Alexandria Fire Department Deputy Chief Brian R. Hricik was diagnosed with cancer in November 2023. Despite the Hricik Family having comprehensive health insurance, workers compensation, and all the traditional services available to Responders, gaps in medical coverage were quickly identified. In early December, amid family, friends, colleagues rallying around Brian to show their support, two ideas emerged:
- What if we could offer the Hricik family private Emergency Medical Services (EMS) & Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) - Community Paramedicine (CP), for free?
- What if we could do this for all Responders and their family members, when in need?
Refusing to waste precious time, the decision was made to jump on the first idea and to extend to Brian and family medical support not traditionally available. From December 2022 until March 2023, a team of paramedics were organized under a private EMS infrastructure to provide EMS & MIH-CP, preventing numerous trips to the Emergency Department.
In March 2023, with the support of the Hricik family, friends, and EMS colleagues, Responder Care™ officially launched as an EMERGILITY® Special Program with Fiscal Sponsorship provided by Global Impact, a 501(c)(3). Established in honor and loving memory of Deputy Chief Brian R. Hricik (B.R.H.), the aim of the program is “Bringing Responders Help.”
The idea behind Responder Care™ is relatively simple. EMS MIH-CP services are delivered by a professional EMS cadre (career & volunteer), with medical operations falling under an existing private EMS Agency infrastructure. These services neither supplant nor compete with existing public emergency 9-1-1 services or private medical resources but rather provide enhanced and alternative access to care not otherwise available. In the case of Deputy Chief Hricik, this is exactly what was accomplished. The goal now is doing the same for others, in honor of Brian.
