Putnam County EMS (TN)

09/03/2024

We would like to congratulate the recipients of our IMPACT Award, Paramedic Hunter Nolan and Paramedic Zach Kingrey, who were recognized by a former patient for their exceptional compassion and empathy towards her and her daughter during a distressing situation. Their dedication to providing outstanding care is commendable, and we are proud of their commitment to excellence in every call they respond to. Congratulations gentlemen on this well deserved award!

09/02/2024

Happy Labor Day! Today is a day to recognize and honor the hardworking men and women who work diligently to keep our country healthy, moving, and prospering!
We would also like to say a huge thank you to Olive Garden Cookeville TN for the delicious lunch they provided for our hardworking crews today. It was wonderful and greatly appreciated by all!

08/14/2024

🎉👏 Congratulations to the 2024 Paramedic Graduates from Putnam County EMS! 🚑✨

We are so proud of each of you for your dedication and hard work over these past months. Your commitment to serving our community and saving lives is truly inspiring.

Thank you for your countless hours of study and practice—you’ve earned every bit of this achievement! We can’t wait to see the incredible impact you will have in the field. Here’s to your bright futures! 🌟

📸 Be sure to check the comments for a link to all the photos from the graduation ceremony!

08/12/2024

Against All Odds- Colby’s Story

On November 17th, 2023, Colby Trevathan was involved in a severe motorcycle accident that resulted in near life-threatening injuries. First responders from Putnam County EMS, Cookeville Fire Department, and Cookeville Police Department promptly arrived on the scene and stabilized him before air medical transported him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Despite the initially grim prognosis from medical professionals, Colby defied the odds and made a remarkable recovery. He demonstrated unwavering determination and resilience in the face of multiple injuries, including three brain bleeds and a punctured lung. Just one month after the accident, Colby achieved a 3.9 GPA and walked the stage at his Monterey High School graduation. Eager to make the most of his second chance, he plans to attend TCAT in the fall. Read the full account of Colby's inspiring story in the comments below!

08/09/2024

We were grateful to be able to celebrate with Cookeville Walmart and members of the community this morning for their grand re-opening celebration.

07/04/2024

🇺🇸 Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

On behalf of PCEMS, we would like to wish you all a safe and happy Independence Day!

A few safety tips for enjoying the 4th:
▪️Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks, including sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to melt some metals.
▪️Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy, in case of fire or other mishap.
▪️Make sure fireworks are legal in your area, and only purchase and set off fireworks that are labeled for consumer (not professional) use.
▪️Never use fireworks while impaired by alcohol or drugs.

07/01/2024

This month’s impact award goes to AEMT Charles McGee!! Charles was nominated for his extra work and willingness to always assist others. During our ems week there was a lot of moving parts and Charles was always there asking what he can do to help. Charles is a PCEMS in house EMT/AEMT graduate and already making a huge impact here. We are so proud to have him working with us, congratulations Charles!

06/23/2024

⚠️ Free Car Seat Safety Check! ⚠️

06/21/2024

We have some exciting news! 🎉

06/16/2024

Today we celebrate all the incredible fathers and father figures who fill our lives with love. Happy Father’s Day!!

06/14/2024

Touch a truck event tomorrow at the fairgrounds! Come see us and many other trucks tomorrow from 10am-1pm at this great event!

06/01/2024

UPDATE 6/1 2:00pm

The power has been restored to this area at this time.

There is currently a power outage affecting a large portion of town including the S. Willow area. Traffic lights are out, please treat intersections as 4-way stops. The cause is unknown at this time and the duration of the outage is unknown.

Please, DO NOT call 911 to report power outages. To report a power outage, call 526-7411. The electric department is currently working to resolve the issue.

05/29/2024

🎉🚑 We are excited to announce our next in-house EMT Basic course will be held this fall! 🚑🎉

Deadline to apply for the course is July 5th at 4pm. Interviews to be held July 19th.

🔹Spots are limited!🔹

Contact our Training Major, Billy Price to reserve your spot in this class and take the first steps towards a new and exciting career!!

Call (931)525-2121 or email [email protected] today to get started!

