A huge congratulations goes out to our very own Mike Hickerson. Mike has been selected as this years Fire fighter of the year. This is a well deserved award to an all round professional! Congrats Mike! Here is a few words from our Chief on the nomination....
Mike Hickerson has always been one to encourage training in fire ground tactics and emergency medical procedures as well as keeping every paramedic up-to-date on their Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Cardiac Life Support required training. If Mike sees a need for training he usually steps up and takes the lead in training others within the division.
Pictured from left to right: Chief Rudy Ruiz, Fire Fighter of the Year Mike Hickerson, and Deputy Chief Tom Granata.
Mike also provides objective and constructive feedback with others who teach, making them better instructors. I have seen him respond positively to newer team members, appreciating their knowledge, skills and abilities. Mike embraces their differences and works to grow his own knowledge—improving beyond an already competent level.
Mike has been dedicated to following through on our strategic plan that specifically identifies training as one of our important initiatives as well as being committed to improving our current training schedule. Recently, after going through ice rescue training, he immediately started working on updating our Standing Operating Guideline to the current standards based on the information he learned. This was a much needed task.
Overall Mike has taken a lot of self-directed initiative and is never one to sit still. This encourages a very forward thinking division that is not afraid to change. This mindset is extremely valuable in this ever-changing environment.
Great leaders often encourage others to become great leaders. Mike Hickerson is a true example of that. Please join me in congratulating Firefighter/Paramedic Mike Hickerson as the 2018 Exchange Club Firefighter of the Year for the City of Perrysburg.