The annual awards honor heroic actions by emergency medical services providers who gave exemplary care to both adult and pediatric patients.

The award is presented to an individual who provides exemplary service and support to emergency medical services in Tennessee.

Heather Burich had just driven to Clarksville after an appointment on Vanderbilt Health's Nashville campus when she got a call from a doctor she was yet to meet. The news about her echocardiogram results was alarming.

Vanderbilt patients will have close-to-home access to all aspects of preventive cardiology, assessment of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, rather than having to drive to Nashville.

Today’s VUMC is closely intertwined with the booming geographic region it calls home, resulting in a relationship that both demands and fuels the institution’s rapid growth.

The first of its kind in the region, the Neonatal and Pediatric Transport team launched under the direction of Mildred T. Stahlman, MD, a neonatal medicine pioneer who created the first modern NICU in 1961. The goal: to give babies a fighting chance.

LifeFlight started as a single helicopter air ambulance service four decades ago and has grown to a comprehensive emergency medical services provider that includes critical care air and ground transport, a ground ambulance program, event medicine coverage, emergency and dispatch communications.