Oregon’s Annual EMS Awards Program is intended to recognize excellence, foster achievement, and honor those whose acts and deeds stand out from the day-to-day excellence of Oregon’s EMS system. This year, TVF&R Lieutenant Jeff Woodin FF/EMT-P, FAHA received the EMS Community Service Medal* for the following contributions and service on behalf of all paramedics.

Paramedic Woodin has been a member of the First Aid Subcommittee of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) Committee since 2006. From 2006 through 2010 Paramedic Woodin was actively involved with the ECC Science with Treatment Recommendations (CoSTR) efforts, whereby he co-authored an evidence worksheet addressing the question of whether “bronchodilators improve outcomes in patients experiencing breathing difficulties.”

In 2010 he was appointed as a Co-Chair of the AHA First Aid Committee and since 2011, has served as Chair. He was recently nominated by the AHA to represent them on the First Aid Committee of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) – an organization that oversees the development of resuscitation guidelines internationally and includes representatives from eight different organizations from the United States, Australia, Europe, Canada, and Asia. Paramedic Woodin will be one of three representatives from AHA. In addition to his committee service, Paramedic Woodin has assisted the AHA with its training materials and is an active AHA instructor at Portland Community College.

Outside of his AHA contributions, Paramedic Woodin recently worked with his fiancée, an infection control nurse, to co-author the “Guide to Infection Prevention in EMS” for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). This free downloadable guide is designed to assist EMS agencies in optimizing their infectious disease prevention practices.

TVF&R EMS Medical Director Mohamud Daya MD, MS states, “In spite of Lieutenant Woodin’s national and international achievements, he has retained the same humility he had when he first joined TVF&R in 1998. Daya added, “He is the consummate professional and consistently performs at the highest level when administering care to our patients.”

*The Community Service Medal recognizes an EMT who has made outstanding commitment to the non-patient care aspects of a community's EMS system. Special emphasis is on EMS public information, education, and relations, community education, and prevention programs.