This week’s Hometown Public Servant is Wendy Bell, emergency medical technician (EMT) and nurse technician. Responding to her heart’s desire to serve the local community, Bell began her career as an EMT six years ago and is currently employed by Emanuel County EMS and Johnson County EMS. She also works part time in Emanuel Medical Center’s Emergency Room as a nurse technician. Total, Bell has dedicated 10 years in serving the local community.
Prior to her 10-year employment in public service, Bell obtained 15 years in medical training and has occupied the positions of chiropractic assistant and officer manager in other workforce settings.
A native of Emanuel County, Bell credits her family and friends for being the reason she chose to serve the local community.
“I wanted to be able to make a difference in a community full of people that I love. Being that the majority of my family and friends live in Emanuel County, the decision to serve the public at a local level was an easy decision to make,” Bell states. “I enjoy the moments where I truly see I have made a difference. It is a great feeling to be someone’s calm in the middle of what could be the worst day of their life. It’s a blessing to be able to help someone that I would ordinarily never come in contact with or know. All in all, it’s the positive outcomes that I love most about my job,” she further stated.
As an EMS employee, Bell’s day-to-day job responsibilities vary and include shift duties that must be completed before the end of each shift. When not responding to 9-1-1 calls or assisting the hospital with interfacility transfers, EMS employees are required to stock, clean, and wash EMS trucks as well as clean the station.
In order to fulfill her heart’s desire as a public servant, Bell completed the Advanced EMT course through Southeastern Technical College and has since taken other college courses to help further her training.
“We take continuing education classes to maintain our licensure and learn new, better ways in rendering care to patients. Patient care changes every day, so the need to learn is always there,” Bell commented.
As an employee in the medical field, Bell is required to complete a multitude of subjects such as strokes, trauma, cardiac, pediatric care, geriatric care, and much more in order to maintain her license. She completes these requirements through the State of Georgia National Registry Certifications. In addition, Bell elected herself to take additional medical-related courses while pursuing an associate’s degree in healthcare management and will graduate Fall 2021. Upon completing this degree, Bell has been accepted into Southeastern Technical College’s nursing program and will continue studies there this fall.
When not attending work or school, Bell loves being outdoors and can often be found planting flowers or spending time with family, including her 20+ nieces and nephews that she loves spoiling. She is the wife of Jamey Bell. The couple has been together for 11 years, and today, they celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. Together, Wendy and Jamey share a love for their four children, Abrianna, Timothy, Harley and Savannah, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first grandbaby in July.
Wendy’s words to those she serves:
“Our job is not easy. We were not given our license, we had to earn them. Your emergency is now, and always will be, our emergency. EMS employees cannot stress out; we must keep it together to better take care of the problem at hand. Everyone that works for Emanuel County EMS is very smart and knowledgeable. Not every day is easy, we see a lot of things that we would never want anyone else to have to see. However, no matter what call that we respond to, if we are called out on another call, we reset and start over again like it’s the first call of the day. We have some members who have been with Emanuel County for more than 20 years and we’ve lost some very valuable paramedics due to career changes. Of those I have worked with, I can attest that I work with some of the best paramedics and EMT’s in the state of Georgia,”
