Dade County/Puckett EMS employees receive regional trauma award for saving the life of a sheriff’s deputy

July 23, 2022
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Puckett EMS Director of Education Daniel Lynn named Educator of the Year

Dade County and Puckett EMS employees received the Richard Gray MD Excellence in Trauma Care Award and the Educator of the Year Award at the Northwest Georgia Region I EMS Council banquet on March 14.  

“Our team members and community partners do award-winning work every day that often goes unrecognized,” said Puckett EMS Vice President of Operations Will Pitt, who nominated his team members for this award. “I’m honored to be part of such an incredible team of people and assist in appreciating the great work of our EMS personnel and partners.”

The Excellence in Trauma Award recognized Dade County and Puckett EMS field personnel involved in the lifesaving effort, including employees Alex Case, Kyle Gross, Cody Doyle, Tim Sharp and Alex Davis. On August 7, 2018, the team from Dade County and Puckett EMS was involved in saving the life of a fellow first responder, Dade County Sheriff’s Deputy Tommy Bradford, who was critically injured in the line of duty. While apprehending a suspect, Bradford’s leg was amputated when struck by a fleeing suspect’s car.

With a traumatic injury of this magnitude, coordination with first responders, ground and air transport was critical. Dade County Sheriff’s Officers at the scene applied makeshift tourniquets. First responders from Dade EMS arrived first on the scene and provided life-saving stabilization while ground ambulance arrived. Puckett EMS prepared Bradford for transport and rendezvoused at the landing zone with Erlanger LifeForce for transportation to Erlanger Medical Center.

Erlanger Trauma Services noted during his treatment, Bradford did not experience many of the negative side effects often expected in a patient with his injury thanks to the fast bleeding control and volume resuscitation provided by the emergency responders in this case.

“The initial responders on this scene demonstrated the importance of scene leadership in this chaotic situation involving someone they knew personally,” said Pitt. “The emergency and health care system operated at full capacity allowing Major Bradford to not only survive, but to return to his home and friends with the best quality of life possible. Erlanger has used this case study as an example to demonstrate to regional emergency responders of the importance early bleeding control/intervention in positive outcomes of major traumas patients.”

Puckett EMS Director of Education Daniel Lynn was also recognized as the Educator of the Year by the Region I EMS Council. Lynn oversees all initial and continuing educational programs for Puckett EMS’ Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee areas.

“The education of our EMS personnel is the foundation of everything that we do,” said Pitt. “Our people are our greatest resources, and Daniel ensure that every Puckett employees has every resource they need to handle any medical emergency in the field. I was proud to nominate him for this award.”

About Puckett EMS

Puckett EMS provides 911 emergency and critical care ambulance services to the citizens of Southwest Cobb, Walker, Dade and Catoosa counties located in North Georgia and Marion and Sequatchie counties in Southeast Tennessee. Puckett EMS is the contracted ground transport for multiple Hospital Systems. Puckett EMS is accredited by The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS), which signifies that the service has met the gold standard by the ambulance industry. Puckett EMS is one of only 160 CAAS-accredited services nationwide. 

Puckett EMS is deeply involved in the communities it services. The agency has been recognized eight times as a top business in Cobb County and won the 2013 Small Business of the Year from the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, Puckett EMS was named the Georgia Emergency Medical Service of the Year by the Georgia Department of Health. In 2016, was awarded the Southeastern Emergency Medical Service Directors Association (SEEMSDA) Emergency Medical Service of the Year Award.

Puckett EMS joined the Priority Ambulance family of companies in 2017.

Photo caption 1: Puckett EMS employees (l-r) Kyle Gross, Alex Case and Cody Doyle accept the Richard Gray MD Excellence in Trauma Care Award from a representative of the Region I Council leadership (pictured left) at a ceremony on March 14.

Photo caption 2: Puckett EMS Director of Education Daniel Lynn (far right) accompanied by his family accepts the Educator of the Year Award from the Region I Council leadership (far left) at a ceremony on March 14.