Joe Thomason, paramedic supervisor, Dr. Jesse Coleman, award recipient, Danny Lawson, EMS director, Stan Clark, paramedic and award presenter.
The Tennessee Ambulance Service Association held its annual mid-winter EMS conference in Gatlinburg. This event brings EMS responders from all over the state for three days of lectures and training.
One of the highlights of the conference is the annual awards banquet. EMS personnel in various categories are nominated by their peers and ultimately selected by an independent selection panel.
One of the categories is Medical Director of the Year. The 2015 Dr. C. Robert Clark EMS Medical Director of the Year Award was presented to Dr. Jesse Coleman. Dr. Coleman serves as the medical director for Bradley County EMS. He also serves as the medical director for the Bradley County 911 Emergency Communications Center. He has served as the medical director for the services for approximately two years.
There are not many medical directors who began their medical career as an EMT, actively working on an ambulance. Bradley County EMS Medical Director Jesse Coleman is the exception. Dr. Coleman started his medical career in 1995 with his decision to enter the EMT program at Butler Community College in El Dorado, KS. After becoming an EMT he worked as the director for a small privately-owned ambulance service company. He continued his education and became a paramedic and worked for Sedgwick County EMS in Kansas. He is described by his colleagues as being a “hands on” medical director.
This medical director routinely responds on calls and is available to the medics for anything that they may need. He is both a mentor and a teacher and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience. A goal that he has is to help Bradley County EMS to become the standard that the nation’s EMS programs would want to emulate.
“Our level of care would not be at the level that it is today without Dr. Coleman’s continued efforts and research to keep our standards of care up to par. He was well deserving of this award and we as an EMS service as well as the citizens are very lucky to have a medical director of his caliber. His sacrifices and dedication do not go unnoticed,” said EMS Chief Danny Lawson.