We are dedicated to helping humankind manage disasters at any scale.

As the Founder and CEO of Eden Medical Rescues Inc., Robert Nowaczyk’s vision is to assemble an elite cadre of international USAR instructors who can share their extensive on-the-ground experience with EMS professionals, teams, and trainees worldwide. He is passionate about bolstering disaster response on a global level to help protect humanity in the face of both common and unprecedented challenges.
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He is well positioned to do so, with over 35 years of EMS experience. He has been a Certified California Paramedic for over 30 years and a Firefighter Paramedic for the County of Los Angeles Fire Department for the past 24 years. He has also served as USAR Medical Coordinator for the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, USA2/CATF2, for the past 15 years, and has been involved in four international USAR deployments and five domestic FEMA USAR deployments.

Robert has accumulated years of experience as a USAR Instructor on the local, state, federal, and international levels and specializes in Confined Space Rescue, Collapsed Structure Rescue, Confined Space Medicine-MTT, High Angle / Low Angle Rope Rescue, Trench Rescue, Air Operations and Swiftwater / Flood Rescue, Swiftwater Helo Rescue Swimmer, Boat Operator, and Tactical SWAT Paramedic. For 15 years, he has worked for the LACOFD USAR Instructor Cadre with FEMA, USAID, and INSARAG / United Nations as an International USAR Medical Classifier. Robert has also been involved as an Exercise Control (EXCON) and Evaluator during multiple exercises throughout California, the United States, and abroad.

Over the course of his career, Robert has been deployed over nine times, including immediate deployments with the USAID USAR Team, USA2, to Haiti, New Zealand, Nepal, and Mexico City following devastating earthquakes. During these international deployments, Robert and his team were able to extricate and medically treat 11 trapped victims buried in multiple collapsed buildings, and he directly provided medical treatment to nine of those individuals. In the aftermath of these experiences, Robert was able to apply and share his learnings to other USAR teams globally.

Jennifer Parke is a Co-Founder and the Chief Operating Officer at EDEN Medical Rescue, where she applies her 20 years of experience in founding and scaling businesses to promote their higher purpose. 

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Her passion lies in transforming organizations to achieve their higher purpose, bridging the gap between current capabilities and future advancements. Jennifer excels at using brand awareness and evidence-based strategies to position Eden Medical Rescues as a leader in USAR training and development. Committed to supporting mission-driven teams, she drives innovation and growth to ensure effective and impactful disaster response solutions.

Chris Schaff is an innovative leader in international disaster response and capacity building and serves as an advisor to multiple humanitarian and government organizations. He has over 35 years of professional experience with a focus on training, resiliency development, and crisis response. Chris retired from the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department as a Battalion Chief in the Special Operations Division. In his final assignment, he served as the Program Manager of the international urban search and rescue team USA-1. Chris also has over 30 years practicing pre-hospital emergency medicine in ground and air critical care response.

Chris has also served in the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group as a member of the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination team. He has numerous international deployments as a subject matter expert in disaster response coordination and mitigation supporting host country leadership and non-government organizations. As a member of the U.N. team, Chris served as a disaster response team assessor, classifier, and primary mentor to organizations seeking United Nations response team classification.

Christopher Ho is an Emergency Physician who has been in practice for more than 20 years.  He works in the Emergency Department at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, which is a tertiary care, stroke, STEMI, trauma, and ECMO receiving center.  He was the first Chief of Emergency Medicine for Sharp’s ED and currently serves on the Board of Directors for San Diego Emergency Physicians.

Dr. Ho received his medical degree and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of California at San Diego.  His areas of expertise include wilderness medicine, search and rescue medicine, and emergency extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).  

His background in wilderness medicine includes prior roles as an expedition physician in Alaska and Nepal, including a posting as a basecamp doctor at Mount Everest.  He has taught wilderness medicine in a variety of settings, for groups ranging from the Wilderness Medical Society to the FDNY Medical Special Operations conference.

Dr. Ho has been involved in FEMA Urban Search and Rescue for more than 15 years, and serves as one of the Medical Team Managers on California Task Force 8. He has also been one of the national FEMA instructors for the USAR Medical Specialist Training course and a subject matter expert for FEMA for more than a decade.

