Ocala City Council 2021 President’s Award winners announced

Members of Ocala Fire Rescue pose with the President’s Award given to them by Ocala City Council President Justin Grabelle, right, during the Ocala City Council meeting in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

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Posted December 8, 2021 |

The Ocala Fire Rescue’s Community Paramedicine team, Vaccination team and COVID-19 testing team were awarded the 2021 Ocala City Council President’s Award.

The award was established in 2011 to grant recognition to a city employee or group of employees for accomplishments of outstanding worth in advancing and improving service and quality of life to the City of Ocala citizenry.

Nominees for this year’s award included:

• Cindy Krepps – Office of Budget & Management
• Rachel Slocumb – Water Resources
• Community Paramedicine Team, Vaccination Team and COVID-19 Testing Team – Ocala Fire Rescue
• Ocala Fiber Network Staff
• Sanitation Division – Public Works
• Ocala Wetland Recharge Park Team – Water Resources

The Community Paramedicine (CP) team was recognized for offering off-site follow-up services to chronically ill and uninsured patients that many times eliminated the disruption of care between hospital visits. This service improved patient outcomes for all participants.

Ocala Fire Rescue was able to pinpoint the progress of 36 individual CP patients between December 2020 and October 2021 and found that the readmission rate for these patients was found to be 0.02%. This figure was far below the national average of 10-15%.

The Vaccination and COVID-19 testing team provided vaccinations to not only recipients who visited COVID-19 vaccination locations but also drove to individuals who could not leave their homes to get vaccinated. The team provided 2,621 citizens the COVID-19 vaccination between December 2020 and October 2021, as well as administered approximately 6,000 tests since early 2000.

In addition, the team assisted with Marion County Hepatitis A vaccinations.

Advent Health Ocala fully funds the Community Paramedicine program provided by Ocala Fire Rescue with The Community Foundation for Ocala/Marion County Inc. acting as the administrator for the program.