For this issue, we spotlight the Lee’s Summit Fire Department (LSFD), a fire-based EMS operation that is in Jackson County, Mo. and a suburb of Kansas City. LSFD is a city-based department. The Department serves the entire city of Lee’s Summit, Greenwood, and Unity Village. The service is a member of Mid-America Regional Council and the West Central (Region A) EMS Advisory Committee.
Lee’s Summit is an increasingly diverse and ever-growing community with just under 107,000 residents living within the service area. Lee’s Summit has Interstate 470, State Highway 50, 291 and 150 as major transportation arteries within the city. Additionally, they are a regional stop for AMTRAK trains and a regional airport. As of 2020, Lee’s Summit was the sixth largest city in Missouri. Lee’s Summit has two large regional hospitals in their city with extensive health care services for their citizens.
Trailblazing History
The history of the Department dates back to 1875 with the establishment of a volunteer service. Almost a century later, in 1971, the Lee’s Summit Board of Alderman voted to amend an existing ordinance thereby absorbing the fire department into a service vested to and under the direction of the city as a newly formed department. Later that same year, the fire department became responsible for the emergency medical services for the city. In Missouri, LSFD was the first department to adopt a fire-based approach to EMS care using cross trained firefighters and had also some of the first EMS professionals certified in Missouri. Since the early 1970s, LSFD has been regarded as a model service for others to follow throughout the region and state.
Service Make-Up
The LSFD’s mission is to serve the community through prevention, preparedness, and response with pride. The Department shares the values of professionalism, respect, integrity, duty, and excellence.
LSFD responds to 12,000 emergency calls per year with a well-constructed system of strategically placed stations throughout the area they serve. The goal of getting to a call within four minutes for a large city the size of Lee’s Summit is no small task. They have seven stations throughout the city and have advanced life support fire apparatus at each one. Those stations cover 65 square miles and extend into other communities and into a small portion of a neighboring county to the south. All seven stations have EMS units staffed with one firefighter/paramedic and one firefighter/EMT. For staffing, they have a well-blended number of seasoned and experienced providers working with the younger generation of public servants. In fact, all new hires are paired with a peer or more experienced provider, and that peer offers support and guidance in the early stages of their career. The department has 82 paramedics and 89 EMTs. Twelve of those EMTs will be paramedics within the next two years. Including civilian employees and dispatchers, 193 people are employed by LSFD. The International Association of Firefighters Local 2195 represents the firefighters and EMS professionals of the department.
LSFD is led by Chief Mike Snider. Chief Snider embarked on his career in EMS/fire in the early 1990s. Starting at Fort Osage Fire Protection District as an explorer, then eventually a volunteer, he became a full-time firefighter/EMT in 1995. Chief Snider’s dedication led him to secure his paramedic license, opening doors to new opportunities. In 1998, Chief Snider embraced a new chapter as a firefighter/paramedic with the City of Liberty, Missouri, where he steadily climbed the ranks. “Over a span of a decade, I was promoted, ultimately being appointed to the position of Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director.” In 2019, Chief Snider’s experiences garnered him the honor of becoming the ninth fire chief of the City of Lee’s Summit, Missouri. In this role, he oversees all personnel and manages an annual budget of approximately $25 million dollars.
Chief Snider has been at the table with various legislative initiatives, championing causes like improved 911 systems, revenue sources for local communities, and notably his efforts contributed to the passage of legislation providing support to firefighters diagnosed with firefighting-related cancers and advocating for statewide behavioral health programs. Chief Snider’s leadership is carrying on the history of a trailblazing service.
The EMS operations are led by Assistant Chief of EMS David York. Beginning his EMS career at Gold Cross Ambulance in Independence prior to coming to Lee’s Summit, Chief York has been a paramedic since 1993. Joining LSFD in 1996, he has worked his way up through the ranks from firefighter/paramedic to engineer and captain. Dave has used his other experiences in EMS to his benefit, having gained valuable clinical experience working as a flight paramedic with LifeFlight Eagle. Additionally, Chief York is a licensed Missouri Community Paramedic and holds a CIT certification. Chief York has been instrumental in his department’s GEMT program and will soon be setting up a reimbursement program in partnership with the Missouri Department of Mental Health providing funds for the transport of uninsured behavioral health patients to alternative destinations.