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Jeff Beeson has spent over 30 years specializing in out of hospital healthcare delivery. He started his career as an Emergency Medical Technician working in rural Texas and advanced his training to became a Paramedic and Registered Nurse working in various emergency and critical care settings, specializing in aeromedicine.  Jeff returned to the classroom and completed his medical education at HSC in Fort Worth and his Emergency Medicine Residency at Parkland in Dallas. He is Board Certified in Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services. Jeff currently works at the HSC in Fort Worth as VP of Clinical Partnerships and serves as a Medical Team Manager for Texas Task Force search and rescue teams. His passion lies in developing innovative care delivery models in remote and austere environments.

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Alex is an experienced operations professional with success in leading teams within the health tech and Emergency Medical Services industries. He appreciates a data-driven approach and prioritizes the cultivation of a positive and supportive team environment. Alex’s passion for medicine began during his time spent as a paramedic providing care in medically underserved communities.

Alex has also spent a number of years managing dispatch/communication centers where he has had the opportunity to work with domestic and international flight EMS, critical care transport, mass gathering coordination, and concierge medical services. Additionally, he led an operations team responsible for launching mobile urgent care/community paramedic services in new territories where these services were not available before. Alex has successfully managed multiple businesses in various sectors from launch into profitable operations. He continues to support the development of emergency services and medical care into the next generation.

Rich Adam has 35+ years of experience in the Fire Service, beginning with the U.S. Forest Service as a Wildland Firefighter. He then joined the County of Los Angeles Fire Department, where he served as an Air Attack Wildland Firefighter, Firefighter/EMT, and Engineer. Rich has spent most of his career as a member of the LACoFD USA-2/CA-TF2 USAR Team, where he served as a Rescue Specialist, Technical Information Specialist, and Communications Technician.

Additionally, Rich has been an Instructor Cadre member for LACoFD USAR and a developer of the LACoFD curriculum for GPS Land Navigation and Mobile Data Collection. Rich is a California State Fire Marshal Instructor for Rope Rescue, Structural Collapse Specialist 1: Operations, and Rescue Technician.

He served as a member of the team that developed the current USAR Training facility at the LACoFD Del Valle Regional Training Center.

Rich has been deployed with LACoFD USA-2/CA-TF2 for various disasters, both internationally and domestically. He has had the privilege to hold the role of lead planner and exercise controller for numerous International and National training exercises for LACoFD USA-2/CA-TF2 and has assisted many other agencies in facilitating their own exercises.

Pat Kelly has 39 years of experience in the fire service. He began his career as a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service before moving on to the City of Farmington as a firefighter and Engineer. Pat was hired by the County of Los Angeles Fire Department as a Firefighter in 1983 and went on to PTI Paramedic School in 1984.

Pat spent 20 years with the LACOFD Technical Operations Division. During this time, he served as the USAR Medical Coordinator for the LACOFD USAR Team USA2 / CATF2 and was a member of the LACOFD USAR Instructor Cadre. Pat was deployed Internationally with USAID USA2 to both Haiti and Japan following devastating earthquakes. He has also deployed for the United Nations to Istanbul, Turkey and Sydney, Australia. Pat responded domestically with CATF2 for the FEMA deployment to Katrina in 2005 as well, and has assisted as an Exercise Controller for multiple USAID / FEMA MOBEXs and SIMEXs.

Pat currently works as a docent at the Los Angeles County Fire Museum as well as being involved with his local church. He is happily married with two daughters.

Trip McKinnon’s 39 years of experience in Emergency Services began in the early 1980s when he became an Firefighter EMT and then a paramedic. He spent over 31 years with the Phoenix Fire Department, where he worked as an Acting Captain, Engineer, Firefighter Paramedic, Technical Rescue Technician, Hazardous Material Tech, plus provided Fire and Medical instruction until his recent retirement. Trip joined FEMA AZ-TF1 in 1992 as a Rescue Specialist and became a Medical Specialist. During his career he became the FEMA Medical Coordinator and Instructor for the AZ-TF1 team, serving 25 years in the position. He has served as the FEMA Medical Specialist Course Coordinator, a responsibility he held since 2001 and prior to which he functioned as a lead FEMA Medical Instructor and California OES Lead Medical Instructor. Trip also boasts 21 years of experience in developing and coordinating MTT training courses throughout the USA.

