32 Years of Serving

Written By: Deena Bouknight | Issue: August 2023 | Photograph By: Mary Gilian

Lora Speed-Beegle

Lora Speed-Beegle is a true local, having been born at the old Highlands-Cashiers Hospital and raised in the Shortoff community. She graduated from Highlands School in 1986 and from Western Carolina University in 1990 and immediately went to work for Macon County EMS. It is a job she has committed herself to, from participating in the first paramedic class offered through Southwestern Community College to experiencing more than 32 years of serving the community and saving lives.

“The cool part of training was that the county hired the helicopter paramedics from MAMA to come and ride with us near the end of school and mentor us, and that allowed us to work in our county as paramedics,” said Speed-Beegle. “This gave us training and life-long friendships.”

She is stationed at the Macon County EMS on Hyatt Road in Franklin, and has been for over 20 years; but, for the first 10 years of her emergency medical services career, she was based in Highlands.

Her responsibilities include responding by ambulance to 911 calls; once at the site of an emergency, she must assess a patient’s condition and administer emergency medical care. In addition, Speed-Beegle works as a community paramedic, which means paramedics visit residents at home to handle non-emergency needs.

“We work with home health, hospice, and a variety of other programs to help patients maintain their independence,” she says. “The aging population of the county and country has increased and so has the need for more home-based service. The community paramedic program that Macon County has is highly regarded and is setting the bar for other counties in Western North Carolina and beyond.”

Speed-Beegle explained that Macon County EMS has three bases: the Franklin base runs three paramedic level ambulances, while Highlands and Nantahala each run one paramedic level ambulance.

“The Franklin ambulances move to the outlying bases when they have calls to help coverage. Macon County has 40 full-time positions on the full-time roster and a part-time roster that varies. People also need to remember Macon EMS main goal is to provide 911 coverage to the county.”

She has experienced countless challenges in more than three decades, such as trying to reach people in need during blizzards, hurricanes, icy conditions, and heavy rains.

“I often tell people the stretcher does not have four-wheel drive,” she quipped. In all seriousness, she describes general daily duties: “Restocking and ensuring the ambulance and personnel are ready to face what comes along with the paging out to a call. Keeping up-to-date on protocols and changes and training. We have to keep our truck and the base tidy.”

She shared that the reason she has stuck with a job that is both strenuous and often emotionally taxing is because “helping people is what has always been what my job means to me. Seeing people out on the street after they have had a life-altering event is definitely a highlight and that they remember our brief time together.”

by Deena Bouknight
photo by Mary Gillan