The Sea Cliff Board of Trustees is considering Dr. David Silver to take over the role of Medical Director for Emergency Medical Services at Sea Cliff Fire Department. Silver currently works primarily at Glen Cove Hospital. He specializes in emergency medicine, an area that focuses on diagnosing and treating unexpected illness or injury.
Silver gave his proposal to the board at its conference meeting Monday night. In his proposal, he outlined the purpose of a medical director and what he intends to do in the role, including keeping up with advancements in EMS.
“EMS has become much more progressive,” Silver said in his proposal. “The days of just throwing someone in the back of the ambulance with a couple band aids and getting to the hospital as fast as possible is long gone behind us.”
The New York State Department of Health requires EMS medical directors to be physicians licensed by the state. Medical directors are responsible for ensuring providers are trained in proper EMS protocols, working with providers on issues and questions related to patient care, and being involved in disciplinary issues. They also lead a committee that oversees quality assurance/quality improvement, internal reviews of patient care. A committee flags patient care reports containing protocol violations.
Silver also serves as medical director at Bellmore-Merrick EMS and would serve in the role in Sea Cliff simultaneously. He said in his proposal that people in the role are becoming more involved with operations training, new protocols, and new medications at their EMS service or fire department.
“We’re looking, in general, to push medical directors to be more involved,” he said, “that they should be out with their agencies, doing training with them, knowing who you’re working with.”
Among Silver’s goals mentioned in his proposal were introducing new medications to Sea Cliff’s EMS and helping providers improve their skills and patient care.
Sea Cliff ambulances currently ride with the sedative midazolam, commonly known as Versed, and morphine, a pain management drug. Silver expressed interested in adding fentanyl for pain management and ketamine, a powerful sedative. He explained that as EMS advances, these different medications may be required for more involved care.
Silver also spoke about working with providers to review their handling of calls, discussing what they did well and making recommendations for what could have been done differently.
“Then the next time (a provider) goes out, he looks at it from a different perspective,” Silver said. “If someone’s doing good, the positive reinforcement also.”
As medical director, Silver said he would be largely accessible by phone to support Sea Cliff EMS and increase efficiency in case a provider needs approval in a certain aspect of care.
He gave the example of a provider needing to administer a drug outside of regular protocol. Currently, getting approval requires making calls to a paramedic and a doctor outside Sea Cliff and receiving orders from someone who might not know the provider.
“As a field physician myself,” Silver said, “he can call me directly, and I can say, ‘Yes, go ahead. You can give this,’ and he can bypass that part of the process.”
Mayor Elena Villafane described appointing Silver as medical director as a “no brainer” after reviewing his resumé and proposal.
“We are huge supporters of our fire department,” she said after Silver spoke and took questions from the board. “They do amazing things for us… and anything that they think is the appropriate thing to support them and make sure that they can aid and assist our residents, we’re all for it.”
Deputy Mayor Nick Pinto, who is the village’s liaison to the fire department, described Silver’s ideas as “a huge upgrade” to Sea Cliff EMS.
Sea Cliff Fire Department Chief Brian O’Donnell praised Silver in a statement to the Herald on Tuesday. He wrote that Silver will guide clinical standards, protocols, and training.
“This partnership reflects our department’s commitment to providing the highest level of care to the residents of this village and our neighbors we serve,” O’Donnell wrote. “With Dr. Silver’s expertise, we will continue to strengthen our emergency medical services, enhance patient outcomes, and ensure our personnel are supported with the most current medical guidance. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Silver and are confident that his leadership will have a lasting and positive impact on our department and the community.
For more information on the Sea Cliff Fire Department, visit its Facebook page titled “Sea Cliff Fire Department.”