Trip previously worked with the Eagle Air Rescue Helicopter / Fix Winged Paramedic program, as well as with the Crash Rescue Air support program in Mesa, Arizona. His deployments include the Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Florence; coordinating all team deployments for AZ TF-1 during his tenure.

Scott is a retired Captain and Paramedic with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. with over 42 years experience in prehospital care. He has spent the last 15 years of his career assigned as the supervisor of Engine and Medic 53, the busiest unit out of the district’s 41 stations, accounting for well over 10,000 runs a year. Scott has been an integral part of Sacramento’s Urban Search and Rescue Team, CA Task Force 7, since its inception in 1992.  For the past 25 years, he acted as the Medical Team Coordinator and was responsible for team training and cache development.  He has participated in 7 team deployments. 

Scott was the lead Medical Unit Leader for the California Interagency Incident Management Team 3.  This Type 1 Team responded to multiple large scale incidents including Hurricane Katrina.  His medical unit treated over 2600 firefighters each year. He has taken part in many technical rescues over the course of his career.  He presents an instructional background including EMT-1, EMT-P, ACLS, and PHTLS.  He is also a certified instructor with the California State Fire Marshal’s Office Training Program and has participated in both the FEMA & Cal-OES US&R Medical Specialist Courses as a lead instructor. Additionally, Scott has chaired both the FEMA and California OES Urban Search and Rescue Medical Working Groups.

Darrick has 30 years of experience with Los Angeles County Fire Department, serving as Firefighter, Firefighter Paramedic, Engineer and Captain/Paramedic until his retirement in 2018.

Darrick is one of the original 18 members of Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 103 (USAR), one of the main developers of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Del Valle Training Facility, and a California State Fire Marshal Instructor.  Darrick’s experience and motivation allowed him to become the Lead Instructor for RS2 and RS3 from 2004 until 2018. Darrick has been a member of California Task Force 2 (CATF2) for 22 years, holding positions of Rescue Specialist, Rescue Squad Officer, Heavy Rigging Specialist and Technical Search Specialist.  He served as Qualified Relief for LACO FD Air Operations, living out his dream to hang out of helicopters.
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Darrick has spent a majority of his career training other fire agency personnel in Advanced Technical Rescue through local and state courses.  Darrick also was deployed internationally several times as a member of USA2 where he trained NGOs, which included law enforcement and military personnel, in Rescue Techniques.
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Darrick represented the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) as a Rescue Instructor in South Africa, China and Haiti; worked as a Heavy Rigger in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami; was deployed as an Evaluator and Exercise Control Officer to Australia; served as a Classifier and Rescue Squad Officer for a multi-task force MOBEX on three separate occasions in the United Kingdom.

Ron Ripley worked for the County of Los Angeles Fire Department for 34 years, serving as Firefighter, Firefighter-Paramedic, Engineer, and Captain. During this period, he also served as an EMS instructor and assisted in developing the department’s current Driver-Operator curriculum.

Ron joined CA-TF2/USA2 in 1996 as a Rescue Specialist. In 2007, Ron moved to the Logistics section. First serving as a Logistics Specialist, he eventually was promoted to Logistics Manager. His duties included, but were not limited to, managing the equipment cache for CA-TF2, preparing the cache for ground and air transport, constructing and demobilizing base camps during emergency deployments, and rehabilitating the equipment and cache following deployments. Ron has attended the U.S. Air Force Load Planner class and is certified as a HazMat Preparer for civilian as well as military aircraft. During his time as a Logistics Manager, he served on the FEMA USAR Logistics Transportation Working Group and worked with OFDA/BHA in addition to FEMA as an instructor as well as an evaluator and observer during exercises and simulated deployments involving other USAR teams.

During Ron’s time with CA-TF2/USA2 he deployed internationally to earthquakes in Haiti, Japan, Nepal, as well as a simulated earthquake exercise in Armenia. Ron deployed domestically to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike. He also assisted OFDA/BHA in 2010 with sending medical supplies to Haiti during a Cholera outbreak.

Since retiring in 2017, Ron has continued to serve with CA-TF2/USA2 in a civilian capacity as a consultant and instructor.

