Robb Milano (Telehealth, Addiction and the Power of Community) - Episode 969

Behind The Shield

Robb Milano is 30 year veteran of the Fire Service. He is currently the Division Chief of EMS for the Vancouver (WA) Fire Department.

We discuss his journey into the fire service, the impact addiction had on his family, the progressive solutions his department has in place to combat the opiod crisis, the innovative 911 Telehealth integration they've employed to reduce non-emergent calls, leadership, shift work and so much more.

He has had the privilege of serving in multiple departments as a high school fire explorer, volunteer firefighter, career firefighter, Engineer, Captain, Battalion Chief and Division Chief. This journey has afforded him the opportunity to gain multiple experiences and education.

In his home life, he and his wife have blended four bio kids and foster/adopted four additional kids. The trauma from addiction in all of their kids lives has led his passion to battle the opioid crisis in his local community thru innovations of leave behind narcan and medication assisted treatments in the field.

As the EMS Chief of an urban fire department he has worked to find alternatives to lower acuity medical calls thru response changes, BLS ambulance response and nurse navigation / tele health at the 911 dispatch center. Thus allowing ALS resources to be available for life critical calls. Thru these innovations his department has ALS treatment and transport within 9mins 90% of the time.