Stephen Wilcox, Whitesboro Fire Department’s (WFD) Division Chief of EMS, was awarded the CareFlite HEART Award for Leadership at CareFlite’s annual conference Tuesday. The prestigious award recognizes leadership excellence within the emergency medical services (EMS) and is awarded by CareFlite. It is designed to honor those individuals and organizations in EMS for consistent excellence and significant contributions to the field.
HEART stands for Healthcare Excellence And Responder Tribute and recipients are nominated for the award. The award is open to any responder in CareFlite’s service area and is awarded once a year after a panel review of all the nominees by CareFlite’s Advisory Council.
Chief Wilcox was nominated by WFD Lieutenant Josh Velten.
“Chief Wilcox spends a lot of time and energy making sure other providers for WFD are recognized and nominated for awards and contributions they make to the community,” Lt. Velten said. “I felt like this was a great time for him to get a chance to really get some of the recognition he deserves.”
The awards presentation shared a short video highlighting the accomplishments that Chief Wilcox has made along the way of working to secure a paid ambulance service for the WFD. From countless hours of volunteering his time in the initial phases of the department’s medical switch to the part-time position now that keeps it running, Chief Wilcox was commended by his peers repeatedly in the video for his commitment to the community.
Chief Wilcox said he was speechless when he heard about the selection for the award and humbled by the selection. The award presented to Chief Wilcox adds to the collection of awards and recognitions bestowed on the EMS Division of the WFD, which in turn reflects on the leadership of the department and community support of the program.
