From the Field to Leadership: Cindy Rantisi’s Growth at Westmed

Cindy Rantisi joined Westmed as an EMT in January 2025. At the time, her job was centered on patient care and the day-to-day work happening in the field. Within months, she had an opportunity to see the operation from a completely different side. In September 2025, Cindy moved into the Communications Center as an EMS Dispatcher. Dispatch gave her a wider view of the system. Instead of working one call at a time, she was now helping coordinate crews across the service area, managing unit coverage, working through facility requests, and seeing how decisions made at the console affected what happened in the field. That experience eventually led to another step forward. In April 2026, Cindy was promoted to System Status Manager. Her progression from EMT to Dispatcher to manager happened in just over a year, but each role gave her a different understanding of how Westmed operates.

Learning the Operation from Both Sides

Working as an EMT gave Cindy first-hand experience with the realities crews face during a shift. She understood what it was like to receive a call from dispatch, respond to a facility, manage a transport, and move through the system as conditions changed throughout the day. When she moved into dispatch, that field experience came with her.

The Communications Center has to balance a number of things at once: incoming calls, unit availability, coverage gaps, facility-specific requirements, travel time, and the needs of crews already out on the road.

For Cindy, becoming a dispatcher meant learning how those pieces fit together.

It also gave her a better understanding of the decisions happening behind every assignment. A unit move that might look simple from the field can be part of a larger coverage plan. A facility request may come with its own protocol. A busy period may require dispatchers to continuously adjust where resources are placed. Having worked on both sides made it easier to understand the impact those decisions have on crews and patients.

Growing into a Leadership Role

As System Status Manager, Cindy now leads Westmed’s Communications Center.

Her responsibilities include overseeing unit deployment and system coverage, reviewing quality and performance, coaching dispatchers, and helping develop staff as they move from call-taking into more senior roles. She also works closely with Business Development when new accounts, facility requirements, or operational changes need to be translated into something dispatchers and field crews can actually use. That connection between departments is an important part of the role. What is promised to a customer has to work in practice. Dispatch has to understand the expectation, crews need clear direction, and the system has to have the capacity to support it.

Cindy helps connect those pieces while continuing to develop policies, procedures, training standards, and onboarding for the Communications Center.

"Having been on the other side of the radio, I know the challenges crews face in the field and how important it is for dispatch to provide communication, support, and understanding. I try to bring that perspective into my leadership and make sure our crews feel supported while also helping our dispatchers grow and understand what EMT’s have to go through daily."

- Cindy Rantisi, Systems Status Manager

Her background in the field continues to shape the way she approaches the job.

She knows what a decision at the console looks like once it reaches an EMT in an ambulance, and she also understands the larger operational picture that crews may not always see from the field.

More Than One Way to Grow in EMS

A career in EMS does not have to follow one route. Some EMTs stay in patient care and move into more advanced clinical roles. Others discover an interest in training, operations, communications, management, or another part of the organization. Westmed encourages employees to explore those opportunities when they are ready for something new. That can mean taking on more responsibility within the same department, learning a completely different side of the operation, or bringing field experience into a leadership position.

Cindy’s path is one example of what that can look like. She did not have to leave Westmed to find the next step in her career, the opportunities were here for her to grow into. As Westmed continues to grow, we want our employees to grow with us, giving those who already understand our crews, operations, and communities the opportunity to step into leadership roles.