05/27/2024

05/26/2024

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH 315 IN
EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS

IN TENNESSEE THIS WATCH INCLUDES 26 COUNTIES

IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE

CHEATHAM CLAY CUMBERLAND
DAVIDSON DE KALB DICKSON
FENTRESS HICKMAN HOUSTON
HUMPHREYS JACKSON MACON
MONTGOMERY OVERTON PERRY
PICKETT PUTNAM ROBERTSON
RUTHERFORD SMITH STEWART
SUMNER TROUSDALE WHITE
WILLIAMSON WILSON

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALLARDT, ASHLAND CITY, BRENTWOOD,
BYRDSTOWN, CARTHAGE, CELINA, CENTERVILLE, CLARKSVILLE,
COOKEVILLE, CROSSVILLE, DICKSON, DOVER, ERIN, FRANKLIN,
GAINESBORO, GALLATIN, GOODLETTSVILLE, GORDONSVILLE, HARTSVILLE,
HENDERSONVILLE, JAMESTOWN, KINGSTON SPRINGS, LA VERGNE,
LAFAYETTE, LEBANON, LINDEN, LIVINGSTON, LOBELVILLE, MCEWEN,
MOUNT JULIET, MURFREESBORO, NASHVILLE, NEW JOHNSONVILLE, PEGRAM,
SMITHVILLE, SMYRNA, SOUTH CARTHAGE, SPARTA, SPRINGFIELD,
TENNESSEE RIDGE, AND WAVERLY.

05/26/2024

Our EMS week celebrations wrapped up last night with our annual family night dinner. There were awards given out, delicious food, fantastic camaraderie, and tons of laughs. It was the perfect ending to our 2024 EMS week!

Of our main awards given out, we want to recognize a few of these well-deserved winners. Crew of The Year: Paramedics Corey Guy and Bobby Boles
Paramedic of The Year: Jim Knight
EMT of The Year: Rob Cook

We also awarded our May IMPACT Award winner last night to Paramedic Alyssa Burris! Alyssa was nominated for going above and beyond to plan, organize, and orchestrate our EMS week. She has spent months getting everything together and making sure the week went off without a hitch, and we truly could not thank her enough for all she does and could not imagine someone more deserving of this month’s award!

Congratulations to all of our award recipients and thank you to our amazing community for making EMS Week 2024 one of the best yet! 🎉🚑

05/25/2024

As EMS Week 2024 comes to an end, we are still in awe of the outpouring of generosity and support we have received from our community! We are all looking forward wrapping up the week with our annual family night dinner tonight. As we prepare for our final celebration of the week, we wanted to take a moment to look back at some of the previous celebrations of our service and employees. Throughout the years, we have been extremely blessed to employ some of the best providers in the country and still do! Though some of these members may no longer be with us, their legacy will live on at PCEMS. Our equipment and protocols have come a long way through the years, but the love for our community and those we serve has always been our driving force. We are so proud of the progress our service has made and excited for the continued growth and improvement yet to come. We will forever honor our past as we forge the future of PCEMS!

05/24/2024

EMS Week continues to impress on Day 5! Deputy Chief Darren Ford, his family, and other members of our admin team arrived bright and early to cook for our A & B shift crews. It was amazingly delicious as always! Their dedication and culinary skills were greatly appreciated! Presley Funeral Home also stopped by to treat our crews to some mouthwatering pork steaks for lunch. The food and camaraderie this week have been incredible, and we are so grateful for the ongoing support and appreciation we have been shown.

05/24/2024

EMS Week continues! Our crews have been so very blessed this week with some amazing food, kind words, gifts, and an overwhelming outpouring of support from our community! We are extremely grateful for it all! Yesterday, Chick-fil-A Cookeville sent gift cards to our on-duty crews. Today, 11 Oak Nutrition provided some amazing loaded teas to fuel our day and HWY 70 BBQ provided a delicious lunch that was quickly devoured! This has been a wonderful EMS week so far and we could never say thank you enough for all the generosity we have been shown!!

05/22/2024

PCEMS would like to take a moment to recognize and thank our additional community first responders. EMS Week honors Emergency Medical Services, and we want to extend that recognition to our first responder agencies as well. In Putnam County, we are blessed to have numerous departments that respond to assist in the medical care of our community. Putnam County Fire Department, Cookeville Fire Department, Putnam County Rescue Squad, Algood Fire Department, Baxter Fire Department-TN, and Monterey Fire Department TN are all a huge part of the amazing medical care we are able to provide for the citizens of Putnam County. Most of these departments are combination departments comprised of full-time and part-time employees along with volunteers who are medically licensed and also trained in firefighting, extrication, vehicle stabilization, high-risk, rope, and/or swift water rescue. Each of these agencies has its specialties, and we all work together to provide the best possible care for our communities. We are so thankful for these amazing providers who work seamlessly with PCEMS to provide competent and prompt care in a medical emergency in any area of our county.

