M oore County EMS has been awarded the 2026 Tennessee Ambulance Service Association (TASA) Bob Thomas ALS Service of the Year Award. The award is given for professionalism and exceptional service during the preceding year. It was awarded at the recent state TASA Conference.

In his presentation speech, retired Lincoln County EMS Director and a founding member of TASA, John Fitzsimmons, told the conference that Moore County’s EMS “is proof that the size of your service has nothing to do with the size of your impact.”

The impact of Moore County EMS is indeed profound. In an ongoing Automated External Defibrillator (AED) program, EMS has distributed 30 AEDs, those units going to schools, parks, Jody’s on the square, the swimming pool when in season, the ball fields, as well as a unit in each deputy’s car.

Moore County EMS trains all of the school systems staff in CPR/ AED, and in 2025 issued 190 CPR certifications to school staff, volunteers, and first responders. All day care centers have CPR certified staff, and some care givers for special needs patients are certified as well. The training and equipment provided by Moore County EMS has already saved several lives.

With no hospital in Moore County, EMS transports approximately 90% of their patients to Vanderbilt Harton in Tullahoma, and has an excellent working relationship with the ER staff. Vanderbilt Harton has even called on Moore County EMS for a Critical Care Transport a patient who needed emergency transport to a facility with a cath lab. Due to weather, air transport was out of the question.

Moore County EMS stepped up and got the patient to the facility.

In addition to those duties, Moore County EMS runs the county’s K9 search and rescue bloodhound program, which now has two bloodhounds. The dogs are trained to search for lost and vulnerable people. Most often that could be a child with autism, or an elderly person with dementia or Alzheimer’s. The dogs have assisted in several searches already.

The EMS maintains all six mandated certifications, including Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Life Support (ALS), Pediatric Life Support (PALS), Advanced Medical Life Support (AMLS), International Trauma Life Support (ITLS), and Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP). That encompasses a lot of in depth training, and that training is not a one-time certification. Paramedics must recertify every two years on most of the certifications, with some re-certifying at four years.

To support all of the advanced training, ambulances are with fitted with advanced equipment, such as specialized cardiac monitors, mechanical CPR devices, video laryngoscopes, Rapid Sequence Intubation (RSI) ventilators, and surgical airway establishment. Paramedics must be trained on ever more technical and sophisticated equipment they use to help save lives.

All that Moore County EMS accomplishes they do with a staff of only ten full time employees. There are three permitted ambulances, one of which is an ALS unit. This unit is staffed 24/7, with a medic chase car, and a call-in crew on standby. Moore County EMS serves a population of 6,600, in a service area of 129 rural square miles. In addition, Moore County sees over 250,000 tourists yearly, also served by Moore County EMS.

Considering all of this, it is no wonder that Moore County EMS was so honored. The county is fortunate to have this team at their service. Moore County Public Safety Director Jason Deal credits his team using a favorite quote, “Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.” Well said, Jason.