By Erik Hackman
The Evening News and the Tribune
NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Devan James Cherry, better known as D.J., was the first person hired at Baptist Health Floyd when the EMS service was launched in 2022.
He worked for the hospital until he died from an illness on April 2, 2024 at age 34. To honor and celebrate him, the hospital dedicated their EMS patch to D.J.
Grace Marksbury, the director of Emergency Services at Baptist Health Floyd, said that D.J. was someone that she was not sure to hug or reprimand, but also someone you were glad to have there.
National EMS Week was celebrated this year on May 18-24. This is a time when EMTs and paramedics are shown gratitude for their work and dedication to helping people.
Being a paramedic was something that was very important to D.J. He was someone that truly cared about the people he was taking care of and would always find a way to make anyone laugh, no matter what the situation was.
“He was a nutcase,” said D.J.’s father, Ronnie James Cherry. “He was so funny and just anything and everything… I guess he had to be a clown from the seriousness of taking care of people’s life.”
Ronnie is proud to see that the patch that the EMS employees wear every day is in honor of his son.
His co-workers said that D.J. had a smile that you could see from a mile away and it was one that they will never forget. They had truly lost a brother and a friend.
“D.J. was a phenomenal guy,” said Tom Spalding, the EMS manager at Baptist Health Floyd. “He liked to make jokes and you had to really kind of push him (somedays)… But he was an excellent paramedic. He took really good care of his patients, really good bedside manners. We loved that about him, which is what it’s all about for us.”
To Spalding, D.J. was someone he did not know whether to hug him or push him down. Though, most days they were hugging.
At the dedication, D.J.’s two sisters were there to see the hospital honor their brother with the patch.
“It’s just a great way to honor him,” said Jessica Randall, one of D.J.’s sisters. “His birthday was Wednesday, he would have been 36. This was just a great way to celebrate him. He was a very caring person and he dedicated his life to helping others. We miss him.”
“He’s my baby brother,” said Holly Hogan, D.J.’s other sister. “He had a passion for this since he was like 16. He was volunteering at a firehouse. This is what he always wanted to do and he was very proud of it and our family was always very proud of him for choosing this profession.”
The two sisters added that if D.J. could see the dedication and ceremony, he would have wanted someone else to be recognized for it.
“I don’t think he knew how many lives he touched and made a difference in,” said Randall. “That was very obvious at his celebration of life when he passed away last year. There were so many people and the parade, it was so amazing.”
“He just thought ‘I did my job and it’s what I love to do, I don’t need to be recognized for it,’” Hogan said. “That was his thing. He’s an introvert mostly and that was his thing. He wouldn’t want recognition, but he would be honored.”
The two sisters believe that he was looking down at the hospital on Friday and was thankful for the dedication and seeing how many people cared about him.
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