CLARKESVILLE — Pioneer. Legend. Institution. Friend. Those all are words people have used to describe longtime Habersham County Emergency Medical Services Director Jack Moody.
Moody retired recently after more than four decades with the agency.
“Forty-two years is quite a long time,” Moody said. “I’ve met a lot of people. I’ve met a lot of friends. It means the world to me, and that’s what I’ll miss the most is the people I’ve had an opportunity to work with.”
Moody was one of the first to join Habersham’s county-run ambulance service.
“I started in early ’75, and went through the EMT program in like four and a half weeks, marathon weekends with Ms. Sylvia McEntire when she was at North Georgia Tech,” Moody said. “That was like an 80-hour program – no IVs, no MASTs, no sophisticated airway adjuncts and that sort of thing. A little later on, they added those things, so we went back and refreshed to a 126-hour program, and then went to a 156-hour program. Now it’s up to 326 hours, plus all your clinical rotations, and that’s for the EMT program. The paramedic program now is in excess of 1,200 hours. That’s the thing I’ve seen progress the most is the training.”
When the county took over the ambulance service from local funeral homes, ambulances changed as well from mostly hearses and combination cars to dedicated emergency medical vehicles.
“That’s your most important piece of equipment is the ambulance itself,” Moody said. “You’ve got to get there, and you’ve got to get back.”
Moody shared a little history of the Habersham County Ambulance Service, now known as Habersham EMS.
“Actually the EMS operations went into effect Oct. 31, 1974, at midnight,” Moody said. “Jimmy Wheeler was at the helm then as the director. We ran our first call Nov. 1, 1974, which was a hospital discharge. Our trucks, we got them through the National Highway Safety Administration, through the help of Dr. Lumsden, who really initiated the program way back then. We refer to him as the “godfather of EMS” for Habersham. He did a lot of work, did a lot of legwork with legislation, with writing the grants, that sort of thing, that got us three Chevrolet Custom Deluxe with 454s, straight bench seats, and that’s what we used back then was speed.”
A lot has changed since those days of high-performance engines and bare bones trucks.
“Now the trucks are predominantly diesel, they don’t run that fast, but they carry a big, big payload, which is all the paramedics/EMS on board,” Moody said.
In the early days of EMS, equipment aboard the ambulance was sparse. Now, the back of an ambulance contains state-of-the-art lifesaving equipment.
“The equipment itself has far exceeded my expectations when I first got into this business,” Moody said. “You’re looking at sophisticated airway adjuncts, video airway adjuncts; you’re looking at all the cardiac monitors and their capabilities, anywhere from a built-in AED or automated external defibrillator to the manual defibrillator; through monitoring through three-lead, four-lead, 12-lead – the ability to send that over the airwaves and to a receiving station at our hospitals, whichever we’re going to.”
Moody said he has enjoyed his service and will miss those around him the most.
“I’m going to miss the people the most, and our friends,” Moody said, noting the most rewarding part of his career was “to be a part of this EMS family. It is an extended family. I consider it that and always have. These are my brothers and sisters who are out there performing this job, and to see the effect that they have – they make a world of difference.”
Many of Moody’s co-workers from Habersham EMS and Habersham Medical Center, both on-duty and off-duty, turned out to an event at the Habersham County Fairgrounds near Clarkesville recently to pay tribute to his contributions. But attendance was not limited to those from Habersham. Instead, people from throughout the region came to visit with and congratulate Moody while enjoying a barbecue lunch.
“It’s very humbling to see these folks,” Moody said. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with them through the Region 2 EMS Council for the last few years, so there’s a lot of support. It’s very humbling. I see some of my students here, too.”
Moody also was recognized during a recent Habersham County Commission meeting.
“Just to go on record, it’s been my honor to serve Habersham County and work with the people I’ve had an opportunity to work with in public safety,” Moody told commissioners. “You have an awesome group, I’m sure you know that.”
During that meeting, Moody introduced new EMS Director Chad Black, who was worked for Habersham EMS for 28 years, the last year on a full-time basis after finishing out his retirement with Hall County as deputy chief.
“By the way, he’ll be only the third EMS director in the history of Habersham,” Moody said as he introduced Black to commissioners.
Black told commissioners he is stepping into a big role following Moody as EMS director.
“You don’t fill the shoes of someone like this,” Black said. “You wear your own shoes and keep going down the same path and hopefully you can improve and finally to do things even better and build upon the foundation there. I’m honored to be part of Habersham County.”