05/22/2024

Day 3 of EMS week started off with our Deputy Chief Darren Ford and his wonderful family coming to the station at 5am to cook breakfast. Their early morning sacrifice ensured night and day shift would get something to eat. PCEMS sends a big thank you to Deputy Chief and his family, alongside other members of the PCEMS administration.
Lunch was provided by Drake's Cookeville TN delicious sliders and fries, there wasn’t a crumb left!
For dinner, Hooper Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home and Cremation Services brought us BBQ and chicken wings. Thank you HHH!
LIFE FORCE Air Medical dropped off a well needed healthy snack bucket. Thank you!
As day 3 festivities come to an end, PCEMS is beyond grateful for the outpour of love and support from our community, and looking forward to the remainder of EMS week.

05/21/2024

This year marks the 50th anniversary of EMS week. PCEMS's motto this year is "Honoring our past and forging our future." Today, we would like to honor our past with some historical points and a walk down memory lane.

Before 1980, ambulance operations in Putnam County were privately owned, typically run by funeral homes in older hursts and little to no medical training. The goal was to get the patient in the car and get to the hospital as fast as they could. In 1980, Putnam County government assumed direct operation of Putnam County Emergency Medical Services at 12 a.m. on July 1st with 5 ambulances and 12 employees. PCEMS also got a new home in 1985, moving into the new emergency services center on Carlen Drive in east Cookeville. This would be the principal operations center until moving to the current facility in 2009. In 1991, the first substations were opened in Monterey and Baxter, each staffed with an ambulance 24 hours daily. In 1994, PCEMS became Tennessee's first pre-hospital ambulance service to perform 12-lead ECGs in the field and transmit them to the hospital. In the same year, the state's first Pertrach surgical airway was performed by a PCEMS Paramedic. Our goal and passion at PCEMS has always been to accept nothing but the very best care and transport available for our citizens and visitors. We have a long-standing history of excellence, trailblazing, and we seek to honor those who have gone before us and paved the way for pre-hospital medical care in Putnam County.

05/21/2024

We were honored with a visit from Randy Porter, Mayor - Putnam County, Tennessee today! Thank you for your continual support of EMS in our community!

❤️NATIONAL EMS WEEK❤️
Special thanks to all the Paramedics, EMT’s, Dispatchers and personnel that respond to our emergencies and take care of our community every day. Happy EMS Week!!!

05/20/2024

PCEMS starts off our 50th anniversary of EMS week. We would like to thank O'Charley's Restaurant + Bar for a wonderful dinner on Sunday night. On Monday morning Vanderbilt LifeFlight came to our main station to cook us breakfast and what a spread they made! We also want to thank R&R Nutrition for stopping by and giving us some wonderful flavored teas!! A delicious lunch was provided for our crews by Rib City-Cookeville with some fantastic desserts provided by Cookeville Regional Medical Center. We could never say thank you enough to everyone involved these last 2 days for kicking our EMS week off to such a great start!!

05/19/2024

Today marks the beginning of National EMS Week. While we personally feel our exceptional providers deserve to be celebrated every single day, we want to especially highlight our current and past crews this week! This is the 50th anniversary of EMS week and we will be showcasing our current and former employees in celebration of the exemplary care they have provided for our community since the 1970’s!

Our celebration began today with a kick-off event at Academy Sports alongside our fellow community first responders. We always love getting to be out in the community and educating our future generation about what we do. Thank you to all who came out to join us today!

05/17/2024

Come join our team! 🚑

Now hiring part-time personnel for all levels of licensure! Applications accepted through 5/31/2024

Scan QR code or go to https://putnamcountytn.gov/EMPLOYMENT-OPPORTUNITIES to apply now!

05/16/2024

The portion of Country Club Road abutting East 10 Street will be closed down to one-lane of traffic this Thursday and Friday, May 16 -17. For short periods of time, all lanes of traffic may be closed with no through access.

05/16/2024

🚧 TDOT LANE CLOSURE 🚧

A sinkhole along State Route 24 (East Spring Street), between SR-111 (State Hwy. 111) and One Eleven Place, will result in westbound lane closures today, May 16, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.

This lane closure is issued by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). Any questions about the closure should be directed to the local TDOT office at (931) 526-4522. Thank you!

05/13/2024

We would like to congratulate our most recent class on completing their Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT) course! This group has put in a lot of hard work over the last few months and it has paid off. After completing the course, they all tested for their National Registry to become licensed and had a 78% first time pass rate. This is well above the national average and we couldn’t be more proud of them! Congratulations to all, we look forward to watching your careers continue to grow and progress!!

We would also like to recognize our Training Major, Critical Care Paramedic Billy Price, and the adjunct instructors on their dedication to leading and teaching this course. Their excellence in instruction shines through the tremendous success of these students!