2023 Enduring Impact Award Recipient
What is the Enduring Impact Award?
The Enduring Impact Award is new for 2023 and will be an annual presentation. The FlightBridgeED staff will survey the industry for qualifying candidates, and in the future, nominations will be accepted from our community as well.
The Enduring Impact Award honors the efforts of critical care icons whose contributions have forever shaped the profession, leaving a lasting impact felt for generations, elevating standards, and transforming lives.
2023 Recipient
We are so excited to announce that Mr. Graham Pierce BS, MICP, FP-C, CCP-C, WP-C will receive this award first! His contributions to pre-hospital and critical care transport medicine cannot be overstated! Congratulations! Well deserved.
About Graham Pierce
Graham began his career in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, in June of 1979 as a medic for St. Johns Ambulance Brigade. He responded to routine calls and all disasters associated with the ongoing political violence within the country.
Leaving Ireland in 1984, Graham came to the United States. Studied Paramedicine at Ingalls Hospital in Chicago, and holds a baccalaureate degree in Healthcare Administration.
Current Projects and Positions
Chairman, CEO, and Founder: International Board for Specialty Certification (formally: Board for Critical Care Transport Paramedic Certification)
Recognizing the need for a higher standard of care for paramedics that operate in roles beyond the standard scope, Graham brought together a group of distinguished professionals to form the BCCTPC board in 1997. As the mission of the board broadened, the name was changed to the IBSC. The IBSC is a certification body for critical care transport clinicians. Providing certification exams for Flight Paramedics FP-C, Critical Care Paramedics CCP-C, Tactical Paramedics TP-C, Tactical Responders TR-C, Community Paramedics CP-C, and Wilderness Paramedics WP-C. The mission of the IBSC is to improve the quality of the care delivered by paramedics and other healthcare professionals functioning in a specialty environment by measuring and validating their knowledge and skills. This is accomplished by providing a family of specialty certification exams that are an objective, fair, and honest validation of a unique domain of knowledge.
By offering the only specialty examination process of its kind, the IBSC offers validation of the best practices in care and creates a de facto National and International standard for critical care transport, flight paramedic, tactical paramedic, designated infection control officer, community paramedic practitioner, and wilderness paramedics.
President – Medical Relief Foundation
Founding member of a non-profit medical organization dedicated to enhancing the level of healthcare in developing countries. MRF has had a major impact on the emergency medical system in the Russian Far East, Nicaragua, and other developing nations. Formed a prehospital teaching institute in Vladivostok.
- Introduced Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and International Trauma Life Support standards in several countries.
- Established the first heart surgery program in the Russian Far East,
- Established the first heart surgery program in Managua Nicaragua
- Established the first heart surgery program in Guam.
- Formed the first cervical cancer screening program in Nicaragua, critically reducing the incidence of cervical cancer in Nicaragua.
- Established a clinic and hospital in Karatu, Tanzania providing healthcare to rural Africa.
- Led a program in Tomsk Siberia to reduce accidental hepatitis transmission in healthcare works in the region.
Prior Projects and Positions
Executive Director: Innovation and Global Strategy for PHI Air Medical
Executive for the leading air ambulance provider in the United States with an unmatched safety record, setting the standard in the air medical industry. PHI serves more than thirty-thousand patients each year from more than eighty bases across the country. Graham was responsible for the global direction of the company, ensuring they could answer the Emergency Medical Services needs for the future in an ever-changing environment, both nationally and internationally. He also led the successful placement of air medical programs with a variety of partners, from hospital partners to county and municipal partners, and the establishment of independent bases across the US and internationally.
National Director PHI Air Medical: (Prior Regional Director and Program Director)
PHI Air Medical is America’s premier full-service air ambulance provider, caring for more than thirty-thousand critical care patients each year out of one-hundred-and-ten operational aircraft across the world. Recognizing that a patient’s best chance at survival often rests on the abilities of air medical providers, Graham led the company beyond the call each and every day to maintain the highest standards of safety and medical care. During his tenure. he was responsible for creating a modern fleet of air ambulances and ensured that they maintain a stronger safety program and a better aircraft maintenance record than any company in the industry.
