User:Daniel Smiley

Daniel Smiley served as the Chief Deputy Director for the California Emergency Medical Services Authority[1] for 31 years from 1989 until 2019. He also served as the Interim Director of the California EMS Authority from 1989-1993, and again shortly in 2007-2008, and 2010-2011.

California Emergency Medical Services Authority

While at the California EMS Authority, Dan was responsible for the strategic vision and leadership of emergency medical services (EMS) for California. He oversaw the policy, program and regulatory aspects of EMS systems (including ambulance services and trauma, STEMI, Stroke, EMS for Children sub-systems and Poison Control System funding), EMS certification/licensing (EMR, EMT, AEMT, Paramedic) and enforcement, and disaster medical response. He was actively engaged in developing secure, interoperable electronic Health Information Exchange for EMS in California through funding from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Dan led California in improving disaster medical response, including the creation and continued improvement of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), ambulance strike teams, the California Medical Assistance Team program, and California Mobile Field Hospitals. His experience in disaster planning and response included events such as, the Coalinga Earthquake (1983), Loma Prieta San Francisco Bay Area Earthquake (1989), Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii (1992), Los Angeles Civil Disturbance (1992), Northridge/Los Angeles Earthquake (1994), Northern California Floods (1995/1996), San Diego Wildfires (2007), H1N1/Swine Influenza Pandemic (2009), Northern California Wildfires Complex (2017), Camp Fire (2018), and the Kincade Fire and PSPS (2019).

Internationally, he was a key member of the California National Guard’s leadership team for the State Partnership Program with Ukraine for over 10 years. He was the primary medical planner and incident commander for many international disaster exercises in Ukraine as part of the Rough and Ready Series (1999-2009). In Ukraine, he has brought EMS training and initiated Tactical Casualty Care programs since early 2014. Dan has also been involved in disaster medical planning efforts in India following the Gujarat Earthquake (2001) and preparing disaster medical programs in Taiwan (2000-2009). He has participated as a leader, facilitator, instructor, or evaluator in international training programs in Ukraine, India, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan and Africa. He has also been involved in Disaster Medical Assistance Team activities, as a Team Commander and member of CA-11 (Sacramento) for the National Disaster Medical System.

With respect to Tactical EMS, Dan is a graduate of the Basic and Advanced Tactical Medicine Courses at the International School of Tactical Medicine. Dan also served as the Chairperson of the California Tactical EMS Advisory Committee and was the primary author of the California Tactical Medicine Guidelines (2009) that describe the operational requirements and training standards for Tactical Medics in California and developed Tactical Casualty Care (TC2) principles for civilian EMS personnel in 2010.

Also while at the California EMS Authority he sought to increase the visibility of the EMS profession, improve EMS systems, increase the field medical response to disaster situations, evaluate Core performance measures, develop tactical medicine for law enforcement, engage in Community Paramedic projects, and foster Health Information Exchange and innovative technology in the EMS sector. Dan published articles on disaster medical response, collaboration across international agencies for disaster response, EMS systems, quality of care, trauma care, and automated defibrillation.

Early Life

Dan is a native of Merced, California and graduated from Merced High School in 1974. He graduated from San Joaquin Delta College Paramedic School in 1979. He earned an Associate of Science Degree from Merced College, a Bachelor of Science Degree from California State University, Fresno in Health Science, and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Health Administration, from the University of San Francisco. He did doctoral studies at the University of Southern California in Public Administration, with an emphasis on Health and Public Policy (ABD).

Prior to coming to EMSA as the Chief Deputy Director in 1989, he served as Chief of Emergency Medical Services for the County of Fresno. Dan worked as an emergency medical technician and paramedic in Merced County and as a paramedic in Fresno County. He also served as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff with the Merced County Sheriff’s Office. He was an EMT, paramedic, and MICN instructor in San Joaquin and Fresno counties. Mr. Smiley also taught at California State University, Fresno.

Current Status

Smiley is currently a Firefighter/Paramedic with the Hardin County (TN) Fire Department and a Captain in the 61st Medical Company of the Tennessee State Guard.