Katie Roberts has 25 years of experience in emergency medicine. She began her career as an EMT in 1997 and became a paramedic in 1998. Katie has worked as a firefighter/paramedic in the Bay Area since 2000. She joined FEMA CA-TF3 in 2009 as a Hazmat Specialist and has served as Medical Coordinator for the team since 2017. She has extensive teaching and curriculum development experience and has taught the FEMA Hazmat Specialist courses / FEMA Enhanced Operation in a Contaminated Environment and been a lead Medical Team Training instructor for 10 years. She spent many years teaching HazmatIQ and other various programs in across 25 states. Katie has deployed to several hurricanes and disasters and worked with a number of humanitarian groups providing aid and education in South America, Africa, and the Caribbean. She has additionally assisted as an Exercise Controller for several USAID USA-1 and USA-2 MOBEXs.

Chief Kit Hessel is a highly experienced and decorated firefighter/paramedic who has served with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department for over 25 years. He is currently a Battalion Chief, and his role includes managing EMS and rescue operations for a heavy rescue company, 2 tankers, 4 swift water boats, a technical support unit, and various other apparatus.

Chief Hessel has also worked with the Virginia Task Force -1/USA Task Force -1 USAR team since 1998. He is currently a Task Force Leader, and he has deployed with these teams domestically and internationally under FEMA and OFDA. He has been deployed on eleven missions, most recently as Task Force Leader to the hurricanes in Puerto Rico.

Chief Hessel's additional qualifications include FXCO Fire Prevention Office Branch Manager, USAR Safety Instructor, USAR structural specialist, swift water rescue technician, Fire Officer III, Fire Instructor II, and IAFF/ACE Peer Fitness Trainer. He is a highly skilled and experienced professional who is dedicated to providing the best possible service to his community.

Rich’s goal is to share the extensive knowledge and experiences he’s accumulated through over 40 years of field experience to enable others to enhance their rescue skills, knowledge, and USAR capabilities.

Rich Atwood is a 31-year veteran with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He most recently held the position of USAR Captain/Paramedic with LACOFD Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 103, prior to his retirement. He had also been an active member of USA2 / CATF2 for the past 29 years. Within that organization, he served as Rescue Team Manager (RTM), Operations Manager (OPS), Search Team Manager (STM), Communications Manager, Rescue Squad Officer, Medical Specialist, Technical Search Specialist, Rescue Boat Operator, Rescue Swimmer, and Heavy Rigger.

Rich was one of the main developers of the LACOFD Del Valle USAR training facility and has developed multiple USAR Training Programs. While serving as a member of the LACOFD USAR Instructor Cadre, he has been involved as an Exercise Control (EXCON) and Evaluator during more than 50 exercises held at Del Valle and throughout the state of California. Rich was selected to be a member of the Curriculum Development Cadre for California State Fire Marshal Structural Collapse Specialist I & II, Confined Space Rescue Technician, and Machinery Rescue Technician Courses. He has been a California State Fire Marshal instructor for 34 years.

Rich has been deployed multiple times as a member of CATF2/ USA2 to local, state, federal, and International disasters. Some of those deployments include the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti Earthquake, the Chinese Earthquake, and the Japanese Earthquake. Rich also served five years as a Communications Unit Leader with the FEMA USAR Incident Support Team (IST) Red and was deployed to multiple domestic disasters throughout this time.

Dave Norman began his 39 year career with the Los Angeles County Throughout his impressive career Dave has served on numerous elite units and task forces and has trained scores of emergency personnel in many disciplines.

His career has led Dave to deploy with local, federal, and international teams to disasters of all origins worldwide. His skill set includes Strike Team Leader, Instructor, Battalion Chief, Rescue Technician, Medical Specialist, Committee Chair, Executive of Training, Fire Marshall, Safety Officer, Urban Search and Rescue team member, Paramedic, and much more.

Dave is a veteran instructor experienced in teaching USAR, Safety, Marshall, Medical, Firefighting, Incident Command and other courses for emergency personnel. As a FEMA Incident Team member he has served as: Safety Officer, Incident Support Team, Medical Specialist, Rescue, Heavy Equipment. California State Division Group Supervisor. California State Strike Team Lead Instructor. and FEMA USAR Division Group Supervisor IST-Red.

Reflecting Dave's impressive variety of professional experience he is qualified and tasked with teaching a large number of classes for Eden.

