Gwinnett Firefighters Honored at Paramedic Graduation

The Gwinnett County Department of Fire and Emergency Services held a Paramedic Graduation Ceremony to recognize the most recent employees to further their knowledge and skills to become paramedics. The ceremony was held on Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 5 p.m. in the Auditorium at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center in Lawrenceville.

The newest paramedics were joined by family and friends as they received their certificates and a host of accolades from Fire Chief Casey Snyder, County Administrator Glenn Stephens, Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash, Commissioner Tommy Hunter and Commissioner Jace Brooks. The department’s Medical Director, Doctor Earl Grubbs, also congratulated the group. “We expect the best out of our medics, and we get it,” Grubbs said. He encouraged the new paramedics to be proud of their accomplishments and the service they will provide to the community.

The class made department history by being the first to successfully complete the national registry practical and computer based exam on the first attempt. The national average for passing on the first attempt is 77%. The testing for paramedic is arduous and requires intense didactic study and repetitious practical application to develop the required knowledge and skillsets to perform at the optimum level.

“We are extremely proud of this pioneer group and the measures being taken to provide quality training,” said Fire Chief Casey Snyder. The paramedic program consists of over 1,100 hours of classroom instruction and practical training in advanced pre-hospital emergency medical care. Students learn by participating in real life environments through clinical rotations on ambulance units, in hospital emergency rooms, operating rooms, intensive care units, psychiatric care, pediatric and geriatric medicine, and labor and delivery.

Firefighter Kim Bingham delivered the class speech and thanked department leaders, commissioners and county staff for supporting the program and believing in each of them. “Today is a celebration, another milestone accomplished,” Bingham said to the group.

Two awards were bestowed on select class participants who excelled in academics and star-of-life. The academic award goes to the student who maintained the highest class average throughout the entire program. The academic award went to Firefighter Kyle Chewning. The Star-of-life award is peer-driven and is given to the student who excels overall in every aspect of the program. The star-of-life award was presented to Firefighter Zac Pearson.

The list of paramedic graduates includes:

• Firefighter Kimberly Bingham
• Firefighter Zeb Burton
• FirefighterTommy Caputo
• Firefighter Kyle Chewning
• Firefighter Chad Keough
• Firefighter C.J. Kieler
• Firefighter Joe Kwiatowski
• Firefighter Adam Nash
• Firefighter John Niekro
• Firefighter Jessie Payne
• Firefighter Zac Pearson
• Firefighter Sam Truong
• Firefighter Preston Underwood
• Firefighter Tyler Veronee
• Firefighter Trevor Warbington
• Firefighter Dirk Winterboer

Photo credit: Gwinnett Fire PIO