In addition to Chief Snider and Chief York, Assistant Chief Dan Manley plays a vital role organizing the region’s EMS response to various natural disasters or needs for mass mobilization of EMS assets. Chief Manley has decades of dedication not only for the LSFD, but with the region having a hand in planning exercises, cooperative purchasing, and other vital EMS related projects.
For Captain Jesse James, firefighter/EMT, he started his career shortly after starting his new life in the United States. An immigrant from Ecuador, his dream was “to help people, so the fire service helped me achieve that and much more.” He furthers his appreciation by saying that “for me, I am trying to repay all that the department and citizens gave me over 16 years ago when I was nobody. They gave me knowledge, a place where I call home, and many tools to help my family grow on this journey in this country.” Jesse feels that being part of this department inspires you to “be better every day.” Job satisfaction is not only part of Jesse’s career at LSFD, but he also says that it shows on others and that “translates to all the things you do as EMTs and paramedics.” His experiences at LSFD and the people he works with “make it clear why ‘Pride’ is part of their mission statement and values.” He sees the proof in this in the quality care provided to the citizens.
For the entire department, Chief York says that the administration “takes the mental health of our members seriously and has a robust peer support team. Our peer support members have gone through many hours of training and are available to assist our members as well as outside agencies.” This program mobilizes quickly when requested by an employee, having over 20 members on the peer support team. Chief York says the “coordinators are always seeking ways to improve our resources and ensure that all who serve in this career are ready and able to respond.”
The LSFD Communications Center provides services for Lee’s Summit, as well as five other agencies. Of the Department’s total staffing numbers, 12 are dispatchers. All the communications staff are EMD certified. Currently, they are making the transition from traditional EMD card sets to ProQA. Despite this being a huge undertaking, Chief York believes “it will improve consistency and service to those who call 911.” Appreciating the demands placed on the dispatchers, he said, “they must have updated technology to help them in their roles. Their success is directly linked to fire and EMS maintaining quality.”
Training and Quality Care
LSFD is a certified training entity with the State of Missouri and part of the responsibility of the EMS division is to ensure everyone has the proper type and amounts of continuing education to maintain their licensures. The challenge of getting almost 200 people through training can be daunting. Classes such as AMLS, ACLS, PEPP, and BLS become significant undertakings to get everyone through while maintaining coverage and meeting budgetary obligations. The department tries to do as much as possible in-house. Many members hold instructor certifications at various levels to assist with quality training sessions. Chief York said, “Bringing in outside education, when possible, is a way to keep the continuing education programs fresh. In July, the department is partnering with the local Alzheimer’s Association to present a course for first responders. This training will help to fill a gap with our aging population.”
Medical Direction
Medical direction for LSFD is provided by Dr. Calloway Pichette. Dr. Pichette is a board-certified EMS Fellow. She current practices in the Emergency Department at Overland Park Regional. Additionally, Dr. Gustafson, who was the previous Medical Director, still plays an important role in the service acting as Associate Medical Director. Both doctors are involved in the CQI activities of the department. Dr. Pichette sends out monthly tips and correspondence to all of the crews and will also be participating in their ongoing EMS education. It is not uncommon that she has one-on-one conversations with paramedics when needed. Chief York explains that using the medical directors in various ways “plays an invaluable role in the delivery of quality care to our citizens.”
Accreditation and Future Planning
To assist the LSFD in determining the best path into the future, they sought accreditation through the Center for Public Safety Excellence. This process provides a path for an agency self-assessment. The Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI) provides agencies with an accreditation model, various accreditation publications, training, and access to experienced peer assessors. It is a very in-depth process that involves intense self-assessment of current practices and covers all programs, data, and monitoring. It also looks at best practices and how the department stacked up to other accredited services.
After self-assessment, the department does a deep dive into community risk assessment and develops Standards of Cover. The process is community-driven when it comes to the strategic plan of where the agency is and where you want and need to go. Community stakeholders are involved, and their input must be considered during planning. In other words, the manner and path the department finds themselves on is the path the community said it desired. The process creates a greater community alignment, encourages continuous quality improvement, and builds positive relationships with labor. The accreditation process looks at strengths and weaknesses, creates a plan of improvement where it is needed, and uses data to drive decisions. Additionally, there is a spirit of communication that occurs with management and leadership philosophies to ensure the agency has a defined mission and related objectives.
