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Time (and Training) Is Life: Health First Partners With Eastern Florida State College, Local First Responder Agencies

By  //  August 12, 2026

FIFTH ANNUAL EMS Skills Fair BRINGS HUNDREDS OF BREVARD COUNTY FIRST RESPONDERS TOGETHER TO Eastern Florida State College Melbourne Campus FOR CRITICAL SKILLS TRAINING

ABOVE VIDEO: Health First Partners With Eastern Florida State College, Local First Responder Agencies

First Flight’s Joseph Corman, flight paramedic, provides emergency response instruction to first responders during the EMS Skills Training program at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. (Health First Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – When responding to a trauma or mass casualty situation, the phrase “time matters” is a universal truth. The sooner a patient can be reached, treated, stabilized and transferred to a hospital setting, the better the chance of survival and quality of life.

Expert training, however, is just as – if not more – important, and Health First this week helped kick off a three-day EMS Skills training fair to ensure cutting-edge lifesaving medical skills are readily applied in a real-life emergency situation.

Hosted this year by Eastern Florida State College at its Melbourne campus, the three-day training event is expecting over 400 regional participants from first responder agencies across the Space Coast.

This marks the fifth consecutive year of the event, which has grown in attendance each year – and it continues to grow through the commitment and collaboration of regional EMS partners.

The annual training program was created and led by Dr. Larissa Dudley, Medical Director for Eastern Florida State College’s EMS program and Medical Director for multiple EMS agencies with support from more than 30 EFSC instructors and faculty members and healthcare professionals contributing their expertise to support the event.

Dudley is also the EMS Medical Director for Health First’s First Flight and through her program EMS Medical Direction LLC, she extends her knowledge and experience to several Brevard municipalities – ensuring responders countywide train to the same high standards.

Dr. Larissa Dudley, EMS medical director for First Flight and multiple Brevard County municipalities, gives opening event remarks and instructions to dozens of EMS Skills Training program at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. (Health First Image)

During the three-day event, paramedics rotated through four advanced life support (ALS) stations. EMTs completed four basic life support (BLS) stations, and both groups participated in a combined obstetrical emergencies station, creating a comprehensive, hands-on training experience

Clinicians, educators, and flight professionals train side by side, refining critical procedures, sharing best practices, and strengthening the inter-agency relationships that are so essential to delivering exceptional emergency care throughout our region.

“This is a training opportunity where you get your hands on the equipment that maybe you haven’t touched in a while. You go through the movements on how to do these procedures. You work with your team to rely on each other as a coach and as an aid, to be able to guide you when there’s uncertainty. So, it’s essential that we practice these things,” said Dudley.

“There are numerous lifesaving procedures that these first responders need to perform in moments that matter. And day-to-day activities in the fire station don’t always lend the ability to practice these. When patients are calling, they need to know and be confident that the people coming to their aid are able to do all these procedures in order to save someone’s life so they may arrive alive at the hospital.”

Brevard County first responders practice resuscitation techniques during the EMS Skills Training program at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. (Health First Image)

“None of us knows exactly when our preparation will be tested. Excellence is built by doing the work before the moment arrives – by practicing, listening, and learning from each other. And by knowing we don’t have to navigate difficult moments alone. It takes strong partnerships across our community. It takes people willing to share their knowledge, practice together, and hold one another to a high standard. And it takes the humility to recognize that, no matter how experienced we become, there is always an opportunity to learn and grow,” said Health First President and CEO Terry Forde.

“Great healthcare is a community effort. It depends on people and organizations coming together around a shared purpose, each bringing their expertise and commitment, so our neighbors receive the care they need, when they need it most. Sometimes that care begins in one of our hospitals or medical offices. Other times, it begins in someone’s home, alongside a roadway, or wherever a first responder answers a call for help. The people we serve may never see the training that happened this week. But someday, someone in our community may benefit from it in a way they will never forget,” Forde continued.

First responders from numerous Brevard County agencies gather for initial remarks and instructions prior to the beginning of the EMS Skills Training participants at Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne. (Health First Image)