2025 Florida Ambulance Association Star of Life
Debra Dunbar, Assistant BLS Field Operations Supervisor 
Sunstar Paramedics 

Deb Dunbar has served Pinellas County, Florida and Sunstar Paramedics for the past 23 years in multiple capacities starting with field paramedic to her current position of BLS Supervisor. Her career and continued support of the community has sparked the birth and continued growth of the BLS contingent in medical transport.

Deb Dunbar was not just an integral part of the BLS component but “The” integral part of the BLS component in emergency and non-emergency transport. Pinellas County integrated BLS transportation in January 2022 into a previous all ALS system, which had been in place since 1988. Mrs. Dunbar was involved in the ambulance setup, protocol creation, EMT training, and the addition of the new EMR clinician role. Supervisor Dunbar has been a critical part of the birth and continued improvement of our BLS system. The BLS division was started several years ago when the company was 100% ALS (paramedic) response for all calls including interfacility (IFT). Starting with just 4 shifts a day, she was able to create real-time reports for the crews and compile daily feedback on her own. This process had not yet been completed for the new program during its early stages and was very time-consuming. The program expanded rapidly and now has a fleet of over 20 BLS IFT ambulances which she oversees daily. In addition to this, the program was so successful it allowed the addition of BLS 911 and the new position of Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) to meet the needs of the community during COVID. These additional units and positions were so successful during the trial program the county adopted them permanently. Every day she has continued to mentor personnel, answer continuous phone calls, support the employees’ needs while increases in requests for service that now attribute to 22% of the call volume of our busy system. Many times, Mrs. Dunbar has taken the time to physically walk alongside an inexperienced EMR with an expectations conversation that blossoms into an employee that walks down the graduation aisle of paramedic school. No matter the time of day, even on vacation, if she has cell phone service, she will answer a call or text from her crew to ensure their success.