15th Annual
Tri-State Emergency Responders Conference

Fred (Fredrick) Benzel has been a member of the Grand Island Fire Department since 2006. He currently holds the position of Captain. He started his EMS career in 2001 at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE, in the Fire Protection Program. In 2005, he went back to Southeast Community College to obtain his certificate in Paramedicine. He has worked in a multitude of settings, including private, government, and transport services. In addition to working for the Grand Island Fire Department, he is a lead instructor for the Central Community College Paramedic program in Grand Island, NE. He finished a Bachelor’s in Health Science Administration in February 2021. Fred has presented at and coordinated multiple fire and EMS conferences throughout the state of Nebraska since 2013 and assists community EMS programs and Volunteer Fire Departments with training and continuing education.

Fred Benzel has been a member of the Grand Island Fire Department since 2006. He currently holds the position of Captain. He started his EMS career in 2001. In 2005, he went back to obtain his certificate in Paramedicine. He has worked in a multitude of settings, including private, government, and transport services. He is also the lead instructor for the Central Community College Paramedic program in Grand Island, NE. In 2021, Fred also received the EMS instructor of the year award for the state of Nebraska.

Stephen is a paramedic, educator, and author whose career in prehospital emergency medicine spans 40 years. Chief Rahm currently oversees the Office of Clinical Direction at the Centre for Emergency Health Sciences in Bulverde, Texas, and manages all clinical efforts within Bulverde Spring Branch Emergency Services.

Stephen is a prolific author, with numerous prehospital emergency medicine textbooks, videos, and articles published to his credit. Additionally, his research efforts are published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, Pediatric Emergency Care, Prehospital Emergency Care, JAMA, Resuscitation, Military Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as on multiple scientific posters.

He is the Centre’s Co-Chair and is a respected faculty member in procedural and anatomical programs, multi-lead ECG interpretation, trauma care, cardiac arrest management, and more.

Chief Rahm is a frequent speaker at local, regional, state, national, and international conferences, where he presents engaging, relevant, and current content across a wide spectrum of emergency medicine topics.

Denell Rhinehart is a 16-year EMS veteran with experience that spans the gamut from rural volunteer BLS/911 to critical care HEMS. She is based at Life Net 1-3 in Columbus, Nebraska, and serves Air Methods as a member of the Outreach, Education, and Development team. Denell also serves as the Simulation Coordinator and Program Faculty for the Paramedic Program at Central Community College in Grand Island. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Nebraska Emergency Medical Services Association (NEMSA), the Nebraska Statewide EMS Conference, and the Nebraska Association of Aeromedical Services (NEAAMS), as well as serving as the NEMSA Conference Committee Chair, Education Coordinator, and a member of the NEAAMS Safety Symposium Committee. She has been educating students since 2009 and was awarded NEMSA's Chuck Woll Memorial EMS Instructor of the Year in 2024. She has also presented at several EMS conferences in multiple states. Denell continues to serve as the assistant captain of her volunteer BLS EMS service in Fullerton, NE, and also teaches various continuing education classes. She believes the goal of EMS educators should be to train competent and confident providers and to train themselves out of jobs.

Denell discovered during her career that the mental health of first responders is something she cares very much about. She joined the Nebraska CISM team, providing group and individual peer support to first responders throughout the state. In her quest to promote mental health and resiliency of first responders, the duck university first responder mental health survey was created, gaining nationwide responses and producing eye-opening data. She has visited dozens of departments and conferences with her Inside Out presentation and continues to work towards better resources for first responder mental health. She continues in her efforts to grow her educational company, Duck University, while working on furthering her education, including Community Paramedicine.