By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – It was a day to remember for Tom Doak.

An emergency medical technician for 36 years and paramedic since 1992, Doak, of Wilton, was honored Wednesday with an award for excellence in emergency medical services.

It came from Gov. John Baldacci and state emergency management officials in Augusta. And he was honored again at Franklin Memorial Hospital later that night.

It was terrific, he said after receiving a plaque in Farmington. “It humbles me,” Doak added.

Doak, who is also a firefighter with the Wilton Fire Department, said of his fellow NorthStar Ambulance workers: “There’s not a finer group of people to work with. I’m proud to be a part of this group.”

Then he added, “There’s no busted give-a-damns in this room,” referring to Jo Dee Messina’s song, “My Give A Damn’s Busted.”

“I have an immense amount of respect for these people,” he said between handshakes from members of the uniformed crowd.

“It’s not the money, the hours or great working conditions,” that keeps emergency workers doing what they do, he said.

Others were also recognized at Wednesday’s event.

With a wavering voice, NorthStar’s Carol Pillsbury, who organized Wednesday’s event, read one patient’s litany of injuries, several life-threatening, after which she turned the microphone over to David Grant, the patient and survivor.

Walking with a slight limp, the New Sharon man took the stage to thank EMT Joe Dunton, who was first to respond to a horrific accident on March 31, 2000.

Grant recalled the crash on Routes 2 and 27 in which a fast-traveling tractor-trailer struck his vehicle from behind and pushed it into another vehicle. The car was flipped into oncoming traffic, then struck by a second truck. Grant was later airlifted to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Dunton’s “quick actions are the reason I’m still alive today,” Grant told the crowd.

“I’m stunned,” said Dunton quietly.

“For a split second you wish you were somewhere else,” he said of the accident. But then you get to work, he said.

“It’s the paradox of being on a scene,” he said to appreciative applause and many pairs of tear-filled eyes.

Other patients also recognized emergency care-givers. They included a cardiac arrest survivor and another woman who thanked two EMTs from the Phillips service for their kind and comforting care.

Also recognized for service with NorthStar were Mark Rousseau of Phillips, Harold Schaetzle of Rangeley, Linda Allen of Carrabassett Valley, Jason Decker of Farmington and Vicki Worth of Chesterville.