Laurel resident Stella McNeer is one of the American Ambulance Association’s “Top 100 Frontline Ambulance Workers” in the nation for 2009-2010.

In recognition of this honor McNeer, who works with AMR in Jackson, traveled to Washington May 3-6 to receive the association’s “Star of Life” award.

“It came as quite a surprise,” said McNeer. “I’m grateful for the honor.”

Although McNeer lives in Laurel, she works as a paramedic at Jackson’s American Medical Response (AMR). A subsidiary of the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Emergency Medical Services Corporation, AMR is the nation’s leading provider of medical transportation. It is locally operated in 38 states and the District of Columbia. AMR’s 18,500 paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and other professionals transport more than four million patients nationwide each year in critical, emergency and non-emergency situations.

Jim Pollard, AMR spokesman in Jackson, said the company is proud of McNeer’s achievement, as well as Charles Wise, an AMR employee in Gulfport who also received the award. The two were the only Mississippians to be listed in the “Top 100.”

“This is award is the highest honor an emergency medical service worker can receive,” said Pollard. “The award is presented each year to paramedics, emergency EMTs and emergency medical dispatchers who epitomize the spirit of the ambulance profession.”

McNeer also received the Mississippi EMT Association’s Paramedic of the Year award at that organization’s annual conference in Natchez on April 19. A 20-year employee, McNeer serves as a paramedic, operations supervisor and emergency medical dispatcher

“I love and enjoy what I do,” said McNeer, who works 13-hour shifts, three days a week. “I’ve been in this business for 31 years. I don’t think I would be doing it for so long if I didn’t love it.”

Her love for emergency medical service began in her hometown of Forest, Miss., in 1977. She was visiting friends who where working at a local ambulance service one Sunday when they received a call about a drowning.

“I asked if I could ride with them,” she said. “They let me do it and my life was changed forever.”

She enrolled in classes at what was then Meridian Junior College and in 1978 she became a certified emergency medical technician. She continued her studies and has been a paramedic for 18 years.

“The opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life is what keeps me going,” said McNeer. “When someone is ill, I try to help them feel better. I try to live by what the Bible says: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ If you do that, nothing will go wrong.”

McNeer especially enjoys spending time with her elderly clients. She said sometimes the elderly don’t have any family around and they get a little lonely. “They want somebody to talk to, somebody to show them that they care about them,” she said. “I try to be that someone in their lives.”

It’s McNeer’s compassion and dedication to her work that prompted friends and co-workers to nominate her. Hinds Community College EMT/Paramedic Instructor Tammy Holloway Nailen said, “Stella has a heart of gold and takes definitive action where she sees a need. No one in the AMR Central Mississippi is more respected, has run the number and variety of calls she has or contributes more to the operation.

“The medic’s medic is the best way to describe Stella,” she added. “She is undaunted by any situation. Fire-rescue and law enforcement personnel know, anytime Stella is involved in a scene, the EMS side is in best possible hands. Everyone on a difficult scene breathes easier when Stella in on-site. She is truly one of the most giving people you’ll ever meet.”

George A. Durgin, Jr., who served as the Department of Health and Human Services’ Federal Emergency Management Agency’s ambulance contact technical representative in Mississippi in 2008, said McNeer played a pivotal role in assisting victims of Hurricane Gustav. She served as operations chief.

Durgin said their forward area command (FAC) was busy transporting hundreds of patients who had come to Jackson to escape Hurricane Gustav. “Our operations chief had to be highly-organized, dedicated, resourceful and attentive to myriad details,” he said. “AMR Jackson has a 100 percent survival rate of all transported patients.

“Stella was awfully close to perfect in the conduct of her duties,” Durgin continued. “I cannot recall a single mission assigned to her that she and her crews failed to carry out with finesse. ...In short, Stella became a linchpin in the entire FAC. Because of her deep genuine caring for colleagues, crews from all over the country started, right away, calling her by her local nickname, ‘Mama Stella.’”

It’s a fitting nickname for McNeer who often tells her patients, “I’m going to take care of you just like I would take care of my momma.” McNeer said when people hear that, they know they will be treated right.

McNeer also prepares holiday meals for those she works with. She and her husband, Carlton, who works as a paramedic in Hattiesburg, decided to provide the meals to show their appreciation for the hard work and dedication of McNeer’s team members.

“These guys work hard, even during the holidays,” said McNeer. “We use to cater a meal for them, but several years ago, my husband said, ‘Let’s do it like we do at home.’

“So we decided we would spend time with our family later and spend Christmas day with the guys. We wanted to make sure they had a hot meal too.”

Pollard said it’s the little things that McNeer does that makes her so well-loved and respected. “She’s one of a kind,” he said.

“I do these things because I want people to know that I will never forget where I came from,” said McNeer. “Sometimes people get management positions or promotions on their jobs and tend to act differently. Not me.”

And just how long will McNeer continue her work in emergency management services?

“As long as the Lord continues to give me health and strength,” she said. “I’ll be 51 on my birthday and I still feel pretty good.

“I think I will continue at it for another 10 years at least. I would love to make that 40 year mark in my career.”