From left: Michael Kaufmann, MD, medical director of the St. Vincent EMS/Statflight/Critical Care Transport team; Heidi Abel, St. Vincent Fishers Emergency Services director; Noblesville firefighter and paramedic Todd Watson and James Macky, NFD division chief of emergency medical services. Photo provided by St. Vincent.
Noblesville firefighter and paramedic Todd Watson was recently honored by St. Vincent Health for his job performance with the St. Vincent Angel Medic Award, which is given annually to EMT/Paramedics that represent the best the industry has to offer.
“This has been a passion of mine since I was a little kid. I talked about this since I was real little,” said Watson. “I love the job, love the team aspect behind everything. It takes all of us to make it work, it’s not about one individual.”
Watson has been a member of the Noblesville Fire Department for 16 years.
“While Todd excels at everything he does his passion for the job shines through in his patient care,” said James Macky, NFD division chief of emergency medical services. “Todd is a master clinician and one of the best paramedics in the State of Indiana. He shows compassion to his patients and makes every effort to ensure they receive the highest quality care possible. Todd is the type of leader everyone looks up to and the type of paramedic everyone strives to be.”
During his tenure, Watson has worked tirelessly to improve all aspects of his career. Paramedic, firefighter, lead medic, primary instructor, CPR instructor, fire instructor, TRT member, SWAT medic, dive team medic and critical care paramedic student are just a few of the hats he wears at NFD.
“That’s a lot for one person but for those of us who know Todd, we know he’s a master of it all,” Macky said. “In the role of lead medic, Todd has been instrumental in making our EMS service one of the best. As an EMS educator he provides quality education to our EMT’s and paramedics by ‘keeping the bar high.’”
Watson also has dedicated countless hours and made an impact in our community by providing education to the public through CPR and EMT training.
“I enjoying giving them the knowledge and hopefully I am sparking an interest like I had when I was younger,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll have the same goals and aspirations to grow up and do the same thing. I hope that by teaching I can pass the torch.”
Watson likes the challenge and training of learning new aspects of the job.
“I put a lot of pride into what I do; I want to do a good job,” he said. “I want to make sure I’m involved in all these different things so I can learn more so when that bell rings hopefully I’m the guy you can call on to get the job done. It’s not about accolades but me wanting to learn more.”
Watson said he enjoys the comradery and “the job itself” most about being a fireman and paramedic.
“It’s all about that family, having a job to do and everyone coming together to get it done,” he said.
Recipients of the Angel Award are nominated by their peers. Criteria judged includes volunteerism, community service, core value commitment, leadership, professionalism and appropriate medical care. For more information on the award, visit www.stvincent.org.
