EMS Call of the Year: Kyle Larsen and Megan Hall Recognized by Bates County Memorial Hospital
Call of the Year 2023 featuring (from left): Kim Francis, BS, MHA, EMS Liaison for Research Medical Center; Kyle Larsen, Paramedic; Megan Hall, EMT and Russell Whisenand, Paramedic, Ambulance Administrator for BCMH.
Bates County Memorial Hospital (BCMH) awarded Paramedic Kyle Larsen and EMT Megan Hall with the Call of the Year Award for their extraordinary efforts during a call in 2023. A ceremony was held in the hospital’s dining room to recognize the emergency medical services team on February 9.
The circumstances of the call were extreme and unique, and the patient did not survive the event. Details will not be released in respect of the patient’s family and to protect their privacy.
“Not every call we go on has the outcome that we want,” said Russ Whisenand, Paramedic and BCMH EMS Administrator, who presented the awards. “The challenge is for all first responders, including Fire, EMS LifeFlight Eagle, Research. They did a great job and gave this person every chance to survive this, but unfortunately it was not survivable. But they did an exceptional job and did everything we were trained to do.”
Whisenand noted Kyle and Megan are his youngest EMS team and that many things came together that day. BCMH EMS received mutual aid from LifeFlight Eagle, and the patient was transferred to Research Medical Center.
Kim Francis, EMS Liaison for Research Medical Center, attended the ceremony and presented award pins in the shape of starfish to Kyle and Megan. She noted that Kyle’s and Megan’s efforts made a real difference to the patient, despite the outcome. She compared their efforts to the story of the little boy on the beach who was questioned by a man as to why he was throwing starfish into the ocean. There were so many starfish on the beach, what difference would it make? The boy picked up another starfish and threw it in, saying, “It made a difference to that one.”
“They did a phenomenal job,” Kim Francis said to those gathered for the ceremony. “They did assertive care to take care of this patient, and because of that he did not suffer. They took care of him with compassion and the utmost professionalism. You did an amazing job.”
BCMH congratulates Kyle Larsen and Megan Hall for exemplary service in the care of a patient.
Bates County Memorial Hospital provides ambulance services to Bates County, providing two teams of one ALS certified Paramedic and one EMT on each shift, 24/7.
