Letter to the Editor: Hardeman County Ambulance Service

03/21/2026

I have been a Hardeman County resident for thirty-one years, and I have been employed with Hardeman County Ambulance Service for fifteen of those years. This career is my passion. I am devoted to taking the best care of the citizens of this county. My blood, sweat, and tears are stained onto every ambulance seat at the department. Believe me when I say, I have invested my life in Hardeman County and the emergency care that is provided to our residents. To witness in-person, fifteen of the sixteen Hardeman County Commissioners vote on a positive recommendation to hire a director for HCAS knowing that the ambulance committee did not partake in interviewing any of the qualified applicants is appalling. It is deplorable that those in county leadership positions expect our emergency medical professionals to give their all each and every shift, yet they are unable to perform the bare minimum task of interviewing applicants for one of the most important roles in our county. The commission made it clear that their decision to hire an AEMT, over a paramedic, for the director position was based completely on a resume alone. When did our county decide interviews were no longer needed to ascertain the best person for the job? This is an insult to all the qualified applicants that took time creating plans to better our county’s emergency care and management. This completely defies common sense and insults the intelligence of not only our EMS department but the citizens of this county. When the commission was pressed by County Commissioner Bell about how the board concluded who should be the new director without an interviewing process, he was mocked. How dare he suggest for just a little more effort be put into deciding the fate of emergency care in our county? How this process has been handled by the leadership of Hardeman County reeks of nepotism. The people of Hardeman County and the employees of Hardeman County Ambulance Service deserve the best and most qualified candidate for EMS Director, and they deserve to have an ambulance board that will perform its due diligence in finding the person best suited for the job. -Cody Bell, Paramedic

*To be clear, I did not apply for this position. I am a concerned employee and citizen.