Dr. Jullette Saussy
Superintendent of the New Orleans
Emergency Medical Service

Dr. Jullette M. Saussy is currently the Director and Medical Director for New Orleans EMS, and also serves as Medical Director for the New Orleans Fire Department as well as the Chief Medical Officer for the Office of Homeland Security and Public Safety in the City of New Orleans.

Dr. Saussy began her career in EMS in 1984 and worked for the City of New Orleans as a paramedic before entering medical school in 1990. She received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University and her doctorate from Louisiana State University Health Science Center School of Medicine. She is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Section of Emergency Medicine at LSU Medical School in New Orleans. Prior to assuming the role as Director and Medical Director for New Orleans EMS in 2004, Dr. Saussy was a staff Emergency Department physician at The Medical Center of Louisiana, often referred to as “Charity Hospital”.

Dr. Saussy is a well-respected and internationally-decorated physician. The Tema Contra Memorial Trust Public Service Award, based in Toronto, Canada, is presented to the individual who has gone "above and beyond the call of duty" in the previous year while assisting his/her community of fellow emergency services personnel cope with the psychological stressors of Critical Incident Stress and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Saussy was awarded this international recognition in 2006 and she is the only non-Canadian recipient in recent years. In July of 2007, she received the Keith Neely Outstanding Contribution Award from the National Association of EMS Physicians, which is given for outstanding contributions to pre-hospital emergency care. In January 2007, she received the Michael Copass Award from her colleagues in the “Eagles” as well as City Business’ Health Care Heroes, “Fisrt Responder Hero in 2008.

As the author of several papers, ranging from such topics as “Drug-Related Heat Stroke” (co-author, Southern Medical Journal, vol. 95, issue 8, Aug. 1, 2002) as well as “Estimated Cost-Savings of a Pre-Hospital Traumatic Arrest Do-Not-Resuscitate Protocol” (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of EMS Physicians, Registry Resort, Naples, FL. Oct. 15, 2006) and more recently topics around best practices and advancing the pre-hospital medical field, Dr. Saussy is working diligently to showcase emergency medical services as a key public safety office and a strong professional field. She is frequently quoted in articles around protocols and standards of care, including the progression of services in New Orleans that have been made post-Katrina in the December 2007 article “How Two Physicians Have Transformed EMS Operations from the Top Down” (Best Practices-EMS, Fire, Rescue, Hazmat, Disaster Management; vol. 10, no. 10, Dec 2007). In the January 2008 issue of EMS Responder, Dr. Saussy highlighted the benefits of initiating an EMS Fellowship program that not only enhances the fellow’s field experience, but also provides valuable support to the field crews and hospital staff.

She has recently coordinated the development of Louisiana Region One EMS medical protocols along with her regional EMS colleagues. Incorporation into daily practice includes STEMI protocol using pre-hospital 12-leads (pre-PCI/PTCA), which facilitated the region’s first Chest Pain Center hospital accreditation through the Society for Chest Pain Centers in 2007. Efficacious utilization of the limited resources typically available to EMS staff have yielded an improved ‘first response’ for service, thus reducing the need for mutual aid from 17 percent of calls for service when she took over EMS in 2004 to under 1 percent today in spite of decreased numbers of field personnel to handle emergency calls. Her success in the field and integrating new techniques to advance pre-hospital care has led her to City Council approving the largest budget ever for EMS.

Dr. Saussy lectures extensively both nationally and internationally to emergency medical services and physician audiences. Recent conference presentations include American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP), EMS Expo, and Advancing Science Serving society (AAAS) among others; however, her passion remains functioning “in the streets”. She is a member of ACEP, the NAEMT, the NAEMSP, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Orleans Parish Medical Society and the Eagles, a group of Metropolitan EMS Medical Directors.

Dr. Saussy is the co-chair of the NAEMSP Emergency Preparedness Committee, the co-chair of the LSU Prehospital Trauma Committee, an active member of the Orleans Parish Medical Society EMS Committee in addition to serving on the Louisiana Emergency Response Network Regional Commission. She was recently appointed to Governor Jindal’s State EMS Commission. She is the mother of three teenage daughters and currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana.