Durango Fire Protection District just named Dr. David Hughes its new emergency services director.

Hughes replaces Dr. Tony DeMond, who had been director since 2002.

Hughes, who has lived in Durango for 11 years, loves skiing, sings in Fort Lewis College Chamber Choir and is planning a trip to Rome with his wife. He also is no stranger to medical emergencies.

Indeed, though only 41, his career already could provide scriptwriters on “Grey’s Anatomy” with 20 seasons worth of bloody, sweaty and inspirational material – be it dealing with stab wounds or treating Durangoans afflicted by marijuana-induced illness.

“My stance isn’t anti-marijuana. Just know that it isn’t a benign herb,” he said, laughing.

Hughes has spent more than a decade in Mercy Regional Medical Center’s emergency room, where he is director of emergency services.

“The things we see most often are paramedics bringing people in with trauma, abdominal pain, chest pain and difficulty breathing,” he said. “Or, the big one that we see is called ‘multiple complaint,’ and abbreviated as ‘mult co,’ where the person has lots of different, variable complaints, and you have to figure out which one is the most important. That’s our favorite.”

Hughes also is director of emergency services for Pagosa Springs, Silverton and Flight For Life.

“When I started doing emergency services, I just liked it,” he said. “So I told (Scott) Sholes that if they ever had an opening, I wanted to apply.”

When Demond decided to step down in 2014, Hughes, who has four kids with his wife, Erin, an intensive-care nurse at Mercy, jumped at the chance to apply.

Scott Sholes, DFPD’s chief medical officer, said, “We went through a pretty substantial process to determine who would be a good fit for the organization, and we’re really excited to move forward with David.”

Sholes said Hughes will play “an absolutely vital role for our entire medical program.”

“In some ways, it’s a new era for us, and he can help create and update all the protocols that paramedics work under to create a framework of clinical care that both meets state guidelines while bringing a new outlook and a different background – one that hopefully moves us forward a little bit,” Sholes said.

DFPD Chief Dan Noonan said he is excited that Hughes has such a deep well of experience with medical emergencies to draw on.

Noonan said that though Hughes’ position will be part-time, demanding 29 hours a month, as emergency services director, Hughes will be responsible for the training and education of medics.

“He’s going oversee quality assurance, look for ways to improve quality and review all our protocols to ensure that we have the best protocols to follow when we respond to critical calls,” Noonan said.

And when it comes to ensuring quality medical care, the devil is in the details.

“The director of emergency services is responsible for all the prehospital care that someone receives from DFPD medics,” Noonan said. “For instance, when we respond to critical calls, and someone has a heart attack, we follow guidelines on how that person should be treated. But Hughes may find that after reviewing protocols, he believes the system needs to be changed and identify where the organization needs to move.

“As the director of emergency services, Hughes is going to look at all pre-hospital care nationwide – research and development and best practices – to ensure that this agency is on top of that.”

He expects Hughes to make particular headway in “reviewing call volume,” saying he was “absolutely” convinced Hughes was the right person for the job.

“Dr. Hughes is, I believe, a very aggressive emergency room doctor. He already oversees other EMS agencies,” Noonan said.

For his part, Hughes said he is eager to look at the way DFPD handles critical care.

But the thing he’s most looking forward to is working with the paramedics and getting to know them.

“I already know lots of them from the emergency room. So there’s good continuity there,” he said. “But the thing I’m most nervous about is forgetting people’s names. I have real big trouble with that.”

cmcallister@durangoherald.com