It was just like any other day until a car suddenly lurched right in front of James Paul Reaves, Jr. as he was driving down the road. Slamming on the brakes wasn’t enough to keep his car from crashing right into the stray car’s side. Like a slow motion horror movie, James saw the front of his car collapse and fold in on him. The force was so strong that the steering column actually broke onto his chest.

James was training to be a paramedic at the time, so he knew he was in very serious trouble.

With multiple injuries to his leg, chest, and side, James was bleeding and trapped in his crumpled car until the Fire Department extricated him and sent him directly to The Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center at The MED.

That’s when things started to look up for James: he spotted his buddy, Dr. Martin Croce. “They wheeled me into the trauma unit and I looked up and saw Martin,” James said. “Martin said that if they needed to perform surgery, he’d be the one to do it. I said, ‘That’s what I expect!’”

James first met Dr. Croce as a guest on his Library Channel show, “Emergency.” But now the emergency was real, and while James would much rather have seen Martin on the golf course, this was one time he was glad to see him at The MED! Dr. Martin Croce is the Medical Director of the Trauma Center as well as Division Chief for Trauma and Surgical Critical Care Surgery with the University of Tennessee Health and Science Center.

“I couldn’t have had a safer or more secure feeling than knowing Martin was there,” James explains.

Thanks to Dr. Croce and The MED team, James made a full recovery. He was even able to complete his paramedic training with the help of his classmates. While he was still on crutches, they helped him get to and from his classes.

James is now a public safety consultant in Washington, D. C. and surrounded by prestigious hospitals, but James knows it would still be The MED he would wish for if tragedy ever struck again. “In God and The MED I put my trust,” he says with a smile.

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