Gilmer Fire & Rescue Awarded for Trauma Care Excellence

Community, News

Many citizens may still have images fresh in their minds from a horrible accident last October in which a tour bus carrying 53 people collided with an 18-wheeler semi-truck.

Usually, October is a festive time for Gilmer as we host visitors to our county at the apple orchards and at our fairgrounds for the Apple Festival. However, 2016 held a black mark as this tragic accident claimed one life and injured over 40 more. Many recall being rerouted to side rides and detours to avoid the accident.

What not many may remember, is seeing the teams of people scouring the accident in quick action to recover, stabilize, and care for the people involved. Not many people were able to see the organization and action of Gilmer County’s Fire and Rescue workers who responded or the cooperation they held with several other agencies who aided their efforts.

On March 16, 2017, the Northwest Georgia Region 1 EMS decided that what people should remember from the day is exactly what they did not see. They did this as they awarded Gilmer County Fire and Rescue the Richard Gray MD Excellence in Trauma Care Award.

According to Gilmer County Department of Public Safety’s Deputy Director Scott Stephens, the award is to “provide recognition and appreciation to any pre-hospital provider within Northwest Georgia’s Emergency Medical Services/Region 1 system for reducing the morbidity or mortality via outstanding delivery of care to a critically injured patient(s). Named in honor of Dr Richard Gray, the recipient should exhibit excellence in the delivery of care to the trauma patient and / or effected utilization of the Region 1 trauma care system plan.”

With the wreck occurring on Highway 515 between Ellijay and Jasper, Battalion Chief Freeman and Deputy Director Scott Stephens became the first on scene. As emergency crews arrived, triage was established, quickly identifying four people as critically injured.

While these situations are trained for, it was the swiftness and efficiency of the implementation that won Gilmer County Fire and Rescue this award. As a part of the process, written documentation of the event must be submitted for review. One piece of Gilmer’s Submission summed up the days events by saying,

This day would prove to be a day to show how multiple agencies would work together in establishing command, utilization of resources, triage, and patient care of 43 trauma patients to have a successful outcome to a horrible event that most responders will never experience in a 25-year career. The leadership and patient care in a trauma / mci of this magnitude, in the removal, treatment, and transport of 43 patients in 1 hour and 24 minutes from the time the first unit went on scene while maintaining the patient care Region 1 Ems strives to maintain, utilizing 7 other EMS agencies, over 75 personnel, Multiple Area Law Enforcement agencies and every victim that was alive the day they arrived on scene and walked out of the multiple emergency facilities is worthy of the Richard Gray MD Excellence in Trauma Care Award.

While one hopes these men and women serving the county may often hear praise and thanks for their service, it is always a great honor to be able to take that one step further by recognizing those men and women publicly. It is a pride of the county as they took an awful tragedy, and saved lives through their resolve in the face of the accident, through their training for that day, and in their swiftness to carry out their duties.

Stephens went on to say that, “The guidelines would only allow for up to three people be submitted for the award,  but truth is the award went to the whole department that participated in the events that day.”

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