Retired Emergency Services Director awarded Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award
{Contributed photo}
Lexington, NC - North Carolina Representative Larry Potts presented Retired Emergency Services Director Larry James with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award during the June 12th meeting of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners.
Below is the language used in the letter to Governor Cooper in the request that the Order of the Long Leaf Pine be awarded to Mr. James.
In several capacities, Larry has served the citizens of Davidson County for the past 42 years, the last 35 with Davidson County Emergency Services.
Larry became interested in Emergency Services while watching the television show “Emergency!” in the 1970s, as did many of our generation. “Writing in the University of Baltimore Law Review in 2007, Paul Bergman argued that Emergency! encouraged the growth of EMS. In the first three years that Emergency! aired, 46 out of 50 states enacted laws that allowed paramedics to practice, including North Carolina in 1974.” (Bergman, 2007).
Larry’s curiosity and motivation led him to apply to the Gumtree Volunteer Fire Department’s Junior Firefighter Program at age 17 while a high school senior. His interactions with Davidson County EMS paramedics during calls within the fire department jurisdiction led him to pursue an EMS career. He then completed training programs for Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and the EMT Intermediate levels of credentialing. Larry was hired by Davidson County in 1987 and began Paramedic training. After providing patient care for several years, he was promoted to a Lieutenant position, then subsequently became the Training Officer/EMS Operations Manager.
In 2012, Mr. James was named the Interim Emergency Services Director and then the permanent Director in 2013. As the Emergency Services Director, he supervised all personnel in Emergency Medical Services, Fire Marshal’s office, Emergency Management, and was the lead Medical Examiner for the County.
As Emergency Medical Services continued to expand in scope from the 1970s, Larry was instrumental in affecting positive changes and growth for the profession. During his tenure, he advocated for and collaborated with the Davidson County Manager and Board of Commissioners to implement several initiatives. Examples are:
• converting 24-hour EMS shifts to 12 hours to relieve stress and burnout of personnel
• establishing Field Training Officer positions to orient new hires and to establish career ladder positions for veteran paramedics
• creating a new full-time position for an Emergency Services Training Coordinator
• implementing two single-paramedic Quick Response Vehicles, strategically placed within the County, to decrease response times to citizens living in rural areas
• centralizing the Emergency Services Logistics element
• purchasing and placing LUCAS® automated CPR devices on every ambulance and QRV
• establishing an eighth EMS base in an area of population growth • implementing a 12-hour “prime time” ambulance to meet increased daytime call volumes
• planning, designing, and establishing a County morgue facility to overcome the space limitations for decedents, primarily as a result of the opioid public health emergency crisis
Many challenges have confronted Larry as well. When he first became Director, a new equipped ambulance cost around $120,000; the cost has now increased to a quarter million dollars. Emergency call volume now approaches 30,000 annually, creating a shortage of paramedics choosing to remain in the profession. The nursing shortage has exacerbated the personnel shortage state-wide and nation wide. Hospitals, physician offices, and home healthcare agencies have hired paramedics by offering higher wages, climate controlled and safer work environments, all while saving money and alleviating their own staffing shortages. Combined with fewer students entering emergency medical training, the growing demands of the profession, and the lack of excitement and interest generated by programs like “Emergency!”, staffing of qualified personnel is the current major challenge.
Although Mr. James says his favorite part of his job is solving problems, he feels the increased stressors have been his biggest challenge during the final years of his long career. He looks forward to his retirement and offers the following advice to his successor: “Don’t make ‘knee-jerk’ decisions when facing these challenges. Spend time thinking over all the options and consequences and you’ll get a better result.”
During his time with Davidson County Emergency Services, Mr. James has established a reputation for treating all employees equally and without favortism, addressing complaints and problems instead of ignoring them, effectively justifying department needs and communicating these to County Officials, and providing all the tools needed for the EMS, Fire Marshal, Emergency Management, and Medical Examiner personnel to perform their jobs in an efficient and effective manner.
Larry has been married to his wife, Debbie, for 38 years. As Debbie is a very smart person, this fact should serve to illustrate his character!
Since high school and until the present day, Larry Wayne James has remained a member of the Gumtree Fire Department and admirably served the citizens of both his community and all residing within Davidson County.