Chief York values the accreditation process by saying, “Basically, it is a tool to help you plan into the future while meeting your goals of the present with general oversight to keep you on track.” In the State of Missouri, only six other agencies have this accreditation.
Expanding Population Requires New Stations
Both Chief Snider and Assistant Chief York acknowledge the double-edged sword of an expanding population. It is ideal for added tax revenue and other community benefits, but it also puts a significant amount of pressure on making sure you have the right people and equipment in the right place. Over the last decade, LSFD has created a plan where some stations were replaced and relocated to account for the expanding community. Their accreditation process and development of a strategic plan helped create a path forward for these projects. Funding can often be a challenge for agencies, but the fire department was fortunate enough that the community rallied around the service when they asked for a public safety sales tax to support police and fire. The Lee’s Summit community overwhelmingly approved the sales tax allowing access to a much-needed funding source. This coupled with their bonding capacity has been integral as far as ensuring the facilities are updated or replaced to meet the needs of a changing workforce and to ensure the equipment is top of the line.
Community Focused
LSFD has long been supported by the community but through various programs like prevention, the service also understands that to be successful, the department must look beyond fire and EMS operations to serve the community. Chief York knows that “Community Paramedic programs are popping up all over the country. We are looking at ways to stand up a full program to meet our community needs. We have six community paramedics currently and have participated in mass vaccine programs during the pandemic as well as vaccinating homebound clients. Currently we are working closely with our police partners and co-responders seeking grant funding to develop a crisis response model. This program would put a community paramedic and a behavioral health specialist together to provide follow-ups to clients.” These efforts would be geared toward freeing up emergency resources when appropriate and ensuring compliance with care plans that have been set forth for the client.
Although LSFD has long been focused on quality service to the community and has been fortunate to have solid support, it is the citizens who have had a major hand in building their present and future successes. During various efforts to plan for the future, the department often finds stakeholders in the community to help lead the way. All of the advances in facilities and equipment through the years have a direct link to the work citizens played in the strategic planning process. This has shown to be a particular help when they need to go to the voters for bonds.
Future Challenges and Future Opportunities
Chief York understands very well the challenges many EMS agencies are facing in the post-covid era. Staffing, like with most agencies, stands to be a significant challenge.
Chief York said, “We have found success in converting EMTs to paramedics through a combination of tuition assistance and compensatory time for time spent in the classroom. This is appealing to younger members who do not have a lot of vacation time. They can build up their comp hours while in class and can use it later, just like vacation time. If they are on shift for class, we provide leave for them to attend.”
Working with their Union leadership, the service increased paramedic pay. “Currently, paramedics make $9,000 more a year compared to someone at the same level without the paramedic licensure,” said Chief York. He also knows that increasing calls for service means more work for line staff. He continued, “Our staffing model helps to keep our members fresh as they rotate assignments. You may work 24 hours on an ambulance and then your next shift could be on a fire apparatus. It all depends upon the staffing and rotation that the crews have worked out, but the more paramedics we have, the more flexibility there is, which ultimately can help with burnout.”
For a community like Lee’s Summit, it is vital that they continue to study their effectiveness in response and readiness. The population growth continues, and as such making sure stations are equipped with the necessary staffing and equipment is a major challenge. Understanding what the community will be like not only this year, but five years and further is a process that they consistently must do. Thus far, the community has supported the department with bond funds that have contributed to all their stations being newly built or extensively remodeled.
Chief Snider says that a recent bond vote will allow for continued progress and renewal of facilities. He explained, “The City received approval from our community in 2023 to issue bonds for the remodel or replacement of Fire Station One, transitioning this facility to an operations focused facility. In addition, a second facility project was approved that will serve as a joint operations facility for the city, encompassing fire administration, operations, prevention, support services, and training. Additionally, it will incorporate a city emergency operations center, co-located fire/EMS and police dispatch, traffic operations, city emergency operations center, IT infrastructure and staff, and flexible training spaces. Both projects are anticipated to open in 2026.”
Since the early 70s, Lee’s Summit Fire not only been a successful and sound service, but they also been instrumental in developing many great fire and EMS leaders in the region. Built by solid community support and fortified with quality staff and administration, the service is well set to move into the future and continue the tradition of excellence.
For information on this service, feel free to reach out by email:
Chief Snider:
mike.snider@cityofls.net
Assistant Chief York:
david.york@cityofls.net