Most of his two and a half years with MedStar were spent coordinating Fort Worth\u2019s takeover of the services.<\/p>\n
Now, he is responsible for writing the city\u2019s<\/a> clinical protocols for medical service providers, reviewing each medical employee\u2019s credentials and teaching them how the city wants them to practice.<\/p>\n \u201cTexas is very unique. Most states have a state scope of practice that says, \u2018This is what EMTs and paramedics can do.\u2019 We do not,\u201d Jarvis said. \u201cIt\u2019s whatever the medical director says.\u201d<\/p>\n Cowtown\u2019s Next Chapter is an introduction to the Fort Worth staff managing city resources, launching community-serving programs and spearheading change across the city. The series spotlights the new faces leading city initiatives and explores their visions for their roles and department priorities.<\/p>\n Jarvis\u2019 office works to improve Fort Worth\u2019s medical services, offering continuing education, identifying systemic weaknesses and assuring quality of care, he said.<\/p>\n Texas cities are not obligated to provide EMS, but if they create such a service system, they must have a medical director.<\/p>\n Jarvis reports directly to Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington and is independent, by design, from the Fort Worth Fire Department and EMS.\u00a0<\/p>\n The \u201cchecks and balances\u201d system is a common structure cities and medical communities have preferred for decades to ensure high-quality clinical care, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re comfortable with knowing that the medical director cannot be coerced to change the medical practice based on the operational needs of the department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Jarvis said his role and expertise goes beyond responding to 911 calls. The medical director\u2019s resources also can be used to deal with issues such as homelessness, substance abuse and maternal mortality.<\/p>\n He chairs Fort Worth\u2019s Medical Control Advisory Board<\/a>, which is composed mostly of hospital partners and a few city staff. The board coordinates how Fort Worth and hospitals respond to the city\u2019s most pressing issues, which range from sports event planning to prepping for heat waves.<\/p>\n The Office of the Medical Board has a budget of about $3 million for fiscal year 2026.<\/p>\n Medical director sought \u2018routes to help serve\u2019<\/p>\n Jarvis started his career at 18 as a volunteer firefighter in a small rural city north of Houston, where he grew up. That work led him to discover an interest in EMS.<\/p>\n Climbing through the credentialed ranks of emergency medical care, he soon became a paramedic. He then went to New York to study for a master\u2019s degree in EMS with a focus on public health.<\/p>\n \u201cI really enjoyed science and wanted to know more about it,\u201d Jarvis said. \u201cI wanted to know more about why we did the things we did as paramedics, and I wanted to help.\u201d<\/p>\n After moving back to Texas, he merged into education, starting and teaching an EMS-related education program at Temple College.<\/p>\n EMS remained his passion over the years. He kept looking for a system overseen by a medical director that \u201creally believed in EMS clinicians and wanted to help them grow.\u201d<\/p>\n After struggling to find a medical director he was happy with, he decided to become one himself, going to medical school in Galveston to become qualified. He said medical school was primarily a route to better serve in EMS, as he loved connecting with people and helping them when they were most in need.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mom was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher, and I\u2019ve always just felt like the way to get better at anything is education,\u201d he said. \u201cMy default is: Whatever the problem is, the answer is education.\u201d<\/p>\n During his interview with MedStar in Fort Worth, Jarvis wasn\u2019t sure he wanted to leave his job in Central Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n What won him over, he said, was that Fort Worth offered an outlet to have a bigger impact and serve a larger community that still felt tight-knit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that was so special to me about EMS was that I got to form a relationship with individual people who needed help,\u201d he said. \u201cI still think that\u2019s the best part of being a doctor \u2014 forming a relationship with your patients and then helping them.\u201d<\/p>\n Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @shawlings601<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CNC-logo-v3-1.png\"){kind=logo}
(Ella Scott-Dean | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
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