LIMA, OH (WLIO) - To wrap up National EMS Week, Mercy Health St. Rita's presented awards to some of the region's most dedicated first responders.
In the last year, first responders transported nearly 12,000 patients to St. Rita's. The banquet honored those who went above and beyond and were responsible for saving the lives of patients in extraordinary situations.
EMS doesn't often get the recognition it deserves, even though there are so many cases where patient care before arriving to the hospital is what decides someone's health outcome.
"When we talk about things like we awarded tonight, so stroke, when we talk about stroke, time is brain. And that's kind of the mantra of fire and EMS, and when we talk about cardiac care, time is heart muscle, and same thing with trauma, minutes make a difference between somebody surviving a traumatic injury and not surviving a traumatic injury," explained the EMS Coordinator for Mercy Health St. Rita's, Brian Anderson.
See the full list of award winners below:
Greg King Award:
-Matt Myers of Shawnee Township Fire Department
Stroke Care Awards
-Jon Buchanan, Randy Ketterer of Mercy Health Life Flight Network (LACP)
-Candace Bruce, Kyle Zimmerly of Perry Township Fire Department
-Kory Carter, Luke Jones, Noah Joseph, Lee Parker, Marc Salas of Lima Fire Department
Trauma Care Awards:
-Cody Blair, Aaron Cunningham, Jeff Reichelderfer, Randy Schaefer, Joel Will of American Township Fire Department
-Anderson Ewing, Kevin Heilers, Nicholas Shady of St. Marys Fire Department
-Blake Neu, Lee Rosengarten, Brenton Shank, Brett Shook, Jon Sickles, Curtis Yetman of American Township Fire Department
-Shawn Allgire, Leanne Bockey, Brian Langhals, Garret Langhals, Sarah Melton, Justin Miller, Mike Miller, Curt Neubauer, Ryan Kloeppel, Ryan Smith of Cairo-Monroe Township Fire/EMS
Cardiac Care Awards:
-Levi Probst, Brock Schroeder, John Wade of Delphos Fire Rescue
-Ken Meyer, Bill Stippich of Bath Township Fire Department
-Justin Cloud, Lyle Dray of Shawnee Township Fire Department
-Melanie Hicks, Renee Hunsaker of Uniopolis Fire Department
-Gina Biller, Ken Burwell, Richard Schulte of Putnam County EMS
OB Awards:
-Matt Green, Randy Houts of Cridersville Fire Department
-Doug Beck, Jon Buchanan, Nathain Haines, Jordan Pughsley of Lima Fire Department
-Zach Hall, Dot Jordan, Tom Miller of Ada-Liberty EMS