Barrow EMS hires medical director

Deal will be responsible for ensuring that medical protocols are kept current in order to provide better patient care. These protocols allow EMS personnel to administer necessary medications without having to contact a hospital first. This rapid response can help stabilize patients more quickly and reduce the possibility of greater physical damage.

“We are excited to be working with Doctor Deal,” said interim chief John Skinner. “With his energy and experience joining our department, we will continue to move forward and keep current with the treatment and care of our patients.”

Deal will work with EMS personnel to make sure that all patients receive the highest quality patient care possible. He will work with the department in oversight and quality assurance, as well as training.

According to public information officer Lt. Scott Dakin, the nature of out-of-hospital emergency calls challenges EMS workers to make important, sometimes critical decisions with a limited amount of information.

The members of Barrow County Emergency Services have always been capable of making the necessary decisions when called upon and Deal will help department personnel continue to make these decisions and treat each and every patient in the best possible way, Dakin said.

Deal has been practicing medicine for twenty eight years, and has been an emergency director for the majority of his career. Deal spent six years as chief of staff at Northlake Medical Center, served as director of emergency medical services at the Atlanta Olympic Village and worked fifteen years as medical director for the Gwinnett County Emergency Medical Services. Deal and his wife Sherrie, an emergency department nurse, have three children, the eldest of which just graduated from medical school.

“We are very excited to have Doctor Deal sign on with Barrow County Emergency Services as our Medical Director,” Skinner said. “With his many years of experience and knowledge he will be very valuable in working with all of us in staying up with an ever changing emergency medical field.”