A founder of the very honor he helped create will instead be one of the people recognized at the fifth annual Emergency Medicine Wall of Honor induction ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 22, at noon.

“Given the fact that I was the principal instigator for the creation of the EM Wall of Honor, I feel reluctant to be recognized in this fashion,” said Dr. Paul Rega, director of emergency medicine simulation education and medical advisor for disaster preparedness at The University of Toledo Medical Center.

“I am extremely humbled and grateful that I was even considered; however, it affords me the opportunity to thank everyone, over the course of 35 years, who has worked with me in emergency departments and in disaster situations to improve the health and welfare to those who sought our care,” Rega said.

The reception will start at 11:30 a.m. in the Lloyd A. Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center on the Health Science Campus. UT President Sharon Gaber will speak. The simulation center will also host a demonstration.

A plaque for each honoree will be added to the wall, located in the Emergency Department of UTMC, near the ambulance entrance.

The Emergency Medicine Wall of Honor, made possible through funding from The Blade, was established in 2011 to recognize individual achievement and self-sacrifice in the emergency medical services and emergency medicine community.

Nominations are submitted by community stakeholders and reviewed by a multidisciplinary selection committee.

In addition to Rega, this year’s honorees are:

• Thomas Couture Sr., paramedic. Dedicating more 30 years to prehospital medicine, Couture was a founding leader of EMS in Lucas County. Beginning in the 1970s, he was instrumental in implementing policies, protocols and educational standards for the ever-growing role of the paramedic in the community.

• Karen Peckinpaugh, registered nurse. Peckinpaugh is the founding “mother” of the Forensics SANE (sexual assault nurse examiners) programs in the region. She has worked to establish community relationships that have assisted with the growth of local and regional SANE programs.

###

Tags: The University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC)