Bradley County Emergency Medical Service was honored with the Star of Life award in Nashville this week. Attending the ceremony were paramedics and others associated with a 2009 life-saving effort involving motorcyclist Shawn Hall. At the presentation were Jeff Spence, Jonathan Cowart, Jake Hill, Tony Cochran, Robbie Tester, John Clines, John Tyler, Wes Davis, Winston Wright, Keith Umberger, Rachel Dayhuff, Keisha Price and Hall.
Paramedics and others associated with the emergency call in October 2009 to a near-fatal motorcycle crash went to Nashville Tuesday to receive the award from Tennessee Emergency Medical Services for Children.
The call chosen for Tennessee Region 3 for 2009 was the life-saving treatment of 38-year-old Shawn Hall who came close to losing his life.
On Oct. 5, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. Bradley County responded EMS units to a reported accident on Highway 60 involving a motorcycle. When they arrived on the scene they never imagined what they were going to find. Hall was riding his motorcycle. He was passing an 18-wheeler while approaching a hill. A car came over the hill and struck him. He was knocked from the motorcycle and struck the “A” post of the car at which point the impact ripped his entire left leg off with part of his pelvis. He was thrown a long distance and landed in the middle of the road. The car struck the side of the 18-wheeler and crashed into a ditch. The motorcycle went beneath the front of the 18 wheeler and was dragged for several hundred feet. EMS crews arrived on the scene within minutes and at first glance, they thought the patient was dead, according to reports.
Hall has since recovered.
The TEMSFC EMS Star of Life event is designed to honor the accomplishments of EMS personnel from all regions of Tennessee who provide exemplary life-saving care to adult and pediatric patients.
Helping save Hall’s life were Keith Umberger-Critical Care Paramedic, paramedics Jeff Spence and Tony Cochran, John Clines-Critical Care Paramedic and Supervisor, EMT-IVs Jake Hill, Winston Wright, Richard Miller and John Tyler.
Hall was able to attend the ceremony in Nashville.
“We are very honored and humbled to say the least to have received this award now two years in a row. The men and women at our service are, as far as I am concerned, the best EMTs and paramedics in the state,” BCEMS Director Danny Lawson said.
Bradley County EMS was also the recipient of the first ever Star of Life Award presented last year.
It was given to BCEMS by the organizaton for the successful resuscitation of Meridith Parker, 29, who collapsed and died. She is alive and well today as a result of the life-saving efforts of BCEMS paramedics.
