Operations Chief
Robert Avsec, Battalion Chief/Paramedic (Ret.)
After an incredible 26-year first career with the dedicated women and men of the Chesterfield (Va.) Fire and EMS Department (CFEMS), Chief Avsec transitioned into his “second career” with a clear purpose: to pay it forward. Retiring as a battalion chief/paramedic didn’t close a chapter for him—it opened a new one.
Chief Avsec also enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an instructor in the emergency services field during his career with CFEMS served as an adjunct Fire Instructor for the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and as an adjunct instructor for CFEMS’s Training and Safety Division. He also served as a contract instructor for the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland from 1992 to 2007.
In 2012 Avsec “found” his “first 2nd career” as a freelance writer who contributes on-line content monthly to FireRescue1.com and EMS1.com. He also has his own blog, Talking “Shop” 4 Fire and EMS, where he writes weekly about leadership and management issues in the fire service and EMS.
In 2022, Avsec had a book published, Successful Transformational Change in a Fire and EMS Department: How a Focused Team Created a Revenue Recovery Program in Six Months–From Scratch. It chronicles how a six-member project management team (including Avsec) built an ambulance revenue recovery program and transitioned CFEMS from paper-based patient care reporting to an early digital handheld system—back in 2002, long before such technology became standard.
Chief Avsec earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Fire and Safety Engineering Technology from the University of Cincinnati, graduating magna cum laude, and a Master’s degree in Executive Fire Service Leadership through Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, graduating summa cum laude. He’s also a 2001 graduate of the NFA’s Executive Fire Officer Program.
He lives in Charleston, West Virginia, and in his spare time, he enjoys snow skiing and golf. (If it’s white, he skis it, if it’s green, he hits golf balls off it).
Host for Monthly Mental Health Clinician
Consultations
Dr. Elizabeth Ramquist, Ph.D
Dr. Ramquist is a Clinical Psychologist in Los
Dr. Ramquist is also an educator who has taught graduate and undergraduate psychology and statistics courses at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University, and Biola University.
She is a member of APA’s Division 18: Psychologists in Public Service and Division 56: Trauma Psychology. She holds active psychologist licenses in California, Indiana, Idaho, and Washington State (telehealth).
In addition to clinical work, she enjoys giving talks on mental health at hospitals, graduate schools, and community events.
