On June 1, 1976, Thomas Kerr
began his career as the youngest construction surveyor with the City of Akron Water
Department. His father, Richard, had worked in and retired from the same department.Tom
was appointed a Firefighter/Medic with the Akron Fire Department May 1, 1980. He was
promoted to Fire Lieutenant September 12, 1990.
Tom is an instructor in Basic Life Support (BLS), Advanced Cardiac
Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Geriatric Education for EMS, Special
Children’s Outreach and Pre-Hospital Education, International Trauma Life Support,
Pediatric International Life Support, and is an EMS Instructor for Ohio.
Tom was instrumental on the EMS Committee. He
developed the Peer Support Committee, and was the driving force behind pre-hospital
12-lead EKGs for the Akron Fire Department. Tom is always progressive in
his thinking, and supportive of his team. He was a mentor for new medics
for years and always offered to take on medics who needed extra training, to work with
them and get them acclimated to the Akron Fire Department system. Tom
continues to be a mentor, even though he retired from the EMS program two years ago.
Tom and Lorraine have been married 34 years. They have two grown
children – Alison, a programmer/analyst at B&W, and Randall, a supervisor at US
Foods. Tom and Lorraine have four grandchildren – one granddaughter and three
grandsons – the pride of Tom’s life!
Tom is an all-around, laid back, putter around the yard, fix-it, and
no-nonsense type of guy who likes to play poker and has a dry, English sense of humor.
Thanks, Tom, for working as a paramedic almost your entire career, and
always working hard to make the Akron Fire Department a better place to work.
