LifeNet manager honored with national award
LifeNet, Inc. recently named Shon Matthews as the 2019 Star of Life.
Matthews, who is the operations manager for LifeNet, was honored to receive the recognition.
“It really meant a lot to me to get nominated by my peers. Most of them are under my direct supervision so getting recognized with this award is pretty special,” he said.
The respect his coworkers have for him is evident in the nominations letters they submitted on his behalf.
“Shon will help the crew members, and he has the respect of the field crews and the best interest of LifeNet at all times. He displays good morals and ethics and tries to bring out the very best in people. You will always find Shon trying new things to make LifeNet a better place, and he is always studying to remain sharp in his knowledge and skills,” one nomination letter read.
Matthews didn’t start in EMS. His career path changed after his son was in scary accident in 2003.
“I was out of town and got the horrible phone call that my son had been in a serious ATV accident. He was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where he made a good recovery,” Matthews said.
“During his recovery I was reflecting over the fact that we need more people to be able to help. … My son could have bled to death on the side of the road if not for EMS professionals that were there to help him. I told my wife I was going to get more involved so I joined our volunteer fire department.”
Matthews joined the Booker Bridge Volunteer Fire Department in Miller County Arkansas and also became part of the first responder team at Alumax Mill Products where he worked for almost 20 years.
“I fell in love with the being the calm in the storm so to speak so I decided to change career paths and go to work for LifeNet and do this full time,” he said.
Matthews left his job at Alumax, went to EMT school and in March of 2009 he joined LifeNet full-time. He said being in EMS is a calling.
“Being there to help people is really what it’s all about,” he said.
Matthews was recently honored as LifeNet’s Star of Life by the American Ambulance Association during their Stars of Life ceremony in Washington D.C. During that trip he was able to visit with legislators from this area and share some of the issues facing EMS providers.
“It’s an awesome experience to go to our nation’s capital. We did get quite a bit of free time to go around to the different museums. To actually experience the museums and read first-hand accounts of how things happened in different wars and other historic moments really just kind of brings it all home,” he said.