ACEP is founded by eight physicians & recruits its first 29 members, including Dr. William Haeck (first FCEP President 1971-72; ACEP President 1974-75)

The Florida Chapter of ACEP is established. “Bill drove throughout Florida and literally knocked on ER doors to recruit our first members,” said Dr. Cliff Findeiss (FCEP President 1975-76)

Dr. Haeck gives the introductory address at the 1972 ACEP Symposium, outlining seven elements of the EMS system, as FCEP’s first president

“The ‘Emergency’ show was not just meant to be a TV sitcom for everybody; there was a reason,” said Ret. Chief Tom DiBernardo. “That’s when 9-1-1 came about; it was right on the cusp of the birth of EMS, and they were having a hard time getting the message out, that there was this unified response (in the case of an emergency). So really, ‘Emergency’ helped us sell 9-1-1 as we know it today.”

“I decided to organize and manage a series of annual conferences to address the severe lack of emergency physician training and skills,” said Dr. Findeiss. “Under the banner of FCEP, I found support from the University of Miami medical school. The physician demand for training was so great that our basic EM annual conferences drew up to 1,000 attendees each year for several years. These conferences created revenue for FCEP, which enabled us to hire Garry Briese as our first chapter executive and rent office space in Orlando.”

Dr. John Stimler (FCEP President 1997-98) is part of this first class from UF Health Jacksonville. “When we first started, nobody knew our specialty. We had to go out and show them what we did,” said Dr. Stimler. “I remember going upstairs and doing CPR on somebody who had a cardiac arrest. One of the older attending guys came in to help out, but he just stood there and watched, and goes, ‘I’ve never seen that!’ Why? Because they’d go in and pronounce the people dead!”

“We were working quite hard back then (when I was president), trying to develop a specialty board,” said Frederic Wurtzel (FCEP President 1978-79).  “And like a lot of things in medicine, it was political.

“At the winter Symposium that year of ACEP – it was held at Innisbrook; we were the host chapter – the Council was going to take a vote and send that to the Board, who had agreed to pretty much follow it. If the Council voted to break off and have an independent Board, not really recognized by the other boards perhaps, that’s what we were going to do. I can remember going from chapter to chapter with Drs. Rick Slevenski, Jay Edelberg and all the other guys saying, ‘look, if we break off now, we’re done!‘

“So the Florida Chapter wrote the resolution saying, ‘ACEP should continue to work aggressively within the family of medicine, ABMS, and get our board on equal footing with the others. And it was a floor fight for a while. Now, we have a seat at the table, as they say.”

The independent ABEM receives specialty board approval as the 23rd medical specialty in the U.S. from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) – but as a conjoined board

“I spent a lot of time you know, meeting with EMS. I’d break bread with them in their fire stations, and I’d ride with them as they’re intubating people on the interstate or whatever.” – Dr. Jay Edelberg (pictured)

“In the past, we the practice of emergency medicine did not exist,” said Dr. Richard Slevinski (FCEP president 1982-83). “As an early Board Member and President of Florida ACEP, I had the privilege of helping to define our practice, to change the structure of medicine. We developed the concepts of EMS Medical Direction, Trauma Centers, our Board Exams, and we earned respect from our specialty colleagues. These were hard fought battles. We spent our own time and money to define the political and intellectual boundaries of emergency medicine as it is today. I am so proud and lucky to have been a part of this.”

“When I came to Orlando, I had, arguably, the best scrubs collection on the planet,” said Dr. Jay Falk (FCEP president 2015-16). “So I come do my first clinical shift (at Orlando Regional Medical Center), and the director of the department looks at me and goes, ‘Jay, listen. You can’t wear scrubs in the emergency department.’ I go, ‘seriously?’ He said, ‘yeah – you come to work wearing a shirt and tie and a white coat, just like the rest of the doctors on the medical staff, because we have to establish ourselves as credible, physician colleagues to these people.'”

“The two things I remember being most significant (during my presidency) were the issue of CHEC funding for EM residencies and managed care denial of payments for ED visits/prudent layperson standard,” said Dr. Harvey Rohlwing Jr. (FCEP president 1995-96). “This was the year we finally passed the HMO law, thanks to all of our FCEP leaders and our champion, Rep. Ben Graber, MD.”

“FCEP stood behind me while I was president of the college and, although we failed ultimately in stopping the helmet law repeal, FCEP was instrumental in combining our efforts with the FHA so our voice could be heard by as many as possible,” said Dr. Robert Tober (FCEP president 1999-2000). “FCEP provided all emergency physicians in the state a means of expression, communication and comradery that was so important to all of our careers and sense of well-being in our tough profession.”

“The proudest time for me as FCEP President was establishing the Leadership Academy and getting our up and comers involved in leadership,” said Dr. Vidor Friedman (FCEP president 2011-12). “I am always amazed at the significance of our legislative presence in Tallahassee and with all of the other members of the House of Medicine.”

“We expanded our membership focus and kicked off the inaugural year of the Florida Leadership Academy,” said Dr. Kelly Gray-Eurom (FCEP president 2012-13). “We became the 7th largest chapter and sent 15 Councillors to represent the interests of Florida emergency physicians at the annual Council Meeting in Denver this October.”

“My year was also memorable for the tremendous growth in the educational programs offered by the college and the foundation.” – Dr. Ashley Booth-Norse (FCEP President 2014-15)

Emergency physicians around the world are suddenly in the spotlight as they bring stories from the ER to the public and discover lifesaving techniques against COVID-19. Executive director Jonathan Dolan begins his career at FCEP.