Dana Cardenas has been an RN for 20 years. She is a graduate from Western New Mexico University. She works as the EMS/Community Coordinator for Tempe Fire Medical Rescue (TFMR) in Tempe, Arizona, and manages the Patient Advocate Services Program (PAS), which is Tempe Fire Medical Rescue’s Community Medicine Program. The PAS Program is to identify and bridge the gaps in the healthcare system for our City of Tempe residence. Prior to joining TFMR, she spent most of her career as a Critical Care Nurse specializing in Emergency Room and Critical Care Nurse Transports.

Dana has helped TFMR become one of the first fire departments in the country to partner with the Veterans Administration to provide medical and behavioral health services to veterans through the VA Tele-Med Program, has become an accredited provider for the VA.

Dana was asked to be a Fellow with Hospice of the Valleys Dementia Program and her change project partnered with Tempe Police Department to educate more than 450 first responders in being dementia aware since 2019.

Dana’s goals include helping to standardize community medicine and help other fire departments gain suitability for their programs.