Ms. Dees began her career in EMS in 1984 while she was an fine arts professor in the Texas A&M University system. Beginning her career as an emergency medical technician at Eagle Mountain Fire Department in Tarrant County, she then worked for Medstar Ambulance from 1986-2001 in Fort Worth, Texas, and currently serves Watauga Fire Department as a field paramedic. She is currently assigned to the Irving Fire Department as the continuing education specialist. Ms. Dees also volunteers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as a child safety seat technician for Safe Kids Worldwide in Tarrant and Dallas counties. Developing an interest in medical Spanish as she encountered an increasing number of Spanish-speaking patients during her MICU shifts in Fort Worth, Ms. Dees designed and implemented Spanish for EMS Personnel classes in 1994 for the EMS program at North Central Texas College (Gainesville, TX), and taught Spanish CE classes for Medstar Ambulance in Fort Worth. In 1999, she won a merit award for her Spanish for the EMS Provider presentation at the National Association of EMS Educators Conference in Phoenix. Ms. Dees has presented Spanish for the EMS Provider workshops at the EMS Region III Conference in Ruidoso, New Mexico in 2003, and Texas EMS Conference 2002-2006 in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, TX. Her book, "Spanish Reference for EMS Providers", was published by Pearson Prentice Hall in 2006. Ms. Dees is currently completing her PhD at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX with a concentration in Health Studies for Higher Education. Her dissertation is entitled "Perceived effects of sleepiness and sleep deprivation among firefighters and emergency medical services providers working a 24/48 shift schedule".
