When minutes count: Funeral services Wednesday in Nashville, Ill. for man who founded modern emergency services
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) from across Southern Illinois were in Nashville, Ill. Tuesday night for the visitation of a man whom many believe fathered modern Emergency Medical Services as we know them in Southern Illinois.
Gary "Mule" Miller, age 64, of Nashville. passed away at 8:22 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville after some sudden health issues. Gary retired as an emergency room technician at Good Samaritan Regional Health Center in Mount. Vernon after two years.
He was previously employed with the Pinckneyville Ambulance Service and before that was a paramedic and administrator from 1973 until 2004 with the Washington County Ambulance Service . He retired after 31 years of service.
"It all started with Gary in Irvington, Ill.," remembers Perry County Ambulance Service Director Shane Malawy. "He was my boss when I was just 18 years old up at Washington County Ambulance Service."
"After he retired and wanted to get back into it he came to Pinckneyville and I was his boss," said Malawy. "He had so much experience," he added.
Medics from across the region honored Miller with a walk-through together at the Styninger-Krupp Funeral Home in Nashville at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Washington County Ambulance Service units were parked outside in his honor. The funeral service was held at 11 a.m. this morning. The Rev. Scot Osenbaugh officiated. Private family inurnment services will be at a later date in Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville, Illinois.
Gary was responsible for creating what many believe is the first substantial paramedic program in Southern Illinois.
Mr. Robert Hyman, MS, CC/NREMT-P - EMS System Coordinator at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Mount Vernon: "Everybody loved him. I never saw him turn away an EMT who wanted to learn this. He was an avid instructor. I can't speak highly enough about him.
A short history lesson: For decades funeral homes across Southern Illinois provided ambulance services utilizing high-top hearse-like vehicles. Some funeral directors were well trained in medical assistance, but most served simply to transfer patients from place-to-place. There was little formalized training. Fire Departments like the one in Du Quoin purchased and equipped emergency cargo vans to respond to vehicle accidents and disaster scenes.
In the 1970s first responders became more formalized in their training because of new Illinois statutes, and they developed ambulance services that were reliant on both a tax base and health insurance subsidy.
About that time, ambulances were restructured to be a "mobile hospital," rather than just transporting patients, thus leading to the need for well-trained medics. CPR was developed and accepted as the standard of care for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; defibrillation, based in part on an increased understanding of heart arrhythmia, was introduced, as were new pharmaceuticals to be used in cardiac arrest situations. Studies placed pressure on governments to improve emergency care in general, including the care provided by ambulance services. Part of the result was the creation of standards in ambulance construction concerning the internal height of the patient care area (to allow for an attendant to continue to care for the patient during transport), and in the equipment (and thus weight) that an ambulance had to carry.
Ambulance design therefore underwent major changes in the 1970s. High-topped car-based ambulances were developed, but car chassis proved unable to accept the weight and other demands of the new standards; van (and later, light truck) chassis would have to be used instead. The early van-based ambulances looked very similar to their civilian counterparts, having been given a limited amount of emergency vehicle equipment such as audible and visual warnings, and the internal fittings for carrying medical equipment, most notably a stretcher. As time went on, ambulances matured in parallel to the newly developed EMS, gaining the capacity to carry additional equipment (both portable and permanently installed) as EMTs and paramedics added this equipment to their arsenal. Advances in the technology and understanding of emergency vehicle equipment also continued to influence ambulance design, just as it did for police and fire-suppression vehicles.
By 1988 Illinois laws required very regimented and disciplined EMT training and most funeral home ambulance services disappeared from Southern Illinois' landscape.
In addition to his wife of 13 years, Mr. Miller is survived by one son Chapen Miller and wife Dawn of Collinsville, Illinois, one stepson Dustin Simaytis and wife Tallie of Collinsville, one stepdaughter Anna Birkner and husband Eric of Nashville, mother Clarine Miller of Centralia, four grandchildren Chandler Miller, Avery Simaytis, Taylor Birkner and Gavin Birkner, 1 sister Glenda Lamb of Centralia, Illinois and nieces and nephews.
Mr. Miller was preceded in death by his father Harold "Bud" Miller, and nephew Tommy Hicks,
Gary was a member of Centralia Moose Lodge # 1219. He enjoyed riding his Gold Wing motorcycle. He was a member of the ABATE motorcycle group Kaskaskia Valley Chapter.