Congratulations Brian

/

Brian won a very prestigious award this month.
The 2020 Northern VA Regional Award for Outstanding EMS Leadership from the Northern Virginia EMS Council.

We are so proud of the work he does every day! Congratulations Brian!!!

117339336_3443303735727004_7577783225261543862_n.jpg

Congratulations Captain Brian Orndoff, City of Fairfax FD! The 2020 Northern VA Regional Award winner for Outstanding EMS Leadership (formerly Outstanding EMS Administrator)!

Brian Orndoff was promoted to the City of Fairfax's EMS Program Manager 2018. In less than two years, Brian has made tremendous improvements in the department's EMS program and community risk reduction efforts. He has led the department from no status with the AHA to Silver Status and, most recently, to Gold Status. He has proved instrumental in improving the department's CME program by making the training more realistic and interactive, all while reducing the overall costs of the program. He has instituted monthly shift training requirements for the department, which has increased the number of hours each shift commits to EMS training. One of Brian's most difficult challenges as a new captain has been working with six ALS Lieutenants to make them one cohesive unit for the department. Brian has made tremendous improvements in the department's EMS program and community risk reduction efforts. On top of his other responsibilities, he is responsible for EMS billing, patient care reporting software, and hardware. While he was evaluating at-hospital times for the medic units, there were several key opportunities for improvement identified. One of them was the hardware the department was using was inefficient and routinely having issues. Brian was able to work with Fairfax County and Fairfax City IT to switch all Toughbook ePCR software to iPads, instantaneously improving the at-hospital times.

Brian is also the department’s Infection Control and HIPAA Officer, which requires him to be on-call24-7, 365days. A City of Fairfax EMS unit transported the first COVID-19 patient identified in Northern Virginia. Before and since that moment, Brian has worked tirelessly with the city manager, fire chief, and all the employees of the City of Fairfax to develop policies and procedures to protect not only the citizens of the City of Fairfax but also all of the northern Virginia region.

Brian is genuinely invested in developing future leaders of the organization, and in 2019 he was instrumental in revising and updating the department’s officer development program, the acting officer manual, and the ALS internship training program. He recognized a deficiency in the quality assurance and improvement program and immediately went to work to improve it. He developed a committee approach and instituted procedures for the group to review incidents and the associated reports. Brian is a huge advocate for technology and recently implemented new apps for EMS use, such as CPR Pro and Handtevy. Brian routinely speaks with the department OMD and reviews significant incidents with him along with procedures for the OMD to provide feedback on these incidents.

June 2020 - Grandkids in Lockdown

/

Another month of Covid means another month we only got to see Avery and Benjamin once. We moiss them so much!!

And so I can tease him forever, I bought this for the babies, not Chris LOL

IMG_0140.jpg

A Letter to Mom - 1 Year Later

/

I can’t believe it has been a year since I had to let you go.  I think of you each and every morning and then several more times throughout the day. Today I will try my best not mourn too hard. Instead I am trying to smile and laugh because you would want that most. It’s so incredibly hard though.  

Mom

Mom

I often ask myself what if I had one more day with you, what would  I tell you?  Of course I would tell you how much I miss you, how much  I love you, I would tell you about the moments you have missed, how your grandchildren and great grandchildren are doing, etc. but I also would tell you something I don’t think I really ever told you enough and that would be Thank You. 

These past 365 days I have had a lot of time to remember and there are so many memories.  Because of those memories I now have an even deeper understanding of all you did for us.  I think in many ways we took it for granted , I know I did , You were simply always there , always supporting us, laughing with us, worrying about us and so we, or at least me , did not say thank you enough so yes, if I had one more day I would make sure that while sitting with you eating your Banana Bread, always with the perfect amount of butter spread on it I would thank you for being the women you were, the friend you were, the mom you were.

One more thing mom,   In those last few moments when it was obvious you were on your way to dad and Chris you and I were alone in that hospital room and I  made a promise to you.  Know mom that I continue to keep that promise.  I always, always will.  I miss you, I cry for you and I Love you and yes as I said I thank you!!  

PS. Ben (the dog) is right here next to me as I write this.  He misses you too and is doing well!!

May 2020 - Grandkids in Lockdown

/

Another 30 days of lockdown has ended, how many more to go is the question? Mallory has continued to share photos with us which makes me so happy every time I see one.

It’s amazing they have no clue of what is going on around them. Mom and Dad are doing a great job of keeping them happy, entertained, safe and healthy!

Finally A Play Date

/

It has been two months since we have been able to see, hold, hug and love on the Grandkids. They are growing up so fast and this stupid virus is making us miss so many fun things that we had planned. I know it is best to just say we are blessed that we are all healthy and safe but it doesn’t make this any easier.

Chris decided it was time and so for Mother’s Day he gave me the one and only thing I wanted or needed. Time with him and the grandkids. He brought them over to our house so they could run and explore and while still being safe. We ate, we played, we rode the 4-wheeler, we even visited the baby goats. up the street. It was a much need reprieve from all the stress and worry. Now it we can just get it over with so that we can get back to normal.


April 2020 - Grandkids in Lockdown

/

Mallory has been sharing lots and lots of pictures and video of the kids on Instagram since the lock-down started. I started snagging them to my phone so I could see them whenever I wished. These are favorites from April.