- Receive the prestigious Vision Zero Aviation Safety Award.
- Established the PHI CARES Membership Program
- Established the First Air Medical Honor Guard
- Established the first National Peer Air Medical Program
- Successfully won the RFP for the Air Medical Operator for Saudi Arabia, establishing a first-class, integrated air medical operation in the Kingdom
Board Member: Foundation for African Medicine and Education
The Foundation for African Medicine & Education is a non-profit corporation registered in the United States. It was created to improve the quality of medical care in East Africa. FAME endeavors to help bridge the gap between a critically under-resourced healthcare system and first-world medicine. FAME is currently focused on improving the quality and accessibility of medical care in Tanzania and making a difference in the day-to-day lives of the Tanzanian people.
Director of Emergency Services for Doctors Medical Center Modesto
Responsible for the Flight Program, Emergency Department, Trauma Services, in a Level II Trauma Center and the Clinic and Ambulance Services in Yosemite National Park.
California State University Stanislaus
As an investment in the future of emergency medicine, Graham is fully committed to the education of the next generation of providers. As such, he was the principal instructor for the baccalaureate paramedic program at California State University Stanislaus for several years.
Emergency Medical Consultant
Emergency Medical Consultant to the Governments of China and Russia, to help design emergency systems for some of their cities. Instrumental in the development of the first prehospital air and ground program for the Russian Far East.
Athlete Medical at the Salt Lake City Olympics
Medical Advisor to the Health Ministry for the Athens, Greece Olympics
Responsible for ensuring the health, well-being, and optimal performance of participating athletes. The athlete medical providers play a crucial role in creating a safe and supportive environment for athletes, promoting their success, and ensuring their well-being throughout the Olympic Games.
Speaker
Mr. Pierce has lectured at conferences around the world on emergency medicine and global health issues. Including the keynote speaker at the Russian Trauma Conference in Vladivostok, Russia.
Message from John R. Clark JD, MBA, NRP, FP-C, CCP-C, CMTE
International Board of Specialty Certifications (IBSC) – Chief Operating Officer
Stepping back in time to AMTC 1997 in Cincinnati, the old NFPA (now ICAPP) was exploring a flight paramedic certification, but the feeling at that time was that it would be too costly and too complex to pursue. Mr. Pierce’s discontent with this approach by the board was very apparent. The next year, 1998, he came to me as the incoming President of the NFPA and made his plea that we HAD to create a certification exam that would validate the body of knowledge of the flight paramedic. I said that I would support it if he would lead it. Lead it, he did!
The development of the Certified Flight Paramedic (FP-C®) exam, quite frankly, would never have happened without Graham’s vision, commitment, and leadership to the flight paramedic profession.
In October of 2000 in Salt Lake City, the beta version of the exam was ready, and the first trial cohort of paramedic attendees at AMTC took the exam, becoming the first Certified Flight Paramedics in the world (Mr. Pierce holds certification #00001).
Mr. Pierce recognized the need to establish a separate board to administer the exam and maintain the integrity of the process. With that, the Board for Critical Care Transport Paramedics (BCCTPC®) was formed with Mr. Pierce as the Chairman of the Board. It is with his leadership of today’s IBSC that the FP-C® exam has prospered both in the U.S. and around the world.
Because of the organization’s change in focus from strictly “critical care” with the creation of the Certified Community Paramedic (CP-C®) and the expanding focus by the international community, the BCCTPC emerged as the IBSC with Graham still leading the charge. It is a team effort, but his leadership has been unwavering as we created all of the Board certification exams available today.
Mr. Pierce is one of the most loyal individuals I have ever had the opportunity to work with, and his contributions to the flight and critical care paramedic community go far beyond his work with the IBSC – He is the heart and soul of the Certified Flight Paramedic. On a personal note, he is one of my best friends, and I know that I have grown as a human because of his friendship. He is deserving of this recognition.