Warren D MacBride Award: Awarded by the SC EMS Association
March 4, 2015
ANDERSON, SC – Mr. McDade has served as Abbeville County Emergency Management Director for 13 years, and currently serves as a paramedic for the Anderson County EMS & Special Operation Division as well as the 911 Director for Anderson County SC. His responsibilities while being the Emergency Management Director included being the EMS Director and the 911 Center Director. Mr. McDade also has served as a former President of the SC EMS Association; He served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Midlands EMS Association Board of Directors. He still currently serves on the SC EMS Association PAC and is very active with the EMS community here in the state.
When Mr. McDade served as Emergency Management Director of Abbeville County the county initially had 4 volunteer rescue squads. Mr. McDade would routinely have to respond to EMS Calls during the day with the volunteer rescue squads. Work demand made it difficult for Volunteers to respond especially during the daytime hours. So Mr. McDade would supplement for these times. In 1999 Mr. McDade was able to add the first QRV for Abbeville County. The QRV was staffed 24/7 and made a huge difference in the care EMS was able to provide to the citizens.
Mr. McDade saw the need here in Abbeville and also in the surrounding counties for more EMT’s and Paramedics to be trained to offer care to the citizens of the state. He began offering EMT and Paramedic training courses in Abbeville, and made this training available on a regional basis. This drew interest for counties like Anderson, Greenwood, McCormick, Laurens, and Saluda Counties as a cost effective way to serve their communities.
When work schedules became more demanding and take more and more volunteers away from EMS. Mr. McDade began to work on alternative ways to give the citizens of Abbeville County the proper responses they needed. He was able to add 1 part-time person 8-5 M-F to help in the responses. He continued to add personnel as the need arose. He continued to fight to add more and more personnel in order to have the coverage that Abbeville County deserved.
Finally by 2004 Abbeville became an all paid service and had 5 Emergency Trucks staffed at the Paramedic Level stationed throughout the County. Even when budget cuts began to affect the service and some trucks had to be shut down, Mr. McDade was still determined to give the citizens the EMS coverage they needed. In 2010/2011 he began working with County Council to draw up plans to place an EMS station in each area of the County to continue to provide EMS coverage to the County.
Mr. McDade’s leadership transcends Abbeville County and his impact has been felt across the entire state. Steve has served in whatever capacity he was asked to within the State EMS Association and has been a tireless advocate for EMS with elected officials on the local, state and federal levels.
WARREN D. MCBRIDE AWARD
Criteria: Presented to that individual who has demonstrated outstanding contribution to the
improvement of EMS through a continuing long-term commitment to the citizens of South
Carolina.
Eligibility: Any individual involved in improvement of EMS. Normally administrative and not
required to be a direct patient care provider.
Who Selects Recipient: SC EMS Association
Award Given: Plaque
When Given: Annual Awards Ceremony 2/28/2015 at the South Carolina EMS Symposium in Myrtle Beach, SC.
