Roane State Community College

Dan "Robbie" Gibbs, center, the 2017 Paramedic of the Year, returned to Roane State's Knox County Center for Health Sciences recently to receive his photo that has been displayed in the paramedic classroom since he won the award in December 2017. Also pictured, instructor Tom Herron, left, and David L. Blevins, program director. In the photo they're holding, from left: Gibbs, Dr. Peter Kah with TeamHealth, and Blevins.

Aug. 23, 2019

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

It's a long-standing tradition in the Roane State Community College Paramedic Program to name a graduate as the Paramedic Student of the Year.

In collaboration with Knoxville-based physician practice TeamHealth, this honor is presented to an individual nominated by their colleagues who has a history of leadership and academic excellence.

In addition to being recognized, the recipient has their photo taken and displayed in the classroom flanked by two plaques recognizing 30 years of recipients, which Paramedic Program Director David Blevins called a "significant history of excellence."

Then, a year later, the winner is asked to return and claim the photograph, making room for the next honoree's photo. The tradition gives Roane State instructors a chance to catch up with their former students and see how they're doing, Blevins said.

Dan "Robbie" Gibbs received the title in December 2017 and recently came back to the center to take his photo home. Gibbs, 36, is a full-time firefighter/paramedic with Rural Metro Fire Department, assigned to Station 16 on Bluegrass Road in Knox County.

Gibbs praised his instructor, Tom Herron, saying Herron taught him to provide what he called "true care." Gibbs said he never had an instructor "put in as much as Tom did to make sure he and his classmates succeeded."

Herron has a unique teaching method, Blevins said. During scenarios, each mock patient had an underlying medical condition that prompted them to call in an emergency. But there was also a secondary condition that only became known when students talked to the patients, Blevins said.

Students "learned to take the extra time necessary to improve a patient's quality of life," Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the training he received at Roane State "prepared me to not just think about practicing medicine in the field, it prepared me to care for people and think about their long-term health as well as their immediate situations."

Gibbs and his wife Sarah have two sons, Trent and Crew, and live in Knox County.

To learn more about emergency medicine programs at Roane State, visit roanestate.edu/ems or contact Blevins at blevinsds@roanestate.edu or (865) 354-3000 ext. 4768