DeKalb County Emergency Medical Technicians Marie Tupin and Jamie Parsley were nominated and won the 2017 Region IV Upper Cumberland EMS Director’s Association EMT and Paramedic of the Year Awards Friday.Tupin received a 2017 "Paramedic of the Year" award and Parsley was honored as "EMT of the Year."“I would like to congratulate these outstanding and dedicated EMTs,” said Hoyt Hale, DeKalb County EMS director. “They show exemplifying qualities daily as well as compassion for their patients.”The two were nominated for their daily diligence but also for a call on July 30, 2017, received at 1:55 p.m. reporting a two-car accident with injuries on Nashville Highway in DeKalb County.Responding to a possible entrapment call where the caller was unsure if the male patient was breathing, with gas leaking from one of the vehicles and no airbags deployed, the team was prepared for the worst. As more information came in, the call got even more critical and Life Force 2 was put on standby.Arriving at the scene, they witnessed a vehicle with significant damage to the driver’s door with an unresponsive 17-year-old male driver who was not breathing.