PBMC's Dr. Colin Coor Appointed
Regional Medical Director for Maine EMS

Dr. Colin Coor, a physician who works in the emergency department at Penobscot Bay Medical Center, has been appointed Regional Medical Director for the Maine Emergency Medical Services for Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties.

Coor will be responsible for quality assurance and training for emergency medical crews in the three counties. He was appointed by the Maine EMS, a bureau within the Maine Department of Public Safety established to be the central agency responsible for the coordination and integration of all state activities concerning Emergency Medical Services and the overall planning, evaluation, coordination, facilitation and regulation of EMS systems.

There are six regional EMS boards. Midcoast EMS, in the PBMC service, area is based in Union. Online: midcoastems.org

Coor, who started his career in medicine as an Emergency Medical Technician in Vermont, says he is looking forward to working with the region's emergency medical community and to building on the work done by his predecessor, Dr. David Ettinger of Camden, who held the post for more than 10 years, making him the state's longest serving regional medical director.

Coor sees the regional post as important not only to PBMC, which has the highest emergercy department patient volume in the region, but also to the EMT community.

"My job is make sure we maintain the already very high standard set by Midcoast EMS," said Coor. "I've been extraordinarly impressed with the levels of professionalism and training."

Coor said when he worked in Denver, he was accustomed to the most advanced medical equipment arriving on scene in an ambulance. In Union, where he lives, he sees much of that same equipment arriving at a scene carried in the personal vehicle of a first-responder.

"This is advanced life support equipment people would normally associate with emergency response in urban settings," he said. "We have it right here."

Bill Zito, Midcoast EMS regional coordiantor, said the region is looking forward to working with its new medical director. Zito said he keeps Coor apprised of any quality assurance issues across the region, as well as training initiatives and assistance with standardized protocols involving medical direction and practice, as they work to meet the goals established by the Maine EMS Medical Direction and Practice Board.

"Dr. Coor's experience with rural EMS and as a practicing emergency physician will be a real asset to the system, providers and the public we serve," said Zito.