Tift County EMT Riley Rutherford is shown with Courtney Terwilliger, chairman of the Georgia Association of Emergency Medical Services Board, who presented the Georgia EMT of the Year Award to Rutherford, while Karen Grabenstein, board member, looks on.

TIFTON, Ga. – Tift County EMT Riley Rutherford got a big surprise when he attended the annual Georgia Association of Emergency Medical Services awards banquet earlier this month – he was named Georgia’s EMT of the Year.

Rutherford was the first in Tift County to receive the award, and the first in South Georgia as well.

The award is presented each year by the GAEMS, with candidates nominated from each of the state’s regions. Tift County is in Region 8.

“They’ve been giving out awards for about 30 years, and Riley received the award this year. We’re very proud of him,” said Tift County Fire Chief Joey Fowler. “We want to congratulate him for his service to the county and the citizens in Tift County, and his dedication to Tift County EMS, where he’s been working for several years. We look forward to the future of what we have going on. It takes good people like Mr. Rutherford to keep us going.”

Fowler said the GAEMS provides support and continuing education for the state’s emergency services professionals, and manages and administers grant programs statewide as well.

The chief said the award was presented in Forsyth at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.

Rutherford said when he was younger, his plan was to become a funeral director. But a class in Health Occupations in the 10th grade changed his path.

“I was the only guy in the class of 30 girls. Back then they thought you were a little weird because you were going into the medical field,” he said, adding that it was during the class that he knew this was what he wanted to do.

He began his career early, working as an orderly at Tift Regional Medical Center. He said he worked his way up, working in the emergency room and becoming an EMT, then a paramedic. He has worked in Cook and Tift counties. Rutherford worked in Tift County part-time for 11 years, and has been full-time for 19 years.

Rutherford said when he was young, he had several offers from doctors who wanted to pay for him to attend medical school. But that wasn’t what he wanted.

“I wanted to be on the truck,” he said. “You can instantaneously take care of a patient and see what happens to them. Whatever the case, it happens right in front of you. You are the eyes and hands of the doctors.”

Rutherford says he’s seen and experienced a lot over the years, but he’s excited right now about the merger of the county fire department and EMS.

“That’s the way it should be. It’s going to be great,” he said. He’s excited for the future of the department, and his own.

“I hope to work at least another 15 years. It’s been a wonderful ride so far. And it’s going to get even better,” he said. “I’m thankful that Tift County has let me work here for so many years. I come to work happy every day. I’ve never had a bad day. In this profession, you have a lot of bad days, dealing with death, day in and day out. But I enjoy my work all the time.”