When Bedford County Mayor Chad Graham decided to go into the paramedic program at the University of Alabama in the late 1980s, it was still a relatively “new” profession, he said.  

In fact, it was 1972 when the first residency program to train medical professionals for emergency medicine practices was established at the University of Cincinnati, according to the Journal of Emergency Medical Services.  

Early on, it was called “ambulance services” while emergency medical care was primarily Basic Life Support. Essentially, Graham explained, the objective was to take the patient to the care, instead of the care to the patient. Ambulances went from being “Black Maria’s” (as early ambulances were dubbed in the 1940s) to emergency room care brought to people’s front doors.  

“Bedford got some grants early on in the ‘80s and got some defibrillators, which were computerized,” Graham said, “so technicians would not have to diagnose the patient’s problems.” But as educational programs developed, paramedics are now trained to assess, determine, and medicate what they see going on in the patient, Graham said.  

With these advancements in place, Graham helped build the County’s Advanced Life Support EMS while serving as director of the EMS program in Bedford from 1997 to 2014. The winds of change were forming.  

“I felt like that relationship could be put into motion if we could just get the right people to hold tight for a minute and recognize there is a give-and-take on both sides,” Graham said.  

Graham said when he entered his position as Bedford County Mayor in 2018, the City of Shelbyville stepped up with ideas to make local economic development “more robust.”  

Plans to revitalize the historic Shelbyville downtown served as a catalyst for the City and the County working together, Graham said. It also led to the Shelbyville-Bedford Partnership in which both City and County leaders are involved.  

A key piece to the “culture change,” Graham emphasized, was the change in how the County operates with the City.  

County-City cooperation  

“The City in the past has felt like they stepped up and put money toward some of these things and the County didn’t put any. And that may or may not be true,” Graham added. “But the truth is, the City and County are united on this approach.”  

Graham said Shelbyville leaders liked “us being proactive, aggressive and wanted to be a part of the solution, not the problem,” said Graham. “And that has been one of the heavy glues that’s kept the City and County together―we’re on the same page and we’re both committed to the Shelbyville Bedford Partnership.”  

For example, the City and County have “back-fielded” with investments in the 231 North Industrial Park that they just simply hadn’t made in the past, according to Graham.  

Those culture changes  

Talking about culture changes, Graham said he wants to sit with folks and hear their challenges with a fresh set of eyes.  

He avoids being a government official who-once in office—sets out to undo everything and wind up destabilizing the office to the point of where nothing is accomplished.  

“The solutions are in the middle,” said Graham. “They’re not on the far right, they’re not on the far left.”