Downing receives Air Evac award

Poplar Bluff Firefighter Jeremy Downing recently was honored by Air Evac 24 as its G.R.O.U.N.D. Angel award recipient.

“G.R.O.U.N.D. (Gallant, Reputable, Outstanding, Upbeat, Nurturing, Diligent) Angel awards began in 2017 when our base wanted to find a way to give back to our service community,” Shelly West, an Air Evac flight nurse, said in presenting the award to Downing.

Air Evac, she said, wanted to say thank you to the men and women, who “shine when our patients and community need them the most ….”

A nine-year veteran of the fire department, Downing also is certified as an emergency medical technician.

Since 2016, he has worked for Butler County EMS and the East Wayne County Ambulance District, now there as needed.

Knowing Downing personally and professionally, “I believe he is truly worthy of this award,” West said in her nomination. “ … I have picked up patients from him on scene, where he went above and beyond to accommodate us as crew members, his paramedic partner and more importantly his patient.”

Downing, West said, always is friendly and social with his interactions with patients and other professionals.

“He takes pride in his work and strives to do it to the highest standard, no matter what the circumstance is,” West said.

Downing said he was surprised and “completely blind sided” by the award.

“I thought I was coming downtown for an insurance meeting” at station No. 1, said Downing.

“To be honest, it’s humbling,” Downing said. “I know so many great people who would sprint away from receiving an award of this magnitude solely for receiving recognition.”

Everyone, Downing said, appreciates a “pat on the back, but that needs to be the last reason to choose a career path in this field.”

According to West, Downing was the person to nominate Air Evac’s first G.R.O.U.N.D. Angel recipient, someone who worked for a competitor’s service.

“I’ve been a part of this award ceremony multiple times now,” Downing said. “I helped set one up.

“I was in charge of the dupe for the person. It came back full circle. I know how he felt.”

The award “really lifts a guy up,” Downing said. “I’m grateful.”

Downing said his appreciation for Air Evac has grown while working for East Wayne County at Greenville.

Working for Butler County EMS and East Wayne County is like working in two different worlds, Downing said.

“Working the city and Butler County, our time to the scene was five minutes plus,” Downing explained. “There, it’s 35 to 40 minutes plus to the scene.”

Many times, he said, Air Evac will lift off “as we’re responding to the scene. The old adage (says) it’s better to have and not need than to need and not have.”

Downing said there have been multiple times, as both an EMT and a firefighter, that Air Evac has been called.

“Most recently we had one adolescent teen involved in a crash on the Shelby (Road) extension,” Downing explained. “We were there minutes prior to (when) EMS was dispatched.

“We were able to get them in the air almost simultaneously with the ground (ambulance).”

As firefighters, Downing said, they provide basic first aid, something he teaches in the skills portion of Firefighter I and II as an adjunct instructor at Three Rivers College.

“It’s a string of cooperating agencies,” he said. “We provide a certain level of care, then EMS provides a higher level of care, and then when it’s really, really bad, we make the hand off for Air Evac, and they are able to provide yet a higher level of care.”

The flight crews, Downing said, can provide a higher level of care beyond the capability of Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.

“The goal is to get (the person) to a level 1 trauma center,” he said.