Pam Corley has heard and done it all.
“Pam has been through everything,” Bedford County Emergency Services Director Dave Cubbison said.
In Corley’s almost 30 years as 911 Coordinator for Bedford County she has helped many in her community.
“It’s a rewarding job,” Corley said. “I mean, you don’t get the pat on the back, but just knowing that you’ve been able to help someone.”
She might have been the voice on the other end of the phone that helped you, too.
“It’s always fun – and we just had one the other day – when you deliver a baby across the phone,” Corley said. “That’s kind of fun. CPR calls are kind of sad because you often don’t know the outcome and – often if you do – they’re not good.”
Corley began her career in EMS, but joined the 911 Center in 1984. She started on the radios, was a training officer for awhile, and then became coordinator in 2006.
Her co-workers said she’s done all of it well.
“She’s one of those people that stands,” Cubbison said. “She doesn’t collapse. She doesn’t wear away from the weather. She has been a rock for this department and this county.”
With her husband taking over as Bedford County’s 911 Coordinator, Corley said she’ll have more time to spend at home with her 14 grandchildren.
But this won’t be the last you hear of her.
“I’d eventually like to get back into EMS a little bit. I miss that,” she said.
She might not be in the field, but she will still be changing lives.
“She certainly, over the years, has touched a lot of people in different ways, and she has definitely improved the living community here in Bedford County and we love her dearly,” Cubbison said. “We’ll miss her.”