New face prepares to join CCAD board

With no contested races there will be no election for the two open seats on the Callaway County Ambulance Board this year, but there will be a new member taking one of those seats at the board's April meeting.

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Drew Payne and Melanie Loyd

With longtime board member Jim Gravemann deciding not to run for another term, Auxvasse resident Norman Forman will be taking over as the District 2 representative for the next three years.

A paramedic himself, Forman said he decided he wanted to join the board to use his expertise to give back to the community.

"As a resident of Callaway County and with my years of experience and knowledge, I thought I could benefit my community by offering my expertise in helping improve the ambulance district," Forman said.

Currently working full-time as a paramedic with Cole County EMS in Jefferson City, Forman said he stumbled into the field of emergency medicine 34 years ago by accident.

"I was a volunteer firefighter, and the fire department I was working with offered to send some of us to EMT training," he said.

He said he quickly realized it was something he wanted to make into a career.

"I like just being able to help people through emergencies and making a difference in people's lives," Forman said.

Forman also is a part-time pastor at Mt. Herman Baptist Church in Olean and is married to Fulton State Hospital COO Marty Martin-Forman.

He said he is looking forward to getting settled into the board and helping the ambulance district move forward.

"With changes to health care guidelines and Medicare and Medicaid coming down the pipe that are going to have a tremendous impact on the level of care the Callaway Ambulance District is able to provide, I just want to be there to offer my expertise," Forman said.

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Stephanie Hanson and Stephen Hackenson

District 5 representative Bill Crull, who currently serves as board president, said he is looking forward to a second term.

"There's been a pretty good turnover in the board, and there's a lot of things to do yet and I want to carry on helping," Crull said. "Possibly in the future we're going to have to do improvements or additions to the buildings and we need to do planning for that."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.