Answering the call: IU Health Fishers team member supports community during historic flooding

Emma Avila, epackard1@iuhealth.org, writer for IU Health’s Metro Region

IU Health Fishers Guest Relations team lead Bryan Kercheval is helping strengthen and protect the Hamilton County community through his work with the Community Emergency Response Team, bringing the same spirit of service to both disaster response efforts and patient care.

For nearly a decade, Bryan Kercheval, Guest Relations team lead at IU Health Fishers, has dedicated his time to serving Hamilton County through the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), one of the volunteer programs under Hamilton County Emergency Management. It a FEMA-supported program that prepares residents to respond during emergencies and disasters.

As a certified CERT program coordinator, Kercheval oversees training that equips community members with critical disaster-readiness skills, including first aid, search and triage, situational awareness, Stop the Bleed, CPR and AED use. The goal is simple: help people protect themselves and their families first, then assist their neighbors when disaster strikes.

That training recently became action when severe flooding impacted Hamilton County. Kercheval and fellow CERT volunteers shifted from preparedness to response, coordinating field observations, supporting the county's emergency operations center, managing volunteer efforts such as sandbag production and conducting house-to-house damage assessments alongside local, state and federal partners.

"When the flooding started, it never felt like an 'extra' job to me," Kercheval says. "I'd work my day at the hospital, then head straight into the emergency operations center until midnight because if my neighbors are hurting, I want to be there helping."

His commitment to serving others is rooted in a lifelong desire to help people when they need it most. Whether responding to a community disaster or assisting patients and families at IU Health Fishers, Kercheval sees a common thread: providing calm guidance during uncertain moments.

He believes his background in public safety strengthens his ability to support patients, visitors and team members through situations that can often feel stressful or overwhelming.

"Whether I'm helping coordinate a disaster response or helping a visitor find their loved one, I see both as sacred opportunities to serve," he says. "My badge may say 'Guest Relations,' but at the heart of it, I'm still doing what I've always done: showing up for people when they need it most."