international conferences with a reputation as a dynamic speaker. He also recently appeared in an episode of “Miracle Detectives” on the Oprah Winfrey Network.