The Tennessee Ambulance Service Association (TASA) has named Vanderbilt LifeFlight’s Tim Bell the Larry Griffin Paramedic of the Year.

Over the past decade, the Department of Emergency Medicine has significantly expanded its Division of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to oversee the medical care of the Nashville Fire Department and Nashville EMS, the Nashville International Airport, the region’s 911 Dispatch Center, Vanderbilt LifeFlight, Vanderbilt LifeFlight Event Medicine and Metro Nashville’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is starting an Advanced Practice Emergency Medicine Fellowship, one of the first programs in the country exclusively for nurse practitioners specializing in emergency care.

Keith Wrenn, M.D., who for 25 years has been a leader in Vanderbilt’s Department of Emergency Medicine serving as its first and only residency director, is stepping down.

Fewer uninsured patients are walking through the doors of Emergency Departments in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), even though the total number of visits has increased since 2014, according to an Annals of Emergency Medicine study released Monday.

Vanderbilt LifeFlight has developed a new app that allows for emergency responders to request a helicopter at the tap of a button. The app also uses computer-aided software to send the emergency responders’ location and other helpful information directly to dispatch personnel at LifeFlight’s Communications Center.

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma has verified Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt as a Level I pediatric trauma center, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to provide the highest level of care for injured pediatric patients.