Paramedic of the Year w/ Drew Brees

May 20, 2010... Paramedic of the Year Luncheon was held in Lafayette.. I was fortunate enough to be nominated out of over 3000 employees at Acadian Ambulance as 1 of the 13 finalists for the Paramedic of the Year. Thankfully,and I truely mean it, I  was not the chosen one. I'm not one for speaking in front of 1500+ people during the awards ceremony. Here is a lil profile of my nominee submitted by my operations manager...

Air Med Services would like to nominate Kim Wesley as Paramedic of the Year.

Kim has been with Acadian Ambulance since 2001 beginning in Baton Rouge as a van driver & progressing to the rank of EMT-B and then Paramedic and currently works on AirMed 3 in Baton Rouge.

Kim is a well rounded employee and has capabilities that far exceed the best that Acadian has to offer.

Kim was born in Baton Rouge and moved to Texas with her family. She returned to Baton Rouge to finish high school and then departed for Utah to attend college. She graduated with an associate’s degree in fire science and became employed with the local fire department as a paramedic. She was the medical training officer there.

Kim returned to Baton Rouge in 2001 and went to work on the vans in the capitol area. Because Utah is not a National Registry state, Kim navigated the red tape in Louisiana and attained registry status as an EMT-B and got engaged to her husband, Mark. After the wedding, Kim completed her Paramedic and went to work in Gonzales. After several years, Kim applied for and became an alternate flight paramedic. After an opening Oct 2008 on AirMed 3 became available and Kim was quick to jump in and get her feet wet. Kim has been an integral part of the Air Med department and handles many critical emergencies and interfacility transports. Kim also serves in the fixed wing capacity, providing patient care on long distance flights.

When not on the helicopter, Kim teaches Night Landing Zone classes to the local fire departments, staffs EVERY New Orleans Saints home game on the field, assists in teaching skills at the CCT class and recently has been involved in the upcoming CPR –HD project. Kim works a lot of overtime, all the while balancing a working household of three.

Kim’s most recent accomplishment was being awarded the Distinguished Service Award for excellent decision making, patient care and going above and beyond the call of duty during a major MCI with 15 patients. Part of the nomination is as follows’

“With all the challenges presented to Kim, first on the scene, a 15 person MCI, hot lapping, initial Incident Command, treatment and packaging of two critically injured pediatric patients, only doing BLS procedures, receiving a critically injured 12 year old needing ventilitory assistance, unconventionally packaging three patients in the helicopter along with a firefighter first responder all within a very short 22-minute scene time, and ensuring life support throughout the seven minute trip by rotating monitoring devices”

All of the above, while important, are secondary to her primary mission in life, her family. Kim is the proud mother of a little girl, Brooklyn and is married to Mark Wesley. The Wesley’s are expecting their second child in October. They live in Denham Springs and are very active in their church. During the holiday season, Kim participates in the church choir.

I would say in the grand scope, Kim is in the top 1% of all medics here at Acadian. If I were critically injured, and a tough call had to be made, I know that I would want Kim Wesley taking care of me.

Marc Creswell

Air Med Operations Manager

The luncheon was fabulous... Paramedic Eddie Domingue from Houma that received the award, was so deserving of this award and I couldn't think of another individual that should have received it. The best part of that day, was I finally got to meet Drew Brees in person after standing on the sideline for all the New Orleans Saints home games, and was less than 1 foot away from him during our group photos... See if you can find me..