Paramedic receives national award
The American Ambulance Association recently honored LifeNet Paramedic Terry Childers with its Star of Life Award in a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Childers was one of only 100 EMS professionals from across the nation to receive the national Star of Life Award this year, LifeNet said in a news release.
Childers, a paramedic for 27 years, also met with U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman
and with U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-District 4, during his visit to the nation’s Capitol.
Childers started his career in Stuttgart before moving to Hot Springs, where he worked for National Park Medical Center’s EMS service, according to a biography provided by LifeNet.
When the company was purchased by LifeNet in 2005, Childers transferred to LifeNet’s Texarkana Division, where he was responsible for managing and growing the company’s medical helicopter program. In 2008, Childers returned to Hot Springs, where he has served as a paramedic in Garland County, it said.
“Each year, LifeNet honors one EMS professional from their Hot Springs Division who goes above and beyond by naming them a Star of Life. As part of the honor, the Star is sent to Washington, D.C., for three days, where they have the opportunity to share their story and discuss issues impacting the EMS industry with legislators,” said a news release from LifeNet.
“What made this award very special to me is it is voted on by our peers. I’m a field training officer, and I got to see a lot of the comments that were made. A lot of the nominations came from people who I had trained who had witnessed and saw my compassion. I wasn’t just teaching them the clinical aspect, I was teaching them to care for our community,” Childers told Westerman, according to the news release.
Westerman’s office provided Childers with a private tour of the Capitol building, including the opportunity to go to the dome, the release said.
“I relish the ability to make someone’s day better by providing a moment of comfort, or just by listening to their stories. Patients probably do not realize that caring for them contributes as much to my well-being as I hope does the role I play in their lives,” Childers said.
Childers is currently renovating a 103-yearold house and, during breaks, enjoys sitting on his front porch with Leroy, his bulldog, who is a celebrity of sorts among his EMS community, the release said.