From left to right – Chief Danny Lawson – EMS Director, Sean Hennessee - Paramedic, Lt. Jeff Spence – Paramedic, Sonya McShan – Erlanger Representative, and Lt. Stan Clark – Public Relations
The 19th annual Southeastern Emergency Services Director’s Association or SEEMSDA Conference was held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. This Emergency Services Conference is one of the largest area conferences that caters to first responders. There were over 150 attendees at this year’s conference. The itinerary consisted of speakers from around the region doing presentations and lectures related to EMS.
One of the high lights of the conference was the second annual SEEMSDA Awards Banquet.
This event was designed to recognize local emergency responders in the southeast region of the state. This year personnel from Bradley County EMS were recognized for the 2014 Trauma Call of the Year. The recipients of the award were paramedics Jeff Spence, Sean Hennessee, Luke Fisher, Doug Evans, and Shawn Fairbanks. “The awards banquet was a huge success. Congratulations to all of the award recipients and big thanks to all of the attendees and sponsors,” said Stan Clark, SEEMSDA Conference Committee member, and EMS spokesperson.
The particular call that these paramedics were recognized for was the response to a serious car accident in October 2014 at the intersection of 25th Street and Peerless Road. The patient who this EMS crew treated was a teenage boy who suffered critical injuries. After treatment and a long road to recovery the young man is doing much better today.
This same crew will also be recognized for this same call on a state level in Nashville. The Star of Life Awards will be in May and recognizes EMS responders from every region in the state of Tennessee. The responding crew members and the patient and his family will be reunited at this event.
“It is a great feeling for responders to know that their hard work and training made a difference in someone’s life. They don’t do it for the recognition, but it is nice to see them get that pat on the back occasionally,” said Mr. Clark.