FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Vanderbilt LifeFlight honored Allan Williams, MSN-Ed, RN, CFRN, EMT-P, a flight nurse/paramedic who died Nov. 8 during his service as a member of LifeFlight 1, based in Gallatin, Tennessee. Williams was 55 years old.
The day began with an honor walk at 8 a.m. as a LifeFlight ambulance and crew departed from Williamson Memorial Funeral Home in Franklin and proceeded north on Columbia Avenue to Rolling Hills Community Church. A private visitation and church service was held at the church. An “in line of service” honor ceremony with flyover took place outside Rolling Hills Community Church from noon to 12:45 p.m.
Updated Nov. 15
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Allan Williams, MSN-Ed, RN, CFRN, EMT-P, flight nurse/paramedic for Vanderbilt LifeFlight, 55, died Nov. 8, during his service as a member of LifeFlight 1, based in Gallatin, Tennessee. The LifeFlight helicopter went down in an unpopulated area in Wilson County, Tennessee.
Williams is remembered as a devoted father, loving husband, loyal friend and highly skilled medical flight crew member. His Vanderbilt LifeFlight team — including more than 500 nurses, EMTs, paramedics, pilots, mechanics and communications professionals — was his extended family, and he was proud to serve the community and patients for whom he provided lifesaving care.
Williams had recently celebrated 15 years with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and he had a 31-year career in nursing. He had recently begun splitting his time between serving as flight nurse/paramedic for LifeFlight 1 and working for Vanderbilt LifeFlight Event Medicine, providing medical support during sports games and large events. He was also a popular nurse educator, contributing to the training of medical transport nurses and paramedics both at home and nationally.
“The outpouring of support and love from across the institution and from the community for Allan’s family and for his friends and colleagues here at LifeFlight has been miraculous, and we really appreciate that,” said Vanderbilt LifeFlight Air Medical Transport Manager Keith Evans, MSN, APRN, ACNP-BC. “Everyone has rallied around to help.
“As I shared with his wife, Jennifer, we’re a whole lot of ‘fixers,’ and we want to fix things. But this is a marathon. This is not days or weeks or months. This is years that we are going to be here for her. And we will continue to support our colleagues as they cope with this significant loss. Allan was just a beacon of joy to be around.”
Public safety and medical transport crews from throughout Middle Tennessee formed an honor processional Monday afternoon to escort Williams from Nashville to a funeral home in Williamson County. As a long line of vehicles traveled highways and Interstate 65, with their emergency lights silently signaling his loss, emergency responders stood beside their own brightly lit vehicles on overpasses along the route to show their respect.
This is symbolic of the moving response from the region’s first responders and his colleagues from the moment of his passing, Evans said. An honor procession transported him from the accident site to Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital. Williams was Canadian by birth and a naturalized American, proudly maintaining both citizenships. Because of this, he was draped by both U.S. and Canadian flags as his family and colleagues gathered at the hospital to mourn.
“He was just an all-around people person,” said Evans, who first worked with Williams when he was hired for the flight crew at LifeFlight 3 in Clarksville, Tennessee. “Never did he have a bad day. Never was he without a smile on his face. He was just a wonderful, wonderful guy.”
Marcie Johnson, MSN, RN, APRN, is a LifeFlight 1 flight nurse practitioner who worked alongside Williams for many years. His loss is immeasurable, she said.
“He is one of the most joyful people I know, and I’m going to stay in the present tense for the moment,” she said. “He has two beautiful boys that he loves dearly. He is just someone who loves life. I saw him Saturday morning when he came on shift, and he was energetic. He was prepared for everything.
“He was always willing and always able. If you were backlogged with charting, he would take the next flight for you. He was always willing to step in whenever there was a need.”
Anyone that met Williams quickly realized how much he adored his family — his wife, Jennifer, and his two sons, Emerson, 10, and Sebastian, 8. Emerson was known to FaceTime his dad often, and Williams’ colleagues said he always answered these calls with a gentle, “Hey, Buddy! How’re you doing?” Both boys were involved in sports and other activities, including sled hockey, and Williams would update everyone regularly on their achievements.
LifeFlight Air Medical Transport Manager Sheldon Dreaddy, MSN, MBA, worked at LifeFlight 1 with Williams for several years, and the pair bonded over their shared backgrounds. Both grew up in Canada, and they unwittingly followed each other around the U.S. as they built careers in medical air transport.
“He had a Canadian flag on his flight helmet,” Dreaddy shared. “He had a Canadian patch on his flight suit. He had Canadian stickers on his vehicle. He was one proud Canadian.”
Williams was also an amazing flight nurse, Dreaddy said.
“He was very gifted on the aircraft, and people loved flying with him,” he said. “Allan was a really compassionate clinician, and he had a real soft spot for his patients. While he had a quirky sense of humor, he knew when to dial it down.
“If we went out and had a rough call, he was very quick to check on his partners. He would say, ‘Hey, I’m OK. Are you OK?’ My wife, Kim, flies with LifeFlight 1 now, and she would go out of her way to sign up for shifts with him.”
One way the two Canadians were decidedly not alike is that Williams “loved to chit-chat with people,” Dreaddy said. “Event Medicine was right up his lane because it got him out at these larger events and working with the public.”
Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta. After earning his certification as an emergency medical technician /paramedic, Williams earned his master’s degree in nursing education at Walden University. Before joining VUMC, he worked as a flight nurse for New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Williams was dedicated to improving patient care and safety, and educating future nurses, particularly those pursuing careers as members of medical transport crews. He was an adjunct faculty member at Columbia State Community College, teaching nursing courses, and he was a member of the Education Committee of the Air and Surface Transport Nurses Association.
At the Gallatin base, Williams led Operation Tail Watch, Vanderbilt LifeFlight’s helicopter use and safety course for EMTs and others in the community that covered patient criteria, landing zone selection and safety, and helicopter safety.
In late October, Willams and other members of LifeFlight attended the national Air Medical Transport Conference, an educational and networking opportunity for the group. Dreaddy remembered that after a day’s sessions, Williams and other longtimers gathered. Someone joked that it was “an impromptu staff meeting for all the old, crusty flight nurses.”
“He’s a big personality, and he’s just really going to be missed,” Dreaddy said. “These bases become your second home. You spend 24 hours there with your crew. You sleep there; you eat there; you go out and care for people during a transport. Then you come back to base and do it all again.”
Williams is survived by his wife, Jennifer Williams, and their sons Emerson and Sebastian, as well as two adult sons, Alex and Nathan Williams.
Visitation will be at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home, 3009 Columbia Ave., Franklin, Tennessee, on Friday, Nov. 14, 5-7 p.m. The funeral will be at Rolling Hills Community Church, 1810 Columbia Ave., Franklin, Tennessee, on Saturday, Nov. 15. Visitation will be 9-11 a.m., with the service beginning at 11 a.m. An “in line of service” honor ceremony will occur at noon.
