Julie Anderson, Richmond Ambulance
Richmond Ambulance Authority Paramedic Julie Anderson (Photo by Tharon Giddens)
Julie Anderson is an all-star.
She’s a paramedic with the Richmond Ambulance Authority and the recipient of a 2017 Star of Life Award from the American Ambulance Association. She was one of 108 peer-nominated emergency medical workers from across the nation to be recognized at an event on June 12 in Washington, D.C.
“She’s a dedicated professional,” says her boss, Rob Lawrence, chief operating officer for the ambulance authority. He notes that Anderson is a role model in her clinical work and in her attitude, exemplifying EMS work as a way of life, not just a job.
Anderson was also honored last year with the ambulance authority’s Medic of the Year award. She’s been with Richmond Ambulance Authority since 2007 and earned her paramedic certification in 2009.
Richmond Ambulance workers average about 15 calls on a 12-hour shift, and after a while, calls seem to run together. Anderson also notes that it’s rare that EMTs get to know what happens with the people that they care for en route to the hospital.
One of her most memorable calls came just after she qualified as a paramedic. Her team was transporting a patient to the hospital when he went into cardiac arrest, Anderson's first such case. She was alone in the back of the ambulance with the patient, Curtis Monk, president and chief executive officer for Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corp. Her intervention kept Monk alive, and he eventually received a heart transplant.
“It was a pretty scary call,” she says.
Monk attended the awards event. “I simply would not be here right now [without Anderson's help], and for that, I am eternally grateful,” he says in a release.
EMS work is a second career for Anderson. She had an associate’s degree in accounting and had worked in payroll and human resources. She stayed home and raised her children, but when they were older, she wanted to return to work. Accounting and working with numbers had lost its appeal: She didn’t want to “sit around an office.”
Helping others as a paramedic had more meaning. “You feel like you have a purpose,” she says.
It’s a family tradition for the Hanover resident. Her mother, Monika Hawkins, is 78 and still works with the West Hanover Rescue Squad two or three times a week. Her father, Walter Hawkins, who turns 81 next month, is a retired firefighter and stays active as a volunteer.
Her father says his work experience includes time with Henrico Fire, the Beaverdam Fire Department, the rescue squad, and 30 years training and working with rescue dogs. He says he was not surprised that Julie chose paramedic work over accounting. She’s close to her mother, he says, and “followed in her mama’s footsteps.”
Her children are also following in that tradition. Her son, Bradley Anderson, earned EMT certification, and her daughter, Katie Anderson, is in nursing school.
“I guess it’s just been part of my life,” says Julie.