Kevin P. Frye joins the EDEN team with over 30 years of public safety service and currently holds the rank of Captain with the County of Los Angeles Fire Department. Prior to joining the Fire Department, Kevin served honorably in the United States Marine Corps and as a Deputy Sheriff with Orange County CA.  During the 24 years Kevin has been with the County of Los Angeles, he has spent the majority of his career assigned to a USAR station. Formally trained in all disciplines of Technical Rescue, he has operated in the positions of Technician, Manager and Coordinator. Kevin has been a member of CATF2/ USA2 (FEMA and BHA) where he has served on multiple deployments both nationally and internationally, operating as Rescue Specialist, Tech Search Specialist, Logistician, UCC, Equipment operator and OPS Manager.

Kevin has been fortunate to be part of several Instructor cadres. He has written curriculum and helped develop instructional programs for LACoFD and the California State Fire Marshall’s office. Kevin is a senior/lead Instructor in the disciplines of Fire Ground Survival, Rope Rescue, Building Collapse and Confined Space. For the last decade, Kevin has also served as an Advisor, Lead EXCON for multiple exercises, and INSARAG Classifier. He has also participated in multiple International SIMEX’s.

Kevin currently serves as the resident Captain at Fire Station 55 on Catalina Island off the coast of California.

John is passionate about all aspects of emergency medicine.  He is a strong promoter of education and training; that fosters, knowledge sharing, patient advocacy and compassion. He is a Firefighter/Paramedic with the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD), Air Operations Section; the Medical Coordinator for California Task Force 1 FEMA US&R Team, as well as an associate professor at Ventura College, School of Prehospital & Emergency Medicine.

After completing an undergraduate Degree in 1986, John’s career started off as a Student Teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District teaching English and Shakespeare. He transitioned careers from education, to health care and rescue, and became the Medical Training Officer for the Los Angeles County Lifeguards, at Castaic Lake.  John joined the Fire Department in 1990 and is proud to be an active working field Firefighter/Paramedic. He is a Certified Flight Paramedic with the County of Los Angeles and holds several certificate level instructor positions with the National Association of EMS Educators (Instructor 1), State Fire Marshal’s Office Fire Instructor, the American Heart Association (BLS, ACLS, & PALS), along with the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (PHTLS).  He is also an instructor for FEMA, as a Critical Care Paramedic, teaching critical care medicine that focuses on prolonged field care in a hostile and austere environment.  He is a Rescue Diver, a Diver Medical Technician (DMT) and a Certified Hyperbaric Technician (CHT) and has worked at both USC and UCLA’s hyperbaric chambers.  In 2016 John was invited to be an international guest lecturer on “critical care flight medicine”; with an emphasis on search and rescue flight operations, in Sao Paulo Brazil.  Finally, John is a proud Associate Professor, of Prehospital and Emergency Medicine, at Ventura College where he has the privilege to educate tomorrow's prehospital health care clinicians and paramedics.

EMS Captain Carlos Garcia has over 30 years of experience in Emergency Medical Services. His career began as an EMT at a Children’s Hospital and local ambulance service. In 1992, Carlos launched his career in the Fire Service with the City of Miami Fire Department. He joined FEMA FLTF2 in 2004 as a Rescue Specialist before transitioning to the role of Medical Rescue Specialist beginning in 2012. He has been an Instructor in the Fire Service since 2011 and Instructor for the FEMA Medical Rescue Specialist Course MTT since 2014. He also serves as the UAS Drone Coordinator for Miami Fire Department and FLTF2. During his tenure as an Urban Search and Rescue team member, Carlos deployed to a number of hurricanes and earthquakes as a Medical Specialist and UAS Drone Pilot. He was most recently deployed with FEMA for 28 days to assist in the USAR rescue and recovery efforts at the Florida Surfside Condominium Collapse.

William "Chip" Gamble is a Battalion Chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He began his impressive career in 2000 as a firefighter with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. With a bachelors degree in History and Political Science, as well as a masters degree in Organizational Leadership, he is extremely well rounded in his skillset.

Alongside his duties as a local Battalion Chief, Chip has worked with California Task Force -2/USA -2 since 2010. Deploying to numerous domestic and international incidents under FEMA and OFDA, respectively. From 2015 to present he has also served as USAR Coordinator for USAID, providing technical and practical coordination during humanitarian crises across the globe.

Additionally, Chief Gamble has had the privilege of developing and teaching the first 5 International USAR Coordination Cell courses in 3 regions worldwide for INSARAG/The United Nations.