History of Medix
Michael Dimas started Medix Ambulance on January 6, 1978 when he was 24 years old with one ambulance he built in his parent’s garage in Santa Ana. Along with Joanna Prince Dimas, their goal was to have a service in which each and every patient was treated as the dearest loved ones of their own families. That has not, and never will, change.
Toward that end, in 1978 Medix was awarded a Certificate of Public Need and Necessity by the Santa Ana City Council. In 1979 Medix established what is now Orange County’s oldest Mobile Critical Care Interfacility Ambulance Transport Program. In 1981 Medix became the first, and so far only, ambulance service ever to have an office at Disneyland, at the request of Disneyland. Medix is the only private company in Disneyland history to have been allowed to wear Cast Member nametags without being Disney employees. In 1982, Medix was awarded the first and only Certificate of Public Need and Necessity ever granted by the Orange County Board of Supervisors for all levels of medical transportation.
Medix expanded its operations in 1982 by acquiring Golden West Ambulance, serving the Cypress, Los Alamitos. Rossmoor and Seal Beach areas. In 1984, having designed and built Orange County’s first Neonatal Intensive Care Ambulance, Medix became the primary transport service for Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the University of California Irvine Medical Center. Also in 1984 the Health Officer of Orange County designated Medix for an exclusive Emergency Operating Area (Mission Viejo) for 911 responses. The City of San Juan Capistrano followed by replacing their current provider with Medix in 1987. In 1988 Medix became the first ambulance service in Orange County to install a Computer Aided Dispatch System, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, and went on to become the largest contractor to the Orange County Fire Authority. Medix is the only ambulance provider ever to have served Laguna Hills Leisure World and Seal Beach Leisure World simultaneously for 911 responses.
In 1993 Medix established Orange County’s first private, state licensed Major Incident-Disaster Response System. On September 11, 2001 it was the only local such system in existence. In 1994 Medix Ambulance purchased its current corporate headquarters building in Mission Viejo allowing it to consolidate operations, billing, communications and fleet maintenance under one roof. In 1998 the OCFA implemented the paramedic services cost recovery plan, written by Michael Dimas in 1986. To date the OCFA has recovered over $100,000,000.00 in what would previously have been lost revenue using this method. In 2003 Medix received its unconditional 3-year accreditation by the Commission for the Accreditation of Ambulance Services with a perfect score, virtually unheard of in the industry. Medix has been fully accredited ever since.
Michael and Joanna Dimas divorced in 2006 and as a result of the property settlement finalized in 2010, Michael Dimas acquired 100% of the stock of Medix Ambulance Service, Inc. This transfer was approved in 2011 by the County of Orange, the City of Mission Viejo, and the Orange County Fire Authority.
Today, Michael Dimas and his Son Drew Dimas operate the company as majority stockholders. Drew is a Nationally Certified Emergency Medical Dispatcher and Registered Emergency Medical Technician. Michael’s Daughter Aryn and his Mother Nancy Griffin are current minority stockholders.
Medix is fortunate enough to have some of the best people in EMS working for it who have been drawn to Medix for its reputation as a unique and powerful force in the provision of innovative emergency medical transportation services.
We intend for Medix to continue to be reliable, professional, innovative, compassionate, cost effective and locally owned and operated “SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE”.
MICHAEL J. DIMAS DREW M. DIMAS
OWNER - OPERATORS