Flight nurse Teresa Adams of the Parkersburg, West Va. Air Evac Lifeteam base is one of four nurses to receive the 2009 Celebrating Nursing Excellence Award from the West Virginia Center for Nursing.

Adams, who has been with Air Evac Lifeteam since November, 2008, was nominated in the category of “leadership”. The other three categories in the areas of nursing were advanced practice, clinical care and education. Nominations were open to registered nurses and licenses practical nurses.

“I’m very humbled at this point,” said Adams. “There were some excellent nominees, and just the fact that I was nominated among so many deserving nurses makes this so rewarding.”

Adams graduated from Washington Technical College in 1985 with an LPN degree, later earning an associates degree in nursing in 1988 from Hocking Technical College and a BSN from Ohio University in 2006. She received a National Registry Paramedic Certification from Hocking Technical College in 1993, and completed the 12-month Leadership Academy in 2008.
Her professional experience includes working in the Emergency Department, PACU, Operating Room, Telemetry, and Critical Care at Marietta Memorial Hospital, and in the Emergency Department, Radiology and Cardiac Cath lab at Camden Clark Memorial Hospital for the past 20 years. She has also worked as a Clinical Nurse Manager of Cardiology Services at Camden Clark, and in 2008 became the Director of Cardiopulmonary Services at Camden Clark. She also has worked as a paramedic for Camden Clark Ambulance Service, and volunteers at the Good Samaritan Medical Clinic in Parkersburg.

Adams said she is particularly proud to be recognized in the area of leadership. “I have never been someone to just sit around waiting to be told to do something,” she said. “But with experience comes wisdom. The more experience I get, the better I feel about being called a leader.”

Adams and her husband of 21 years, Randy, have two sons – Justin (19) and Jesse (17). She said both of her sons are interested in the health care field.

Air Evac Lifeteam, an air ambulance service that provides emergency health care and rapid medical transport to rural communities throughout the central United States, provides on-the-scene medical care, rapid transport to medical facilities and critical care inter-facility transfers. The company currently operates 88 air ambulance bases in 14 states.