Director ‘glad to be back’ with Cumberland rescue services again
Pliakas returns in leadership role
CUMBERLAND — The town’s new, and past, director of rescue services, John Pliakas, was found settling into his office Friday morning after taking on that role Monday.
Pliakas had served as director of rescue services in the late 1990s before leaving for a job as a flight paramedic with Boston MedFlight for 14 years.
“I’m glad to be back,” Pliakas said of his return to town duty. “It is a good department and I want to continue to move it forward,” the new director said.
Pliakas replaces Sean Thompson in the rescue director’s office. Thompson, a resident of
Lincoln, took a similar post in that community.
Pliakas, a local resident, noted the Cumberland Rescue is the only municipal rescue service in the state with all of its members holding certifications as paramedics, the highest level of credentialing available for emergency medical service providers.
The Cumberland Rescue Service is operated by the town out of the town rescue headquarters at 1512 Mendon Road but will be moving to the new Cumberland Public Safety Complex on Diamond Hill Road near the current police station when that facility is completed. The rescue service is operated separately from Cumberland Fire District departments in the town.
Pliakas will be working on the transition to a new headquarters as part of his duties and is also looking to continue the local department’s training programs.
He was the primary author of the state’s new emergency medical services protocols that were just released by the state EMS Advisory Board after working on them with many other EMS professionals.
Pliakas is also chair of the EMS Medical Affairs Committee and is nationally certified as a tactical paramedic and is a tactical paramedic for a police tactical team in RI.
He has served as the former Director of the Program of Paramedicine at the Memorial Hospital of RI.
Even with all of his connections to statewide EMS organizations, it is good to return to a place where he has already spent a good portion of his career, according to Pliakas. “I’m glad to be back,” he said.