Brian Gonsalves

Brian is a paramedic for Atlantic Ambulance Service, a division of Cataldo Ambulance Service, based in Peabody, Massachusetts. Brian has organized a city-wide response time improvement effort for school campuses. He is a bright, energetic young professional who takes his commitment to work, workplace, family and community very seriously. Brian ceaselessly communicates with co-workers on ways to improve the performance of the EMS team every time they respond. After experiencing first-hand the delays in access to patients at some school campuses, Brian set about to improve the EMS System’s performance for this special population. In some cases, the difference in “arrival at scene” and “arrival at patient side” times on these sprawling campuses could be as much as five to six minutes. As he began, what he found was a wide variety of procedures among the schools in the city where he works and resides with his wife and two children. He quickly assembled schematics of the schools from public safety databases which included door numbering and descriptions of functional areas of the schools and their associated facilities. He added satellite mapping images to assist responders in navigating their approach to the campuses based on their ultimate destination. This guide will be placed in each of the ambulances serving the City. Brian contacted school department officials, ultimately arranging with the Superintendent to make an “EMS System response 101″ presentation to a citywide meeting of Principals. To that group, he described the potential for improved response and proposed options for training by facility and drill scenarios. That group now has a greater understanding of how their direct action, both in preparation and in individual incidents, can impact the lives of the students in their charge. In addition to the many hours of volunteer time he has already invested, Brian has assured the Superintendent that as he rolls out the city-wide plan to improve the schools’ responses to medical emergencies, Brian will be there to provide the EMS perspective for the staff. Brian is already talking about taking this model as a proposal to each community served by Atlantic Ambulance Service. Based on his energy, creativity and passion for improving care to the children of our communities, we’re sure he will be successful in those efforts as well.”