By EMS1 Staff
HARTSVILLE, S.C. — A flight paramedic was recently honored with a top award.
SC Now reported that LifeNet South Carolina flight paramedic Jacey Stone was awarded the 2017 South Carolina Paramedic of the Year Award at the EMS Symposium, and she said she was “totally shocked.”
“I don’t know why I was chosen (for the award),” Stone said. “I am not a spotlight person. I am loving life and being a paramedic. I am having fun being just Jacey. To be nominated is an honor. To be chosen is unbelievable.”
Helping others runs in Stone’s family; her father, retired Darlington Fire Chief Jim Stone, was a firefighter for more than 50 years and she said he inspired her to dedicate her life to public service as well.
“That is what we did,” she said. “If we could beat him to the truck, we could go with him. Helping people was what we did. My daddy is my hero. I strive to be like him but don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as I think he is.”
Stone started her EMS career in 1994 as a part-time EMT for Darlington County EMS.
“Early in my career I saw the helicopter and thought I would like to do that,” she said. “I thought it would be impossible, because they were the cream of the crop.”
She set her mind to the goal and became a flight paramedic in 2007.
“We see some really horrible things, and we see some incredible things,” she said. “It is an amazing thing. We are just a stepping stone in the grand scheme of things.”
Stone serves as a critical care flight paramedic and evaluator, and transports trauma patients to the hospital, as well as heart attack and stroke patients. She also serves as a medical coordinator at Darlington Raceway races and co-owns Southeastern Extrication School, where she teaches fire and medical responders.
Stone said she enjoys returning home after a 24-hour shift knowing she was able to help others and improve their quality of life.