McLeod Health Clarendon's new Emergency Medical Services director is no stranger to the Palmetto State.
Though a Pennsylvania native who has lived most of his life in southwest Virginia, Bradley Clifford Gerfin attended a few years of music school at the University of South Carolina in Columbia before changing course and joining the medical field.
He joined McLeod Health Clarendon April 10 as director of Clarendon EMS and Cypress Transport.
"I would like to see us start some community outreach events in the area," Gerfin said of his new role. "A big thing we need in this area is CPR. The more people that know CPR, that drives up your survivability rate."
Gerfin came from Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was director of Washington County-Johnson City Emergency Medical Services.
Gerfin has a paramedic's license from Virginia, reciprocated to South Carolina. He is currently working on a bachelor's degree through an online program.
"I did attend the University of South Carolina, majoring in music education at the time, but that wasn't the route I wanted to go," Gerfin said. "I came out, got into EMS and have spent the rest of my career there."
After attending USC for two years, and not feeling "quite right" about his area of study, Gerfin left the school and began talking with a friend who was involved in an ambulance service.
"It was really just through that contact that I got started," he said. "The service had a home health business as well, and I started out delivering home health goods to patients."
Gerfin was approached by the owner, who asked if he had "a good driving record," Gerfin said.
"I got in an ambulance that day and worked with him, and signed up for an EMT class the next day," he said.
That was 22 years ago.
Gerfin worked with Friendship Ambulance Service in Wise, Virginia, and parallel to that volunteered with the Wise Rescue Squad. After three years, he began his 19-year tenure with the Washington County Johnson City EMS.
"During my time there, I worked part-time as a flight paramedic with the Wings Air Rescue," he said.
In his new responsibilities, Gerfin will manage and lead both EMS, which responds to emergencies throughout the county, and Cypress Transport, which is the convalescent side of the service.
"Cypress Transport takes those who aren't able to doctor's appointments and other medical appointments," Gerfin said. "We want to bring that service to more residents in Clarendon County. As for EMS, the number of calls we get isn't really controlled by us, and everyone knows 911. But not many people know we have the transport side of the service."
Gerfin replaces Steven Scurry, who has moved to registered nursing in McLeod Health Clarendon's emergency room. He said he is happy to be in the area.
"My oldest daughter lives in Columbia," he said. "For about 10 years, we've been coming down to this and the Santee area to play golf. My wife and I had already made a decision that we wanted to retire down here to this community."
He said the location is ideal for his family.
"We're close enough to a big city, but we're also in the country," he said. "We can enjoy the peace and quiet."
He said it was important for him to get to the Clarendon area sooner rather than later after watching his mother pass away recently.
"My mother passed away after a seven-year battle with Alzheimer's, and I watched her bank a lot of things on her retirement," Gerfin said. "She wanted to do this, and she wanted to do that. And she never got to really do those things. I knew that if I got the opportunity to move to this area sooner, I would take it. Six days after her passing, I saw the post here with McLeod Health."
