For their efforts in helping save the lives of victims in an August crash on Allen Ferry Road, members of the DeKalb County Ambulance Service have earned the department the Upper Cumberland EMS Directors Association Region IV “Call of the Year” Award.
The honorees, Jamie Parsley-AEMT, Tyler Grandstaff-CCEMT-Paramedic, Jonathan Rudd-EMT-Paramedic, Houston Austin-EMT-Paramedic, Donna Melton-AEMT, Greta Stone-EMT-Paramedic, and Tim Briggs-EMT-Paramedic, were recognized and awarded during the Upper Cumberland EMS Directors Association’s Annual Education Symposium held in Cookeville Thursday and Friday, October 13 & 14.
During this conference, the association awarded EMTs and Paramedics from within the Upper Cumberland Region, who have excelled in their patient care and overall performance in service to the counties in which they serve. The nominations for these awards are carefully reviewed and considered by the members of the Director’s Association.
DeKalb EMS Director Hoyte Hale nominated the crew for the award based on their response to a serious two vehicle crash August 12 on Allen Ferry Road in which three students, Daniel Hudson, Christian Utley, and Dustin Utley and a teacher, Cody Randolph were injured on their way to school.
“On behalf of DeKalb County EMS, I would like to take this opportunity to nominate a team of outstanding and dedicated Emergency Medical Technicians that shows exemplifying qualities daily in their knowledge, skills, as well as compassion for their patients for the 2016 Region IV Upper Cumberland EMS Director’s Association “Call of the Year” Award, “ wrote Hale.
“At 7:10 a.m. the morning of August 12, the tones dropped and at that moment the entire crew that was on duty would be faced with critical life changing decisions and the knowledge and skills each of them hold would be put to the test. That Friday morning began as three brothers making their way to school and a PE teacher on his way to work collided. Responding unit 5 arrived and assessed the scene to witness four patients that were involved in a head-on collision, three of those patients, ages 10, 15, and 18, all brothers, were critical. The 10 year old patient was found in a ditch with severe seat belt contusions and a ridged distended abdomen hypotensive. The 15 year old suffered an open puncture wound to the upper chest and a laceration to the head and the 18 year old had an open femur fracture, broken arm, decreased breath sounds and signs of internal injuries,” wrote Hale
“Paramedic Briggs arrived on the scene to assist with the patients as the two additional units, unit 2 and unit 3 were called to respond. Air Evac 44, Air Evac 19, and Life Force 5 were also dispatched to the scene of the accident. All units on the scene were faced with a situation that most of us hope that we are never faced with in any child, however with the quick thinking response and life saving actions by all three crews, each boy is expected to have a full recovery from their major injuries with a lifelong story to tell,” Hale continued.
“All three boys have been released from Vanderbilt Hospital but all are still faced with many surgeries to overcome in the near future. Without the immediate response, the years of skills, training, and dedication to their community the EMS team put to use on that day, the outcome for these three boys and their family could have been devastating,” he wrote.
“Many other prehospital providers from our region have provided great service for their community and deserve to be recognized but I feel this crew deserves the EMT of the Year Award for the way they pulled together as a team and diligently worked to save the three brothers. With the years of hard work and training this crew holds, they touch numerous lives daily and make a difference in each patient’s life. The PE teacher was treated for non-life threatening injuries and was transported to the local hospital,” wrote Hale.
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